(Contributed)
The
escalation of India's military capacity provides an excellent means of
assessing US-led regional planning. It is not difficult to observe and reveals
certain readily identifiable methods of operation: there is little ambiguity
surrounding US positions toward India, regarded as a western-backed buttress
against China.
There are
also other items of interest on US-led defence and security agendas as they
seek to counter the hegemonic challenge to their position from China. India is
developing arms manufacturing together with other related industries clearly
aimed at extending US-led diplomatic initiatives with numerous countries across
Asia and the Pacific.
Indian “Defence” Budget
India has
begun a massive increase with its defence budget. According to the Stockholm
Peace research Institute (SPRI) their military budget for 2014-15 only
increased by 0.4 per cent. This year it will increase by eight per cent. (1) In
the period leading to 2020 it will increase still further.
In only three
years, 2017-20, India has proposed to increase its defence budget by 27.8 per
cent to a total of $64.8 billion. (2)
It is easy to
establish the reason for the dramatic increase in arms spending. India, due to
its geo-strategic position, is used by US-led western defence and security
planners as a buttress against China. The rise of China as a regional and
global power has been regarded by the US as a hegemonic threat to 'US
interests'.
India,
already a regional military power, has regularly joined US-led war-games. It
is, at present, preparing to join naval exercises, called Malibar, with other
regional partners in the Western Pacific. (3)
Involvement
in US-led manoeuvres, however, has led India to the realisation that problems
exist with their existing defence industries. Hindered by bureaucracy,
inefficiency and corruption, India has developed a reliance upon imported
armaments which are also compatible with western defence and security systems.
(4)
It is
therefore no surprise to note the dramatic increase in arms imports and their
country of origin.
India and Israel
In the period
leading to 2014 India became one of the largest arms importers in the world,
many of which were purchased from Israel. In the four years to 2015, India was
responsible for importing 14 per cent of all globally traded arms. (5)
Israel has
regularly undertaken work on behalf of its US supporters, particularly in
sensitive regions of the world where open US operations would prove
diplomatically embarrassing. (6) The Central America region has been,
historically, just one example. It remains a common feature of Israeli foreign
policy. They also specialise in using 'third countries' for arms deals. (7)
The
high-level diplomacy between India and Israel and their defence industries has
been an important feature of national budgets. In fact, it was acknowledged by
Israeli Ambassador to India, Daniel Carmon, when he said 'the defence
cooperation for many years has been the central pillar of our relationship'.
(8)
Early this
year India announced it was close to approving defence contracts to purchase
Israeli Spike ATGM equipment. The deal, for 275 launchers and 5,500 missiles,
was eventually finalised in May. (9)
Announcements,
by the Indian government, to relax foreign investment laws in the defence
sector have also formed part of the current trend of militarisation. Foreign
corporate business organisations will now be allowed to own 100 per cent and
control Indian-based defence industries. Currently they are limited to stakes
of 49 per cent in jointly-controlled enterprises. (10)
India is also
seeking to develop strong “defence” capabilities with the view to becoming an
'aero-space and defence manufacturing hub for the region and beyond'. (11)
Military planners, clearly, are seeking to use India as an arms exporter for
the wider region. The 'defence manufacturing hub', however, will not be solely
concerned with military hostilities between states.
Other serious
related implications arise: Israeli defence industries and their military
capability are specialists in domestic defence and security systems for
intelligence purposes and counter-insurgency: state power and repression. What
proportion of India's defence budget has been allocated for domestic crowd
control and related counter-insurgency provision has yet to be established.
Likewise, the proportion of the budget allocated for Electronic Warfare (EW)
and surveillance systems is also not clarified.
Asia-Pacific region riven with
internal conflict, struggles against exploitation occur daily.
It should be
noted computer software and hardware together with telecommunications has
attracted a total of nearly $40 billion in India during previous years. (12)
The latter are an essential feature of military interference in domestic
political affairs: one piece of electronic equipment can easily be converted
for other uses, if required, as in the case of computer systems for repressive
measures.
There are
important historical parallels elsewhere, in regions where 'US interests' were
threatened, Central America following the Sandinista Revolution being one
example.
In the late
1970s, when the US stopped all forms of arms transfer to Guatemala due to
horrific human rights abuses against opposition figures, Israel stepped in and
conveniently took over the role for Washington. Israeli-manufactured computer
systems were used by various Guatemalan government departments to monitor
'electricity and telephone usage and records of data on individual movements
taken from police checkpoints' to establish 'evidence' of political activism
and safe-houses. The information was initially collected for ulterior motives:
state power and repression. Once collected and collated, the information was passed
to 'operations'. Israel military advisors also worked closely with their
Guatemalan hosts and police intelligence, G2, to coordinate death-squad and
elimination tactics of opposition figures. (13)
In
neighbouring Honduras, during the early 1980s, when the country was being used
for military base facilities to train Contra terrorists to destabilise
Nicaragua, Israel sold arms and 'electronic devices' together with the
provision of military advisors and trainers. (14)
Across the
Central America region during the period, following the US government
implementation of the Boland Amendment, 'taking advantage of the restrictions
on military aid to Nicaragua, Tel Aviv offered to supply the Contras with the
weapons they needed'. (15) The method of operation and source of revenue,
should be noted: following high-level diplomatic initiatives within the Reagan
administration and the Israeli government it was resolved the arms would be
transported by a 'foreign flag' and delivered to the Contra. (16) The massive transportation
of drugs, used to fund the covert operations, was subject to denial and
diplomatic silence.
There are
numerous other examples of Israel undertaking sensitive work for the US.
There will be
little doubt, however, who will really be pulling the strings behind the scenes
in India with increased defence budgets. And who they rely upon for their
objectives.
Such
developments should not be underestimated by progressive-minded people. We
should be on our guard and brace ourselves for an arms race as India begins
sales to numerous countries in the region, often bitterly divided internally
and subsequently raising questions of legitimacy for government and political
systems. It is not difficult to envisage the logical outcome.
It is also not
reassuring to note Australia has historically and steadfastly left criminal
behaviour conducted by Israel, its military and intelligence services,
unchallenged. It remains Australian foreign policy to use diplomatic silence
when Israeli actions including gross human rights abuses, theft of identity
pending passport fraud and information concerning nuclear weapons, occur. (17)
'Israeli
interests' are best defined as belonging to a state where war-crimes, criminal
activities and weapons of mass destruction merge with intelligence operations
to the applause of western defence and security systems.
With India
now becoming the chosen theatre of operations for Israeli interests, sensible
people in the region ignore the challenge at our peril.
…………………..
1. Website: Dawn – Stockholm Peace Research
Institute, 5 April 2016.
2. India blasts away defence barriers, Australian, 23 June 2016.
3. Chinese warship near islands angers Japan,
Australian, 10 June 2016.
4. Australian, op. cit., 23 June 2016; see
also, The $10 bn business: How Israel became India's most important partner in
arms bazaar, Economic Times, 23
September 2012.
5. Australian, ibid., 23 June 2016.
6. Israel: State of War, pp. 1-19,
Information Department, PLO Office, London (n.d.).
7. The Iran-Contra Scandal: The Declassifed
History, Peter Kornbluh and Malcolm Byrne (ed.), (New York, 1993), Document 72,
pp. 264-69.
8. Revealed: India close to approving
military deals worth an estimated $3 bn, The
Diplomat, 10 February 2016.
9. India completes price negotiation for
Israeli Spike ATGMs, IHS Janes 360, 25 May 2016.
10. Australian, op. cit., 23 June 2016.
11. Ibid.
12. Ibid.
13. Israel: State of War, op. cit., page 16.
14. Ibid., pp. 17-8.
15. Killer Elite, Michael Smith, (London, 2006),
page 149.
16. Ibid., pp. 149-50, with reference to a
'third country' using either their own or a
'flag of convenience'.
17. *Website: List of Israeli
assassinations/Wikipedia – lists hundreds of 'black operations'
conducted by Israel during the period,
1956-2015. In the period 2002-08, at least 387
Palestinians died from 'targeted
killings'.
*'MOSSAD' hit snares Australian, Sydney Morning Herald, 26 February 2010,
provides information about
Israeli agents and theft of identity procedures, also,
'Aussie spy held for treason', Australian, 14 February 2013, provides
further
information about Israeli agents
fabricating passports of Australian citizens for
covert operations.
*Australia still denies Israel's open
secret of a nuclear arsenal,
The
Age (Melbourne), 15 April 2014.
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