Over the weekend, the US announced that, via a special operation, it had captured Venezuelan president Nicholas Maduro and that it would now control the Venezuelan oil industry. The unilateral action that came after months of military interventions, including the interception of oil tankers and other vessels moving to and from the South American country, is largely aimed, by President Trump’s own admission, to control the country’s vast oil reserves that the preeminent superpower, for some reason, believes rightfully belong to them.
The action, which is seen as being in blatant disregard for international law, has been roundly condemned by several countries around the world, if not for the violations, but more so because the US sees itself as being above any law. However, sadly, India isn’t among the countries that have condemned or said anything about the invasion so far. The silence is deeply disappointing. India is one of the foremost countries to have been advocating for a rules-based world order to which all countries, irrespective of military might, subject themselves.
Even more than that, India has a long history of speaking up against unilateral US-led military interventions, including speaking up against the war in Iraq, even going back as far as speaking up against the French occupation of Algeria, in favour of decolonisation of Africa. All this at a time when India was militarily and economically a far weaker country than it currently is.
If anything, the current reluctance to speak up betrays a lack of courage on the international stage and a cowardly fear that speaking up may invite the wrath of the world’s dominant superpower. More than that, one needs to realise that not speaking up would mean legitimising such unilateral action, and silence often means consent. India needs to realise that if today the USA can unilaterally grab another country’s assets, it can do the same for any other country, large or small, either through military intervention or through coercion.
In failing to speak up for a fellow third world country, India, which once championed the non-aligned movement and was a leading global voice against excesses by the former colonial powers, being a former colony itself, and later the USA-led NATO, has betrayed a long legacy of speaking up against global bullying, disrespect for international institutions and law and contempt for the very law they seek to impose upon others.
It is imperative that India speaks up, irrespective of the costs that might come with speaking up against this blatant unilateralism of the US -- all for the sake of the control of the oil reserves no less -- not even the pretence of a major human rights violation or excuse in the name of the liberation of an oppressed people.
At the international level, India remains woefully short of speaking up and making its stance known -- a stance that betrays the cowardice of the present setup, irrespective of how they are positioned at reviving India’s image in the world.
Real bravado comes not when punching down on weaker foes but from being willing to punch up, irrespective of the consequences that it may entail. And the present dispensation has been found wanting.
