Asian Tribune September 23, 2022

Issue 316 (8) Asian Tribune September 23, 2022
Editorial
PM’s homily to Putin
PM Narendra Modi caused a
stir last week when he publicly expressed
his concerns over the Ukraine
conflict. With Russian President
Vladimir Putin seated beside him in
Samarkand, the PM said he knew that
today’s era was not of war and flagged
the problems of food and fuel security,
and the fertiliser shortage confronting
developing countries. The PM’s concerns
over the impact of the Covid pandemic
and the Ukraine conflict are legitimate.
At the same time, his subsequent
observations hardly suggest that
India wants to distance itself from Russia.
For, the PM also said that India
‘valued this relationship’ and ‘the world
also knows that it is an unbreakable
friendship’. It was in sync with his September
7 speech advocating stronger
ties with the Russian Far East and the
Arctic.
There have been other straws
in the wind. After abstaining earlier,
India surprisingly voted against Russia
in the last UNSC meeting on
Ukraine. India has also twice spoken
on the Bucha massacres, uncovered
in April after the Ukrainian forces had
wrested a Russian town. India will be
compelled to take a similar stance
when the UN will inevitably take up the
issue of mass civilian graves in Izyum,
a town recently taken by the Ukrainians.
After the Russian retreat in
Kharkiv and Chinese President Xi
Jinping’s ambiguous stance at
Samarkand, the optics don’t look
good for the Kremlin.
But for New Delhi, there has
been no looking back on Indo-Russian
trade. In the strategic domain, Russia
continues to build Kudankulam nuclear
power plant’s units; S-400 missile defence
system supplies have continued.
India is also acutely aware of the
continuing need of Russia as an allweather
friend despite its own growing
strategic closeness with the US.
Washington’s policies for the region
have vacillated and recently, it resumed
its dalliance with Pakistan. Notwithstanding
the sabre-rattling, its
trade with China has risen. PM Modi’s
‘no war’ remark may have tickled the
vanity of some players in the West, but
toxicity is unlikely to colour India’s viewing
of Russia in this unsettled global
milieu.
Yash Sharma
English Page
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Editorial Team
Prof . Harjinder Walia,
Ph.D (Journalism)
Former Head of Journalism
Punjabi Universty Patiala. (Punjab) India
Patron
Yash Sharma,
M.Sc (Hons), DMM
Publisher & Editor in Chief
780-200-0246
Sat Paul Kaushal
Associate Editor, Calgary
403 903 8500
Raghbir Bilaspuri
Bureau Chief ( Punjabi)
Sunny Sharma
Bureau Chief (English)
Atul Seth, CPA,CGA
Financial & Management Consultant
Daizy Dhillon
Advisor (Community)
Tejinder Singh Bhateja
Advisor (Marketing)
587 889 2340
Anita Sharma
M.A.(Hindi)
Bureau Chief (Hindi)
www.asiantribune.ca.