While they no more engage in overt forms of apartheid, their desire for upper hand over 'lesser', colored people is profound. If the colored people they interact with have weaker position, they relish the contempt they can feel. If, as increasingly is the case with China, they cannot any more show contempt with authenticity, it is visceral hatred.
We should face upto this reality and drop all the glib nonsense about US and India being 'fellow' democracies. To them we, or any other people this side of Suez will never be equal.
Not only will they feel either contempt or hatred but will also act to ensure that they have upper hand over us in some way or the other. Some norm of interaction and engagement that puts them as superiors, some unequality in any form howsoever indirect.
It is really time our policies start taking cognisance of this. We should conduct our political and diplomatic affairs as if they did not exist. And then, when they demand we take cognisance of their 'strategic needs', we should deal in strictly transactional manner.
For long term, a few people around the world will be our allies and we should focus on them - non-Taliban Afghans, Tibetans, Myannmarese and such like. We should strengthen them and ensure their 'all weather' support.
Sanjay
Bangalore.
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone
