TOPIC – Shared valuesU.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s day-visit to Delhi this week was heavy on discussions and understandably light on deliverables. The visit, the third by a senior U.S. official of the Biden administration, was meant to prepare the way for more substantive meetings in Washington later this year, including the U.S.-India “2+2” of Foreign and Defence Ministers, the Quad summit of its leaders, and a bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and U.S. President Joseph Biden. Public statements by Mr. Blinken and External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, and readouts, indicate that most of their conversations are focused on Quad cooperation in the Indo-Pacific, Afghanistan, and in discussing the state of democracy and rights. On the Quad, they showed full
convergence. On Afghanistan, Mr. Jaishankar said that there were “more convergences than
divergences” on the common positions that there is no military solution to
conflict, and that neither country would recognize a Taliban regime that takes Kabul by force. However, the divergences are more troubling for India, given that the fallout of the U.S. withdrawal will mean a less secure region. The U.S. continues to engage the Taliban in talks for a power sharing arrangement, despite the Taliban leadership’s refusal to enforce a ceasefire, and stop attacks against civilians in areas they take over. The militia is also trying to
squeeze trade and financial supply chains to the Afghanistan government. Perhaps the greatest worry for India is the U.S.’s refusal to hold Pakistan to account for having given shelter to the Taliban, as this will only
embolden Islamabad if the Taliban advance in Afghanistan. New Delhi tiptoed around the U.S.’s announcement of a new “
Quad” with Uzbekistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan on connectivity, but this is another cause for worry. On the subject of democratic freedoms, both sides maintained there were “shared values”. However, Mr. Blinken began his meetings with a “civil society roundtable” wherein internal Indian issues such as minority rights, religious freedoms and curbs on the media and
dissent were discussed, making it clear that these were important areas for the Democrat administration. In his
rebuttal to a question about the “backslide” in India’s democracy, Mr. Jaishankar had a three-pronged response,
reiterating that the same standards apply for the U.S. and India, that policies that have come in for international criticism such as the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, the Article 370 amendment, and anti-conversion laws were part of the Modi government’s attempt to “right historical wrongs”, and that freedoms cannot be equated with “lack of governance”. Despite the attempt from both sides to paper over the cracks, this is an issue that they will
grapple with in the future even as they build upon the strong “Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership” that the world’s oldest and most
populous democracies continue to share.
The Hindu Editorial Words with meanings, synonyms, and antonyms
Divergences (noun) – A difference between conflicting facts or claims
Synonyms – Discrepancies, digressions, detours, aberrations, heterodoxies
Antonyms – Confederacies, conformities, integrations, confluences, fusions
Conflict (noun) – An open clash between two opposing groups
Synonyms – Strife, combat, warfare, friction, confrontation
Antonyms – Truce, concord, harmonize, acquiesce, congruity
Squeeze (verb) – To compress with violence
Synonyms – Embrace, squash, wring, clasp, stuff
Antonyms – Amplify, assist, broaden, boon, dilate
Embolden (verb) – To encourage
Synonyms – Inspirit, fortify, invigorate, buoy, impel
Antonyms – Daunt, intimidate, chasten, dissuade, beckon
Quad (noun) – A rectangular area surrounded on all sides by buildings
Synonyms – Quadruplet, cloister, piazza, tetragon, patch
Antonyms – Contact, imminence, flexor, extensor, trapezium
Dissent (noun) – A difference of opinion
Synonyms – Dissension, discord, demur, dissidence, schism
Antonyms – Acquiesce, accede, avow, ratify, negotiate
Rebuttal (noun) – The speech act of refuting by offering a contrary contention or argument
Synonyms – Refutation, retort, riposte, repudiation, controversion
Antonyms – Corroboration, assent, acclamation, approbation, mandate
Reiterating (verb) – Say something again or a number of times, typically for emphasis or clarity
Synonyms – Longwinded, redundant, echoing, diffuse, superfluous
Antonyms – Cancel, withdraw, reverse, retract
Grapple (noun) – The act of engaging in close hand-to-hand combat
Synonyms – Contend, tussle, grasp, scuffle, clutch
Antonyms – Avoid, dodge, resignation, liberate, yield
Populous (adjective) – Famous
Synonyms – Inhabited, swarming, teeming multitudinous, crammed
Antonyms – Deserted, feeble, disused, lonely, ungrouped
