What About India?

As I mentioned on Sunday's Midrats, I've been thinking a lot recently about the implications mid-century of this graph; 

Along with the larger reasons that India and the United States should further grow their relationship for both security reasons and the simple fact we are both republics, reasonable people would think that American diplomatic and other parts of our government would be giving this relationship the attention is clearly needs.  

Well, you know my opinion of our State Department. 

Some related thoughts from our friend Cleo Paskal;

The United States sends mixed messages to India.On the one hand, Washington highlighted the importance of India’s rise and leadership in its Indo-Pacific Strategy, designated India a Major Defense Partner, and renamed PACOM as INDOPACOM in recognition of India’s important role in the region.

On the other hand, in spite of statements about the importance of people-to-people relations, it currently takes years for someone in Delhi to get an appointment for a US visa, India’s efforts to feed and provide power for its people are described as being against the greater good and, well, Pakistan.

...

Unfortunately, when it comes to India, State seems to be one of the departments least interested in improving relations. As a result, the first step in improving relations with India would be to ensure that engagement strategy is truly a US strategy and not just a State strategy.

That would mean reforming State’s relationship to the rest of the executive branch—having it become more consistently, reliably, even-handed and less selectively integrated in the decision-making disciplines of the executive branch and even in Congressional oversight.

As with so many things, it seems that the US State Department is doing as much as it can to not do much to advance American interests abroad.

Without civil service reform specifically aimed at State so the ossified blob can be excised and progress made - the nomenklatura will continue to see their job as ensuring they and others have a job ... not to look at where they need to invest their efforts towards advancing the interests of the United States ... often when opportunities are right there being offered to us as it is with India.

All we have to do is have people and processes that will do it. We don't seem to quite have it.