Thawing relations with Modi may or may not help in thawing India-US relationship so easily.
In last one year India- US ties touched rock bottom, US is still a bit touchy about India's support to Russia.
But now that Russia is making "new friends" in the region (ahem ahem our neighbors across the border I meant) so India too must keep its options open
Levina ji, I think you are misinterpreting the whole development. Just my two paisa:
1- The USA is concerned about keeping those who are not allies, to at least 'not hostile' or 'commercially friendly' relations. Modi ji clearly stated that despite his visa ban due to political pressure from leftist and muslim groups in USA, US has been a major investor of business in Gujarat alongside, Japan, China, Korea and Israel.
Which means that Modi ji was expecting this. He knew that they will come to him one day and he was not bothered. It only reflects the professionalism on both US and Indian behalf.
2- US knows that we will always side with Russia directly or indirectly on such matters as what is happening in Ukraine. They are fully aware that there are strategic reasons why we support Russia and are not bothered much.
3- Russia's supply of Mi-35s is simply being overblown by the useless media. Believe me, it is no big deal. Russia is not our backyard where we can dictate terms. They held on so long, even that is appreciable. It is a superpower and a significant country on the world map that influences dozens of countries. It is a matter of great respect that Russia respected our sensitivities this long.
Please understand that we have refused their products on three occasions despite them being FULLY capable of meeting our minimum requirement. Remember our tenders don't expect a Star Wars fighter but something that covers all our laid down requirements: We chose Rafale over MiG-35, AH-64 over Mi-28N (despite both overshooting our requirements equally well, Apache's capabilities are not the question here), Chinook over Mi-26T (modernized two-pilot version). If we had even honoured two of these three contracts, there would have been absolutely no question of Russians handing out Mi-35 to other countries.
In fact, the contract for 197 light helicopters to replace Cheetahs should be given to Kamov. That is a huge order and it would keep the Russian factories running for a decade. What's more, Ka-226 is a damn versatile machine. But that is a different matter.
In the end, Putin has to ensure that Russian aerospace engineers and defence scientists don't run to China for greener pastures and keep their jobs.
Why blame him or his country?
In fact, there is a massive opportunity to cooperate with them at all levels.
Foreign relations are never a 'this or that' issue.
Krishna is also back and beautiful..
