SOME TRUTHS CAN'T BE SPOKEN:

US-India defence deal 'to counter China' (Rahul Bedi in New Delhi and Richard Spencer, 26/02/2008, Daily Telegraph)

America is attempting to forge a strategic alliance with India with a series of arms deals as the South Asian nation bolsters its defences against China.

Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, will arrive in New Delhi to strike a common position on Beijing with the Indian government.

His arrival comes as New Delhi decides whether the US firms Lockheed Martin and Boeing, or Russian and European rivals, will win a contract to supply the Indian air force with 126 combat aircraft in a £5 billion deal.

But the wider battle is for influence in Asia, with America seeking to shore up a tentative and controversial alliance with what it sees as a democratic counterweight to China.

Let's pretend it's just coincidental that India has nukes pointed at Pakistan and the willingness to use them, plus the capability of seizing control of the Pakistani arsenal....

Posted by Orrin Judd at February 25, 2008 9:16 PM