It's money that fuels Air Force One

It's money that fuels Air Force One
Dilip Cherian

The real reasons why Bill Clinton has taken the trouble to come here

Getting Bill Clinton to visit may remain the untold tale of Indian foreign policy. The US administration, with its penchant for political correctness, insists that he wants to engage in a dialogue with the people of the world's largest democracy. That's clearly the kind of statement that works well for the big man's press handlers and simultaneously ensures that any failure on the diplomatic front is quickly papered over.

The fact is that on his home turf in the US, there are masses of people who are happy that Clinton is on his way. A US president with only a few months in office left is usually treated like a residual power factor. There is no doubt that this is a description that fits Bill rather well.

But enamoured as he may be with making history by being the US president who tried to crack the gridlock that is South Asia, this is not reason enough to come a-visiting. A superpower like the US also knows that sulking for too long doesn't work. So now that the Pokharan shivers have abated a bit, there are other issues that need to be dealt with. Often these issues don't quite form part of the mainstream political or foreign policy agenda in the US.

The wonderful ability that actually makes the US as powerful as it is, is cannily disguised as multiplicity of influences. While well endowed think-tanks in Washington spew out policy statements that are then the basis of strategic debates, there are other forces that work equally effectively but silently. When their role is disclosed, it's often denied rather vehemently. At most times their influence is substantial, subterranean and single-minded.

For those who are truly in the know there are two such influences that have worked to bring Clinton to India. Despite the clear knowledge that a dramatic retreat on the nuclear front is not about to happen in either New Delhi or Islamabad, the flight path is expected to achieve the real agenda that Clinton has set to achieve. And thereby hangs the untold tale.

To start with, there's this whole infotech mega economy where the virtual reality is that Indians are already among the biggest boys on that turf. The issues related to technology transfer and visas have only added grist to this mill. Fact is that as the numbers of big ticket net-entrepreneurs are racked up, the sheer density and audacity of the Indian diaspora's control of the Internet gets visible. Canny American financial wizards, who by the way are really dominant among the big boys when it comes to policy making, have recognised the implications of this.

As long as e-com's steamroller-like impact on the economy keeps growing at the pace it does, Indian control of US-based capital is set to rival that of the Jewish-dominated segment. This is a quantum change. To cope with the change, it is important that Clinton engages with all things Indian -- whether it means mucking around in muddy villages of Rajasthan or chin-wagging with cyberkid Naidu. Influence, as they say, speaks loudest when it is backed by dollar power.

There's more. Much more actually. And that's got to do with what Clinton intends to do before he lands at Palam. There's this small business of gas that's available in tankerfuls in Bangladesh. Clinton's trip to Dhaka is to exercise his powers of friendly persuasion to make the Bangladeshis amenable to piping gas into India. The powerful US energy boys -- who will do the actual pumping and piping of gas -- know that it's good economics to push for this. Anything else is going to be too expensive.

So Dhaka had better play ball and India must be charmed by Clinton into doing what it takes to make Dhaka play along. Quite a circus all this is proving to be and our foreign policy boys still want to believe it's all about CTBT and other such profound earth-shattering (pardon the pun) stuff. It's not, boyos. It's money that makes Air Force One fly around.

The writer is a consulting partner with Perfect Relations