India must defend its place as a new world order arises

Developments of the past two weeks have shaken the world. India must respond appropriately

- RAJRISHI SINGHAL

A new world order is emerging and India will have to defend its rightful place in it. It all started at the annual Munich Security Conference, which is usually a quiet affair and dominated by defence ministers, diplomats, security analysts and policy wonks as they engage in dialogue to peacefully resolve conflicts around the world. It's been like this for 60 years, restricted initially to members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato) and then expanded to include other nations after the Cold War ended. The conference's tranquillity was shattered recently after US Vice President J.D. Vance berated European nations for straying from (what the Republican Party considers) shared democratic and liberal ideals. This came even as European leaders were struggling to overcome the previous week's shock when US defence secretary Pete Hegseth told Nato members that Ukraine should stop hoping for the return of Russia-occupied territories and membership in the alliance. Soon after, US President Donald Trump got on a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin and unilaterally offered Russia some concessions. This was followed up with a meeting between US and Russian ministers in Riyadh. Those talks took place, oddly, without Ukraine or European leaders at the table. Look at the optics: two large nations—a hegemon and a wannabe superpower—negotiating the end of bloodshed in a third country, with about 20% of the beleaguered nation's land offered as part of the compromise deal, without even a by-your-leave from Ukraine. Many academics have expressed apprehensions about conventional settler-colonialism making a comeback, especially a