>From: "ALL INDIA ANTI-IMPERIALIST FORUM" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> : >Date: Tue, 4 Apr 2000 18:17:03 +0530 > >THE SECRET BEHIND THE CLINTON-AMBANI TALK > > > >The Hindu, a Chennai-based national newspaper of India, brought out on March >27, 2000, a secret story of nearly an hour-long private engagement between Mr. >Clinton and the Ambanis, one of India's most influential industrial families, >when Clinton was in Mumbai during his visit to India. This is an inside story >of the commercial focus of Clinton's visit. > >The Ambanis have built up the world's largest petrochemical complex at >Jamnagar in Gujarat and have been explored the prospects of the building >land-based pipelines for oil and natural gas, to be brought from Persian Gulf >to the Indian market. The Musharraf Government of Pakistan, too is said to >have cleared the proposal for a natural gas pipeline from Iran to India via >Pakistan, as the Pakistan Press reported, adding that the country could make >money, in terms of transit fees, by just letting gas flow from Gulf To India. >Obviously, the Ambanis need these 'pipelines' to be "peace pipelines'; and no >one could build transnational pipelines without the financial and political >blessings of the US. Such blessings could also be used to pressurise Pakistan >to accept the project at a reduced transit fee, for the Pakistan ruling class >would want, in their turn, to maximise the latter. > >Hence the interests converged. Clinton from his economic, military and >political stake in India and its domestic market sent messages of peace to the >two countries, and the Ambanis had their 'complex' and 'pipelines' in view. So >the Hindu concluded, " trade and commerce could finally begin to shape the >politics of war and peace in the subcontinent". > >This is a glaring instance of the plain fact that the Indian monopolists have >already acquired an imperialist trait to explore and exploit the raw materials >of other countries. A junior partner of the imperialist camp at that, the >Indian ruling class seeks strength and support from bigger 'brothers'. > >This also points to a second reality: India enjoys a rather different position >among the developing countries. Whereas the GATT, WTO and such others in the >recent past have compelled the weaker of the deveploping countries to succumb >to the mounting pressures of the big imperialist, particularly the US >imperialism, Indian monopolists enjoy a positon to pursue a 'give and take' >policy with the US imperialism even. They open India's domestic market to the >US imperialism in return for the latter's support to realise its design and >while negotiating to make a deal try give effect to the design itself. > >Manik Mukherjee > > __________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki - Finland +358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kominf.pp.fi ___________________________________ [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe/unsubscribe messages mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ___________________________________
