IT IS as interesting as intriguing to watch changing trends in global politics pointing to a possible and plausible new world order -- particularly when Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi is on his visit to Japan and then China where he will have bilateral meetings with Chinese President Mr. Xi Jinping and Russian President Mr. Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). The recent months have indicated newer possibilities on the diplomatic horizon with India as part of the international focus -- naturally as a player of a more critical global role. Though no specific predictions are possible at this stage, criss-cross speculations are doing the rounds about how India will be a dominant player along with Russia and China as against the hegemonistic United States, making the entire scenario quite interesting to watch.

 

Though US President Mr. Donald Trump is unwilling to change his obstinate stance on tariffs on Indian goods, he has begun facing increasingly acidic criticism at home for having spoilt a great diplomatic repair of twenty-plus years to build strong and comprehensive bonds with India. But if that is the internal situation for Mr. Trump in the US, long-time American allies such as Japan and Australia also are beginning to understand the negativism in his diplomatic misadventures and are beginning to back India, thanks mainly to India’s gentlemanly overall conduct. Most countries that have been slapped with unfair tariffs by Mr. Trump also are realising that they must put up a stiff resistance to America’s diplomatic and economic hooliganism. And as they muster the courage to confront the US, India comes up as a role model for them.

 

Though India -- or Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi -- never aimed for any such status, it is emerging as a leader of the countries not just of the Global South but also of the other parts of the world. This is the reward India seems to have earned for itself for standing up against the US bullying without uttering any negative word. Of course, the current tensions between India and the US are not likely to continue for long since the Americans are not likely to allow their President to continue with his high-handed economic politics. No matter that, the global politics will turn against the US in the next some time with India, China and Russia taking first firm steps to start changing the world order. What is on the cards is the diminishing status of the US as a superpower.

 

The American influence is slated to wane in the next few years -- if the US does not mend its ways drastically and dramatically. In sharp contrast, the world will start looking at Russia, India and China (RIC) as an acceptable alternative to the American barnstorming. There may be some irritants between India and China, but both the countries appear to be ready to iron those out in larger interest of a logically just world order. Both of them have shown enough maturity to handle each other’s points of insistence in the past three years or so. That may lead to a better coordination between them, with Russia acting as a mutually-acceptable anchor of the grouping. If this grouping gets revived amicably and appropriately, then the world can expect a new international order replacing the existing one. What the world expects from the new order is elimination of one-sided tilt of the international power balance. If that present tilt is erased, things will change for the better.