GEORGE BUSH’S GEOPOLITICAL GENIUS

George W. Bush may be historically recorded as America's most frustratingly puzzling president.  He is fundamentally a decent man, a genuine Christian with enormous moral courage.  This is what infuriates the Left about him.

It is his incomprehensible blind spots that drive conservatives around the bend.  The one regarding illegal immigration is the worst, with many saying impeachably so.  His refusal to destabilize Iran, which most likely will cause the Iraq War to be lost, is another.

Yet with other geopolitical issues, he sees with astounding foresight and clarity.  The best example is India.  The first thing he asked Condi, when she became his National Security Advisor, was about India.  She hadn't thought about it.

"Biggest democracy in the world, only country in Asia capable of standing up to China," he explained.  "I want a plan from you on how we develop a military, political, and economic alliance with India."  Condi said she'd get right on it.

"Oh, yes," he added, "make sure it includes support for military cooperation between India and Israel."

That was in late December, 2000, before Bush had even been inaugurated.  The amazing prescience of Bush's request can be seen today, with both Israel and India in Moslem nuclear crosshairs.  Since early 2002, the Indian military's DRDO (Defense Research & Development Organization) has launched ten mammoth joint ventures with the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) military-industrial complex.

This has resulted in India's rapid acquisition of state-of-the-art weapons and defense technology, making her far more capable of defending herself against nuclear-armed Pakistan, China, and…. Iran.

Iran's Ahmadinutjob, the Persian Midget, may threaten to "wipe Israel off the map," but he sure can't make that threat to India.  There is now an unspoken defense pact between Israel and India, of which Tehran has been made aware.  The Persian Midget has been informed by New Delhi that a nuclear attack on Israel will be considered a nuclear attack on India.

Eastern Iran is within range of Indian missiles, so whatever part of Iran is not obliterated by Israeli nukes, India's will take care of the rest.  Ahmadinutjob has found this information quite sobering.  And this is thanks to George Bush.

It is also thanks to GW that India now knows it needn't take any guff from China.

Which is why every newspaper in India this week has huge front-page headlines denouncing the Chicoms on the eve of Chinese President Hu Jintao's first visit to India on November 20.

This past Monday (11/13), the Chinese Ambassador to India, Sun Yuxi, in an interview with Indian journalists, stated that the Indian province of Arunachal Pradesh belonged to China:  "In our position, the whole of Arunachal Pradesh is Chinese territory."

To understand why this has ruined Hu's visit and has lost him his face in the eyes of Indians, we need a whiff of history.

Take a look at this map of India:

See up top where there's an arrow pointing to an "Indian claim," then another arrow showing the "Line of Actual Control"?  That's a region of India seized by China in an actual fighting war between the two countries in 1962.  It's called the Aksai Chin, which I crossed 20 years ago (as discussed in The Indo-China Con).

Now look over to the right and you'll see a region of India east of the country of Bhutan going all the way to the border with Burma.  The northern part of this area bordering China is the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh.

It was seized by the Chicom PLA (People's Liberation Army) in the '62 Sino-Indian War as well.  Here's a close up of it:

The Chinese kept the Aksai Chin and occupy it to this day.  However, after seizing Arunachal Pradesh (then known as the NorthEast Frontier Agency or NEFA) in 1962, the PLA, fearful of being trapped against the Himalayas, retreated back into China.  Ever since, Beijing has claimed the area and even shows it as Chinese territory on official government maps.

The "border dispute" has been simmering all these years – and then boiled over this week with Ambassador Sun's "arrogant and stupid" remark, as characterized by Indian officials.

If there is one thing Chinese officials hate, it's having to grovel and eat face-losing crow.  Before, they would have brushed aside Indian demands for abject apology, pretend that Sun never uttered the insult, and insist that New Delhi pretend that nothing happened.

Not any more.  Hu will apologize.  He will come to India in a weakened position, of which the Indians will only be too happy to take every advantage.  The Indians can do this because they have America as backup.  The US-India Alliance gives them the strength and confidence to stand straight up to the Chinese Dragon and force it to back down.

Thanks to George Bush.

So we can be deeply infuriated by and deeply grateful for this president at the same time.  Future historians are going to be fascinated by his presidency.