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| India-Pakistan |
| Indian Officials Favor U.S. Concept of Thousand-Ship Navy |
| 2007-04-20 |
| Officials here speculate that India would find it easier to participate in the U.S.-proposed thousand-ship navy than other more formal coalitions. Adm. Michael Mullen, the U.S. NavyÂ’s chief of naval operations, discussed the concept of a broad coalition of friendly navies on April 18 during his visit here following this yearÂ’s Exercise Malabar. Ships and troops of the Indian Navy and U.S. Pacific Command conducted the annual exercises April 6-11 off Japan. The thousand-ship navy is an attractive concept for India because of its lack of formalities, a Defence Ministry official here said. India is already working towards a formal maritime security arrangement with the United States, and participation in the thousand-ship navy could be part of that, the ministry official said. However, it is not clear whether the maritime cooperation agreement would come in the form of India joining the Washington-sponsored Proliferation Security Initiative, Container Security Initiative Regional Maritime Security Initiative or the thousand-ship navy effort. The Indian Navy would find it easier to participate in the thousand-ship navy concept as it has no commander, and as such the informal coalition would not be commandeered by the United States, an Indian Navy official said. |
| Posted by:John Frum |
| #3 Joe, I hope it isn't Hillary Clinton. |
| Posted by: RWV 2007-04-20 23:30 |
| #2 D *** ng it, whose the babe to play HELEN OF TROY??? |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2007-04-20 22:12 |
| #1 Sounds like an extension of the Proliferation Security Initiative with a twist but not quite a real alliance. Locking in India as a US Ally is probably the biggest unreported geopolitical story in a while. It seems to be happening step by step and makes sense to me. They have pretty much the same enemies we do and, unlike some of our Nato allies, have yet to give up on the use of military force when their national interests are threatened. I'm no naval expert but I'd have to think that combining the US Pacific Fleet with the emerging Indian Navy plus the Japanese Navy would be able to handle any anticipated scenario for Chinese aggression if it chose to do so. |
| Posted by: JAB 2007-04-20 15:49 |