Source: Andrew Korybko’s Newsletter
ENB Pub Note: Andrew Korybko is a Russian Substack author and geopolitical analyst. He has an interesting view on geopolitical conflicts, and while I do not agree with everything he says, Andrew does bring in some really good discussion points. He is worth following on his Substack HERE:
Whereas his predecessor Yeltsin relied on the consulting services of Westerners when forming Russia’s new economic model after the USSR’s dissolution, President Putin is nowadays inclined to rely on the services of Indians to do the same after the West declared economic warfare against his country last year.
There’s no doubt that India’s renown is rising across the world after the leader of an economically developed nuclear-armed power publicly suggested emulating its domestic industrialization policy, which is precisely what President Putin just did regarding Prime Minister Modi’s Make In India initiative. He was speaking at the Agency for Strategic Initiative’s “Strong Ideas for a New Time” forum on Thursday when he told his compatriots the following:
“Our friends in India and our big friend, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, launched the ‘Make in India’ initiative several years ago. It has had a truly impressive effect on the Indian economy. It would do no harm to emulate what is working well, even if it was not us but our friends who created it.”
India is currently the world’s fifth-largest economy and on pace to become its third-largest before the end of the decade. Last year, the OECD even reported that its economy grew at literally twice the rate of China’s last year at 6.6% to 3.3%. This was due not just to its government’s pragmatic policy of drastically scaling its import of discounted Russian oil to the point where Moscow now provides 46% of Delhi’s needs, but also because of its leader’s famous initiative that his Russian counterpart just referenced.
Prime Minister Modi presciently foresaw the importance of prioritizing domestic industrialization almost a decade ago long before the US-Chinese trade war, COVID-19, and NATO’s proxy war on Russia via Ukraine unprecedentedly disrupted global supply chains and thus halted growth in many countries. Those who criticized him at the time for going against contemporary global trends are now eating crow after his policy was proven to have been among the most responsible in the world in hindsight.
Unlike the West’s ruling liberal–globalists whose ideology makes them enemies of all those who promulgate nationally focused development initiatives, Russia’s policymakers were always much more open-minded about whatever India was doing at any time due to their decades-long partnership. This explains why they never criticized the Indian premier’s policy like some in the West did but instead supported it in the military-technical sphere by agreeing to joint production and technology sharing.
India’s rapid growth over the past year during the time when many fellow developing countries were afflicted by the interconnected food and fuel crises stemming from the latest Western-provoked phase of the Ukrainian Conflict was due to the Make In India policy and literally powered by Russian oil. The surge in imports of this resource confirmed in Russian policymakers’ minds that Prime Minister Modi’s policy was a stunning success worth emulating in their own country as it seeks to reform its economic model.
With President Putin’s statement of intent in mind, it would make sense for Russia to solicit the consulting services of those Indian professionals who are responsible for the success of their country’s policy. Whereas his predecessor Yeltsin relied on the associated services of Westerners when forming Russia’s new economic model after the USSR’s dissolution, he’s nowadays inclined to rely on the services of Indians to do the same after the West declared economic warfare against his country last year.
This shows how much the last year’s events changed Russian grand strategy since it’s now pivoting towards the Global South to the point of President Putin declaring that his country should emulate Prime Minister Modi’s Make In India domestic industrialization policy. Likewise, it also proves how much India’s renown has risen across the world during that same time to the point where this economically developed nuclear-armed power is now staking its people’s future on Prime Minister Modi’s model.
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