India and US - III

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I hope members have seen GWADAR, HAMBANTOTA & SITWE: CHINA'S STRATEGIC TRIANGLE by B.Raman (6/3/2007) http://saag.org/papers22/paper2158.html

Here is more. Some interventions on this forum (now blacked out) about SSCP may also have a relevance to the following. I will not even talk about thorium sands of Kerala too close to the ancient shoals or reef or whatever (that it is an ancient formation brought in by ocean currents + plate tectonics, there is no dispute among pleistocene researchers).

I will title this: Diego Garcia, now Trincomalee, what next? I will post below the saag.org paper without any of my own comments. k

Diego Garcia, now Trincomalee, what next close to Rameshwaram? With the transfer of the Seventh Fleet of US from Subic Bay in the Philippines, and the increasing sops offered to Bharat to take over guarding the sea-lanes between the Straits of Hormuz and Straits of Malacca, what are the strategic policy options for Bharat? Should the role be subservient to US interests? It is a pity that few people in the security analysis circles ponder on such issues.
kalyan

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>US gets its long-sought foothold in Sri Lanka</b>

By B. Raman (Paper No. 2171 of 15 March 2007)

In a message sent to US President George Bush after the 9/11 terrorist strikes in the US, the then Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga offered Washington "full access to the country's port, airfields and other facilities" for use in its  operations against Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan.

2.  In March,2002, a  delegation  of US officials, led by the then Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs Christina Rocca and including US Brigadier General Timothy Ghormely, commander of the US Marine Expeditionary Brigade, visited Sri Lanka for secret talks with Ranil Wickremesinghe, the then Prime Minister, his Defence Minister Tilak Marapana and senior army officers at the Palaly army camp in the north. General Ghormely also visited Trincomalee. The next month, a four-member team of US military and legal experts secretly visited Colombo.

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http://saag.org/papers22/paper2171.html<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->