New Delhi: US President-elect Joe Biden has started nominating members to his new Cabinet and White House team and if approved by the Senate, many of them will be making history such as the country’s first Black Secretary of Defense.
In episode 636 of ‘Cut The Clutter’, ThePrint’s Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta analysed Biden’s choices and also explained why they were important to India.
According to Gupta, the positions that really matter to India were Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, National Intelligence Director of CIA, head of Homeland Security (which is like India’s Home Minister) and the Head of Treasury, which was like India’s finance minister.
Gupta said that the nominations were awaiting congressional approval and are likely to get it — with the possible exception of Neera Tanden. Tanden has been nominated as the director of the office of management and budget.
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New US Secretary of State and India
Gupta explained that the most important of these appointments, from India’s point of view, was the Secretary of State. Antony Blinken has been nominated for the post and he is someone familiar to India since he was also part of the Obama administration.
Gupta noted that unlike his predecessor Mike Pompeo, who was a domestic politician, Blinken is a diplomat and a “genuine internationalist”. He is expected to be tough on China and also knows India is a vital US ally.
However, he will also not have the same view as the previous administration on some of India’s internal changes such as the new citizenship law and the situation in Jammu and Kashmir. According to Gupta, he will also not be silent on them.
Gupta also said that Blinken would re-engage with Iran, which would be a positive for India as heavy sanctions against Iran had resulted in India not buying oil from them.
He noted that Blinken also has a strong liberal streak, as his stepfather was a survivor of concentration camps, in Auschwitz and Dachau during Nazi Germany and therefore, will be more forthcoming on issues of human rights.
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Other nominations
Other nominations include Jake Sullivan, former chief of staff for Hillary Clinton when she was secretary of state in the Obama administration, as the new National Security Advisor.
Gupta noted that Sullivan is also a former Iran deal negotiator and played a key role in the Gaza peace deal in 2012.
John Kerry has been nominated as Biden’s Ambassador for Climate Change and it is his job to put the Paris Accord back on track, which outgoing president Donald Trump had pulled out of.
US’ new Secretary of Defense will be General Lloyd Austin III, who, Gupta said “we knew least about”.
Austin does not have a lot of familiarity with the Indo-Pacific or China, which could be a good or a bad thing, said Gupta.
He noted that Austin was also a surprise appointment as there is a seven-year cooling period from the armed forces to be Secretary of Defence in the US. And General Austin retired in 2016 and has only spent four years in retirement. Therefore, the Biden administration will have to approach the Congress for a special waiver in this case.
Speaking about the new Secretary of the Treasury — Janet Yellen — Gupta said that she was a scholar, an economist and a labour wage economist.
“She will bring about the balance between the Left and the Right and the Centre,” said Gupta, adding that the markets were happy with her appointment.
He then turned to Neera Tanden, who has been nominated as the Director of the Office of Management and Budget. This makes her the senior-most official of Indian origin in the Biden administration after Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.
Gupta explained that she was self-made and was brought up by a single mother on food stamps and rented housing. However, it is believed that she will have the toughest time passing congressional approval because the Republicans really dislike her.
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Friends have honest conversations with each other in private. There is no reason why India should fear / dread that prospect.
As usual a pragmatic analysis. There are two important points in regard to the USA which will have a bearing on all the issues mentioned.
1. The USA may not always “Walk the talk” as SG did simultaneously, with NDTV. In diplomacy, where you can walk and talk in different places at different times, the talk may not be as important as the walk.
2. Biden may not have the unstinted support of all Democratic law makers, very essential for a strong president in everything he does, as Trump enjoyed with the GOP senators for whatever reasons.
In regard to India, It has to continue to do what is best for it immediately and in the future. Compromises are part of Nation building, but there has to be more “take” in the equation. India is just starting out as a Nation after decades of hangover from the happenings of last few centuries.