In 2012, India will host two significant events. First, in the month of December, the India-ASEAN Summit will be held at New Delhi to mark the 10th anniversary of their Summit-level dialogue; and second, India and Vietnam will be celebrating 40 years of the establishment of their diplomatic relations. Both events gain salience in the broader context of the beginning of the third decade of India’s Look East Policy which has witnessed phenomenal growth over the years in bilateral and multilateral relations with the ASEAN countries.

Most Indians find the Americans over-bearing and unjust. They find the Americans fiercely self-obsessed and highly individualistic. Most importantly they find the American policy towards India a consequence to or an offshoot of American policy to “something else” and not a policy that is based on an independent recognition of India as morale power. They think that America is far too in love with Pakistan and unjustly gives them a long rope. Naturally, at the backdrop of this it is becoming difficult for many to digest the latest Indo American deal on nuclear power.