The future of Indian geopolitics : The inferiority/superiority complex.

The Indian psyche is one that holds on to a great past while being unable to emulate a great present. One that is resentful of being in the poverty it is surrounded by but at the same time proud of being born there. One that is clearly better than everybody else, but at the same time always looking outwards for praise and validation. That is the mind of a thirdworlder with an empire in their past. You would probably find a similar mindset among the Iranians, the Turks, and the Chinese. It is this mindset that acts as the base upon which the Indian geopolitical strategy of the future will be built.

India's desire to be the number one economy. India is the largest population country in the world. They want the guarantee that through sheer numbers they will be able to become the biggest economy that the world has ever seen. They intent to surpass Germany, then China, and one day even the US. To do so they are willing to open up trade with every single part of the world irrespective of who they are involved with and what their home policies are. In this way all Asian countries are similar. Nothing gets in the way of good business.

Indians desire dominance. They desire to be considered a real great power on the world stage. For this purpose, they desire to be the dominant power in their part of the world with influence across the planet. For this purpose, India is focused on dominating all of its neighbors and coming out on top as the most powerful neighbor around. This includes being clearly more powerful than Japan, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, China, Bangladesh, etc.

India doesn't think in terms of how much they have or how much they will get. Indians think in terms of how much they can get away with. Any opening you give them they will push it as far as it goes to accrue the maximum gains they can long term benefits be darned. This is why they make great CEOs and managers in the US. Now that the US has been able to easily stop their assassination attempt, Indians will try every other method of bullying the US in one way or another until they all run out of steam and only then will they stop once they hit the impenetrable wall.

As for Canada, there was a successful assassination on Canadian soil. Canadian government failed to do anything about it so far which means that Indians have no problem dunking on Canada in the future and treating them as a junior partner.

India's ability to dominate Canada has ensured that now every single country that is poorer or weaker than Canada will also be looked down upon as a junior partner. For historical reasons this does not apply to the Russians, as they grew up with their parents looking up to the USSR as the true great power. As the USSR collapsed India continues to look at Russia as a great power and even the years long war in Ukraine has likely not strongly shifted this perception among the Indian public.

India maintains a strong rivalry with China, and is guaranteed to keep cooperating with the west in the form of anti-China organizations and operations and this would not change any time soon.

Most westerners still do not understand this, but India is still not pro west. India isn't aligned with any other country except itself. If India finds it most beneficial to live in a western led world order that is what it will do. If India finds itself best off in an Eastern led world order that is what it will do. When the world is in a state of rivalry, India will happily trade and work with both sides and continue growing. In this way India is much like the US and the UK that preceded it.

The one disadvantage that India has is that it does not have any true allies. This isn't all bad though as India does not participate in any major conflicts globally so does not even need strong allies to support itself or its influence so far. However, the lack of alliances pretty much guarantees that India could never become a global hegemony, as it would never have the required network to become the greatest global power in the world. At best, India could become the largest trade partner in the world, similar to China before it.

India has a large enough military to defend its borders. India has a large enough economy to keep growing and maintain good business with other large nations. India is diplomatically as close to neutral as it can be and enjoys being able to conduct business with all parts of the world. India has the largest global diaspora in the world and that acts as its point of influence on the world stage. Just as the US has links to every country by having immigrants from every country living in the US, India has links with every country by having Indians live in every country in the world.

In the long run, India is well positioned to one day surpass China as the second largest economy in the world. The primary challenge for India persists in surpassing the US economy in the future as by the time India surpasses the Chinese economy, it will itself be in population decline and will once again likely be 2/3rd the size of the US economy, as had happened to all preceding challengers of the US top dog economic status.

The other challenge that persists for India is that its population has almost zero grasp of how global politics and international relations actually works and bring that we are number one only what we want matters attitude to international conduct, not realizing that it is tolerated because of the strategic position of India, not because it is actually a useful tool.

India continues to suffer from the confident incompetence of a poor Eastern European nation and that will likely remain the case for another generation or two of Indians to come.

The best case scenario for India remains to keep persisting at its current pace, not to frick around with the US until it has accumulated more power than China did when it started fricking with the US, and to limit its dominating tendencies to economic powers of the equivalent size of Canada and below, with the exception of China as those who frick around with you should always be fricked around with back.

India should continue to work towards maintaining good relations with the US and the EU from a wealth and power peer perspective. Maintain good relations with China, Japan, and ASEAN from a trade perspective, and maintain good relations with Russia, the middle East, and African nations, from a geopolitical perspective. The longer Russia's war goes on, the more dependent it becomes on India. If Russia wins the war it had a dependable ally in India. If Russia loses its dependency on India grows which is good for Indian business. Either way, a good relationship with Russia is still beneficial for India.

Conclusion:

Indian geopolitical strategy is based on maximizing gains for India. India is not western or eastern aligned. India is India aligned. India is guaranteed to one day become the second biggest economy in the world. India does not have the required network of alliances to become the biggest economy in the world. The Indians people are too often suffering form a combined inferiority/superiority complex which seeps through in Indian international policy at times and can have a negative effect when it comes to India's interests on the world stage. India is free to dunk on economies and powers that are as strong as Canada and weaker than Canada. There is no issue of flexing its muscles at these other middling powers. India should however refrain from fricking around with the US and the EU for the moment, as they are still not nearly as powerful as China which is still losing even at its current power level. India should remain friends with Russia as irrespective of whether Russia wins or loses it benefits India, and India should keep treating China as its primary rival in the region because at this point in time they obviously are.