In a matter of a couple of days, if not a few hours, a targeted US military operation removed the sitting president of Venezuela. The removal was not just from power. President Nicolas Maduro was physically removed and brought to New York, where he sits in jail awaiting trial for alleged crimes of enabling drug-trafficking cartels.
President Maduro is no saint. He has been widely criticized by international observers and local opposition for rigging elections, violating human rights, and unfairly holding on to power with brute force. When someone believes it is completely okay to use brute force to remain in power, is it then okay for them to be removed from power by someone else with more brute force? It’s not an easy question to answer.
Until recently, sovereign countries did not randomly attack other sovereign countries with brutal military force, let alone remove their leaders and carry them back in planes to their own country. Even as early as five years ago, we felt that we had entered an era of peace. We felt humanity had evolved—that as sovereign nations, we had learned to live and let live. If at all there was conflict between countries, humanity had understood that violence serves no purpose. Instead, human beings believed in talks, dialogue, and negotiation. We have the wonderful United Nations, which, just as its name suggests, shows that the world and its nations are united. We are one big family, after all. I mean, didn’t humanity get together and fight Covid as one—sort of (barring all the racist border controls, of course)?
Boy, were we wrong. Human beings are incapable of living in harmony, especially over long periods of time. Look at human history, and we have almost always alternated between eras of peace and major conflict. Somehow, we felt that because we have now invented communication devices and can talk to each other, we would end violent conflict. Fat chance. Violence, conflict, selfishness, greed, and lust for power are all wired into our DNA, and they play out again and again.
The USA has had its issues with Venezuela and its regime for a while. They have accused the government there of allowing a free run to drug cartels, who in turn give massive kickbacks to the government to look the other way—or maybe even enable the drugs trade. These drugs reach US shores, causing a major drug crisis. There may well be some truth to that. However, it is also true that Venezuela has the world’s largest proven oil reserves (yes, even more than Saudi Arabia). Many international observers, hence, also state that the reason for US interest in Venezuela is the oil reserves. Maybe there is some truth to that as well.
However, there is one undeniable truth in the world today. We are in the era of ultra-hard power. If you have real hard power—which means you have enough power t—you can literally do whatever you want. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, US-backed Israel’s attacks on Iran, and now the US action on Venezuela only prove that we are back in the era of hard power. Good human traits and qualities like morality, consensus-building, negotiation, talking, and that much-abused, oxymoronic term “soft power” have no place in the world we live in today. After all, which major world conflict was last resolved by talk and negotiations? When was the last time the United Nations achieved a major breakthrough?
For India, this means we need to build our hard power base as a national priority. Hard power essentially comes from two or three sources, which are often interlinked and correlate with each other. These are:
Massive economic power, in terms of a big, rich economy. This not only allows for a big, deep market the world is interested in, but also generates enough revenue for the government to create the second point.
Substantial and cutting-edge military power, in terms of not only enough troops and equipment, but also the most advanced military technology. Sure, tanks are impressive, but today’s wars are fought with advanced drones and GPS-targeted weaponry. Buying planes and weapons from the West alone will not make you cutting-edge. Advanced indigenous tech is key. As an aside, nuclear power seems to be the only deterrent keeping nations safe from invasions at the moment. We are indeed fortunate that India has a nuclear program.
Key alliances and partnerships—Israel and the UK punch above their weight in global geopolitics because they have staunch, universal backing from the USA. In return, their support for the USA is unwavering. Being non-aligned does sound awesome and free on paper, but it also makes one vulnerable in the world, especially if one doesn’t yet have adequate hard power.
A nation built around economics, science, and modernity is more likely to have hard power. The classic example is the USA, unmatched today in the world by any nation. The next one coming close is China, which has also embraced the same value set.
While the above is what works, it is also important to understand what does not work—because we in India often have silly to erroneous notions of what constitutes a nation’s power. Here are things that do not work when it comes to hard power.
Fervent, passionate, chest-beating nationalism—Both Venezuela and Iran had regimes that came up on ultra-nationalism. Both have been easily pummeled by the USA within the last few months. Just because you chant your country’s or team’s slogan louder will not make you win—either on the battlefield or in the sports arena. Build real power. Save the emotion for your personal life.
Charm, cuisine, entertainment, handicrafts—Just because people eat chicken tikka masala abroad, dance to a Bollywood hit in a European club, or wear Kolhapuri chappals doesn’t mean that India suddenly has more say or power in the world. India is charming for sure. But we are not trying to win a Ms. Charming contest. We are trying to compete for raw power.
Sharp retorts and put-downs—Somehow, our media believes an Indian making a smashing speech and “putting the white man in his place” suddenly means India’s moment has arrived in the world. That we made them realize how small they were and that they had nowhere to look. Again, debating skills have nothing to do with real power.
Morality apart, there is no denying that we are in the era of real, raw, hard power. India needs to build enough raw, hard power reserves of its own through economic growth and cutting-edge military investments. Maybe hard power is what we will need to sort out all kinds of neighboring conflicts we have going on.
The era of peace and dialogue is gone for now. Be powerful on your own, or get defeated by someone more powerful.