US ‘hypocritical’ when lecturing India: Ex-Pentagon official on Russian oil trade
The former Pentagon official also questioned whether the US can provide India the fuel it needs at lower prices and in the quantities needed.
Former Pentagon official Michael Rubin criticised the United States' stand on India's purchase of Russian oil, while calling it “hypocritical”.
“The US is being hypocritical because we purchase from Russia. We purchase goods and materials for which we don't have alternative markets. We are being hypocritical when we lecture India,” Rubin said in an interview with ANI news agency.
Rubin further said that India “needs energy”, adding that it is the “world's most populous country.” “What Americans don't understand is that Indians elected Prime Minister Modi to represent Indian interests,” the official said.
The former Pentagon official also questioned whether the US can provide India the fuel it needs at lower prices and in the quantities needed.
“…If we do not want India to purchase Russian fuel, what are we going to do to provide fuel to India at a cheaper price and in the quantities India needs? If we don't have an answer for that, our best approach is simply to shut up because India needs to take care of Indian security first,” Rubin said.
The former Pentagon official also spoke about Putin's visit to India, calling it a result of Trump's “gross incompetence.”
“If you're the 65 % of Americans who dislike Donald Trump, according to the recent polls, then what we are seeing now is the result of Donald Trump's gross incompetence,” Rubin told ANI.
Rubin said that the US President deserves a Nobel Peace Prize for “bringing India and Russia together the way he did.”
“From Russia's perspective, the visit is extremely positive, and India has bestowed honours on Vladimir Putin that he can hardly get anywhere else in the world,” he told ANI.
He further added that Putin's visit “is being perceived in two different ways.” "If you're Donald Trump, it's being perceived through the lens of "I told you so" that this embrace of India towards Russia is affirming what Donald Trump wants his spin to be," the former Pentagon official said.
