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The US is a confused empire on the decline. It is not just facing an economic crisis, but also a social one. Its family system is collapsing, with married and continually married persons becoming a minority. Unfortunately, US society has not created an alternative to the family as a unit of human endeavour. Dysfunctional families are increasing and giving rise to a dysfunctional society with some schools feeling the need to install metal detectors for gun screening. Individuals are to be cared for by the state, not by their spouses or children or grandchildren. The family is broke, and so is the state. In the next 20 years, India and China will have a respectable share of global GDP nearly 40% as was the case in the early 19th century. The USs real problem is that it is still to come to terms with this reality. Obama is long on rhetoric and short on substance not unlike our own politicians and the US is now more divided than before. US society unites only when it has a permanent enemy. During the cold war, the USSR served that purpose. Now, it is radical Islam. But Obama is confused even here. He has tried flattery (in his Cairo speech, he attributed many scientific achievements to Islamic civilisation), but it hasnt worked. He has tried bribery and bullying (pandering to the Pakistani Army and the ISI is a case in point), but nothing is going to hide the fact of the US power being on the wane in many parts of the world. Since nothing works, Obama is trying the last option: arm-twist potential friends to buy peace with its real enemies. If the ISI needs to be appeased with a piece of J&K, then the US will try to arm-twist India. Heres my prediction: When Obama visits India in November, the level of violence in J&K will increase to convince him that Kashmir is the problem. Someone in the foreign office should plot the correlation between visits of US officials and mob frenzy in downtown Srinagar. In the last century, a declining British empire created havoc by partitioning India. With friends like these, India will have to play its cards carefully. We must use the clout of our huge market to invite those in who will subserve our national interests. US bullying needs to be ignored with the contempt it deserves.