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Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh wrapped a visit to Brazil at the invitation of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, President of the Federative Republic of Brazil. The Prime Minister. The Prime Minister heads next to Cuba Havana to attend the Non Aligned Movement, NAM, Summit. During the Brazil Visit, India and Brazil concluded a series of agreements on trade, technology and agriculture and agreed to elevate their relations to the level of a strategic partnership. Agreements were signed on scientific and technological cooperation, air services, human settlements, plant health protection, cultural festivals, technical standards, oil exploration and construction. In a reflection of how India continues to be a Command Economy and the State actively intereferes, intervenes to manage sports, A popular element was added to the list when on a suggestion by Dr. Singh Mr. Lula agreed to send Brazilian football coaches to train Indian players.

So as Manmohan Singh makes his way to Havana, Cuba many questions linger around the relevance of the NAM.

First a refresher on the Non Aligned Movement itself, a brainchild of the first Indian Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the NAM evolved in the immideate aftermath of World War II as nations gravitated towards one of two poles between the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, NATO and the Warsaw Pact countries. While the stated goal of NAM was not to align with either bloc, the close proximity enjoyed by the erstwhile communist USSR with India and the presence of communists states like Cuba and erstwhile Yugoslavia in NAM meant the non-alignment was in name only. While NAM was a political statement from the third world to the superpowers to not take them for granted during the cold war days, it didnt amount to much by way of collectively advancing the shared strategic objectives of the third world. The current irrelvance of Non-Alignment is a testimony to this fact.

The fossilized brains of Natwar Singh, and the communist CPI-M and CPI leaders however continue to go on an overdrive at the mere mention of NAM. That the Non-Alignment summit is taking place in Havana, has the Indian communist parties on steroids. This is exemplified by the head over heels euphoria with which they have lobbied for representation in the Prime Minister's contigent. That the Prime Minister has gone out of his way to visit  Cuba entertaining a rag tag bunch of communists raises many pertinent questions. Specifically in the light of the changing world order, the war on terrorism, the growing proximity between India and the United States and the impending elections to the UN Secretary General where India's nominee Shashi Tharoor is in the reckoning. While media focus is bound to be firmly on the Manmohan Singh-Musharraf meeting in Havana, Offstumped will be closely observing what vision Manmohan Singh presents for the Non-Aligned movement in Havana and what diplomatic gains if any his contingent brings back home.

To begin with, Non-Alignment has become an oxymoron. Non-Aligned to what ? We no longer have two warring military blocs, so for all of these nations that are congregating in Fidel Castro's Havana, the key question to be addressed is what binds them together. While the past was about coming together against something, what about the future ? What are these countries for ? What common interests or goals do they share if any ? How can they converge around these interests to advance their individual strategic considerations. The summit would be an abject failure if the NAM countries do not confront these questions. Specifically for India, it would absolutely imperative for Manmohan Singh to explain to the nations aligned in Cuba and to Indians back home, how India's strategic objectives are furthered through its commitments to Non-Alignment.

Why does Manmohan Singh have to make this case ?

Well he has to do so for the visit to Cuba comes at the expense of the visit to New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly. So if the Prime Minister deemed it important enough to skip New York for Havana and nominate Pranab Mukherjee to visit New York.  Indians will demand to know what was the strategic relevance of visiting a dictatorship, the only surviving vestige of a failed ideology in Fidel Castro's Cuba, especially in the company of reactionary leaders like Hugo Chavez of Venezuela.

This is a good segway into the the other dimension to the Non-Aligned question, which is the growing relationship with the United States, its antipathy to the Castro regime and the known anti-american stance of many NAM members. In the past NAM as a forum has been used as a platform to make anti-american political statements while not accomplishing much by way of tangible results. India's stance at the NAM must be very clear in not allowing NAM to be mis-used for any kind of no holds-barred emotion venting at any specific nation. In fact India must be proactive in advancing a positive vision for the NAM countries in accomplishing something tangible by way of shared interests rather than reduce the purpose for NAM to exist to a negative platform. The global war on terrorism specifically the Jihadi version also referred to as Islamic Terrorism or Islamo Fascism is bound to be the other contentious issue at the summit. With Manmohan Singh bound to Musharraf the world and Indians will be keenly watching on what message NAM sends out on terrorism.

With the communist allies in Prakash Karat and Sitaram Yechury keeping Manmohan Singh company, Manmohan Singh's actions and words in Havana will be treated as a measure of his government's ability and resolve to confront terrorism. Given the Manmohan Singh Government's lame duck pacifist approach to confronting the terrorism question, it would be unrealistic to expect any bold diplomatic moves in Havana. There will be a move for joint statements for or against how the war on terror is being fought or should be fought. Offstumped doesnt give much credence to these joint statements, which amount to little by way of tangible action or accountability and are at best statements for domestic political consumption of the member nations. So at the very least one should expect a blunt message to Musharraf, no concessions to Pakistan and resist the temptation to give in to any kind of Anti-American joint statement.

The other dimension and measure of success of NAM for India should be in terms of how much support India is able to garner for its nominee to the UN Secretary General post soon to be vacated by Kofi Annan, as well as its objectives for UN Security council reform and a permanent seat for India. Shashi Tharoor recieved an interesting endorsement from Tom Friedman of the New York Times today in an op-ed column. Calling him a dynamic Indian diplomat, Friedman quoted Tharoor on how the UN resolution on the Israel Lebanon Hezbollah conflict and the role of the International troops would help move towards resolving the conflict. Friedman called for the U.S. to endorse Tharoor to replace Kofi Annan. This is a significant build up of momentum in favor of Tharoor. Hence the Havana visit of Manmohan Singh while skipping New York becomes all the more a subject of debate. Indians would demand to know what kind of diplomatic gains is the Prime Minister, who also holds the External Affairs portfolio, is bringing home and what concessions has he made to win those gains, if any ? The visit to Havana would be viewed a failure if Manmohan Singh has little to show by way of support for India's nominee or support for India's cause at the United Nations.

Offstumped Bottomline: Non-Alignment has lost its meaning in the global reality of the 21st century. In a Unipolar flat world of globalized economies and assymetric non-state threats that swear by anachronistic religious ideologies, Non Aligned Movement needs to re-define itself. Unless India can sell a vision and provide leadership to this community of nations, Non-Alignment is an idea way past its sell by date. India must continue to be guided solely by its strategic objectives and must not compromise those objectives. Last but not the least Manmohan Singh must not let the Indian Communists get ahead of the nation in Havana and hijack Indian participation in the summit. by touting positions of dubious global morality.

Manmohan Singh must keep in mind these words from an unnamed International Diplomat to India

"If you want to run with the big dogs, you have to stop pissing with the puppies".