In a sharp attack on President Donald Trump, a former Pentagon official accused the US government of being “hypocritical” by “lecturing” India on its purchase of discounted oil from Russia.
Michael Rubin said Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recent visit to India is seen as Trump’s “gross incompetence” by the majority of the US people.
“It 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. Because Donald Trump isn’t going to admit that he is the one at fault. If you’re the 65 per cent 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,” he told ANI news agency.
Rubin’s comments were in response to a question on Putin pledging uninterrupted fuel supplies to India during his talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi—an offer that came amid heightened US pressure on New Delhi to curb oil purchases from Moscow.
The former official underscored US’s “hypocrisy”, noting that Washington itself is involved in trade with Moscow.
“India is the most populous country. It’s soon going to become the World’s third-largest economy, and for that, it needs energy. 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,” he said.
‘US owes a vocal apology’
Rubin further remarked that the Trump administration needs to tender a “vocal apology” to India for its actions over the past one year, including the imposition of 50 per cent tariff on Indian imports. He noted that the interests of the US are much more important than “one man’s ego”.
“What we need is quiet diplomacy behind the scenes, and perhaps, at some point, a more vocal apology from the United States for the way we have treated India over the past year…President Donald Trump doesn’t like to apologise, but the interests of the United States, world democracies are much more important than one man’s ego, no matter how inflated it is,” he said.
