India Should Replace Russia in G8: McCain

The Times of India
Mar 28, 2008

WASHINGTON: India and Brazil should replace Russia in the Group of Eight (G8) forum, US Republican presidential candidate John McCain has said in a major foreign policy address that defends his hardline views on the ongoing war on terror while forsaking the Bush administration's unilateralism. The 3800-word speech, billed as McCain's most comprehensive foreign policy statement, has upbeat references to India, citations that might please New Delhi considering another Republican administration is a distinct possibility given the bloodletting on the Democratic side. Another Congress-led government in India may also have to carry the nuclear deal forward with a McCain administration if it is not consummated during the current dispensations. Outside this narrow perspective too, McCain's address at the Los Angeles World Affairs Council contained much that would resonate well with New Delhi, including promises of US alliances with democracies, an ideal that McCain himself has help dilute with support to dubious military regimes like the one in Pakistan.