The CAATSA Threat On India By Americans Turns Into A Whimper
The Elephant walking down the street just ignores the barking mongrels. In the similar manner, India has negotiated with the Russians to buy the worlds best missile defence system and is therefore just ignoring all the tantrums being thrown around by the Americans. The angry sounding barking of Trump is also being ignored.
The present course of defence ties cultivated by United States with India just cannot persuade India to abandon its considered decision to buy weapons or to abandon Russia an all time friend.
So if the naïve Trump threatens that it could jeopardize the bilateral relations if New Delhi goes ahead with its planned procurement of Almaz-Antei S-400 Triumf self-propelled surface-to-air missile (SAM) systems from Russia, then let it just happen.
A pompous American official made reference to the strong defence ties that have developed between the US and India but also to the potential for these expanding relations to be affected by New Delhi’s proposed S-400 acquisition and US legislation, the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), which proposes penalties on Russian defence customers.
The hot air filled US official said, “US-India defence ties have seen remarkable growth over the past decade. A major new purchase like [the] S-400 puts this positive trajectory at risk and may result in action under the Countering American Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).
“For that reason, we urge all of our allies and partners to forgo transactions with Russia that could potentially trigger sanctions.
We cannot prejudge whether or not any specific transaction would result in sanctions prior to the Secretary of State’s determination.
At this time, the Secretary has not made any determination regarding the significance under of any Indian transaction,” the official added.
Since being signed into law in August 2017, CAATSA has been modified by a clause introduced through the US National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) 2019 that allows for a possible CAATSA waiver under certain conditions. However, the US Department of State official said that the waiver clause comes with no assurances.
“We have made it clear that no country should count on a waiver,” said the official. “CAATSA does not have any blanket or country-specific waiver provision. There are strict criteria for considering a waiver, and each transaction is evaluated on a case-by-case basis.”
The Americans better know that their laws have been denied entry into India and ‘sanctions have been placed on their laws’.
India has never asked for any waiver from CAATSA, it is just going ahead with its purchases with Russia as it feels.The new government under Modi has taken charge.
India will now also decide on the action it will take on the purchase of oil from Iran. NO COUNTRY DICTATES TO INDIA. The Americans have already forgotten 1998 when they imposed full sanctions on India …..what happened ?
