India needs to learn from US-Iran conflict, just like Tehran took lessons from Iraq war |
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Opinion National Interest PoV 50-Word Edit
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India needs to learn from US-Iran conflict, just like Tehran took lessons from Iraq war
India did not choose to move away from Iran for oil; it was forced to. The fact that India managed the costs of this transition efficiently does not convert them into gains.
War does not determine who is right — only who is left.” This famous anonymous quote aptly captures the current situation in West Asia. From ancient times to the modern day, wars have been won by those with greater resources and superior military strength, and not always by those endowed with a morally better and righteous cause. Going by several analyses of past wars fought over many centuries, it is safe to conclude that a prolonged war not only fails to determine the winner, but also results in a Pyrrhic victory.
The US-Israel war on Iran presents three important features. The parties to the conflict are not yet sure whether the war has ended or is still ongoing. This is probably because they have yet to determine who started the war and what the objective was. In the absence of these two determinants, there is no agenda for negotiations and no deadline for a ceasefire.
Secondly, since the war is neither over nor ongoing, the victor and the loser are not yet evident. So, all the parties have lost the war but pretend to have won.
Thirdly, just as the Congress party in India has created a record for losing elections, the US has added one more loss of face to its list of losing wars, from Vietnam to Iran.
While we can’t know what lessons the US, Israel, and Iran will draw from this war — and whether they will at all — it is........