India and Russia today jointly pledged to take forward the India-Russia-China troika forward to "promising heights." At the end of two hours of deliberations between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the two leaders waxed eloquently on bilateral relations but were almost effusive in their plans for expansion of the scope of the troika. President Putin spoke of continued meeting of leaders of the three countries and Prime Minister Singh said "We attach great importance to India-Russia-China cooperation." He said the three countries have " civilizational links and there was need for new complements to this relationship." We have an obligation to work on areas of convergence" he said.

 

India, China and Russia account for 40 per cent of the world's population, a fifth of its economy.... a serious threat to the leader of the unipolar world of today. That is if the three countries can shed their mutual suspicion and work towards giving more concrete shape to the geo-political strategic combo. It’s a happy meal that will serve almost half the world's population. Surely worth a try. Even if the US cannot digest this happy meal.

 

The unprecedented meeting in St Petersburg in July last year between Manmohan Singh, Hu Jintao and Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the G-8 summit had raised summer temperatures here. Putin has consistently criticized the so-called leadership of the US in the unipolar world. He has actively sought to encourage the troika to move forward in all spheres health care, industries, trade.

While it is ambitious to suggest that a strategic axis can be born between the three at this stage it cannot be denied that this is an area where more than half of the world's nuclear arsenal is based. When Yevgeny Primakov of Russia talked first of a "strategic triangle" it was met with much scepticism. While India-Russia ties have withstood the test of time and the collapse of the Soviet Union, the deep rooted suspicion that marks India-China relations and China-Russia relations, made Primakov's statement almost wishful thinking of a feverish mind.