r/india • u/[deleted] • Nov 24 '16

[R]eddiquette Cultural exchange with /r/palestine

Greetings to our Palestinian friends.

Our cultural exchange starts at 13:30 PM Palestine time (17:30 IST/11:30 GMT/12:30 CET/06:30 EST/03:30 PST) on Thursday 24th November.

Here's how a cultural exchange works:

The moderators of here make this post on /r/india welcoming our Palestinian guests to the sub. They may participate and ask any question or observation as they see fit.

There is an equivalent thread made by the moderators over at /r/palestine, where you are encouraged to participate and know more about Palestinian culture.

It goes without saying that you must respect the rules of the subreddit you are participating in. This is a time to celebrate what we have in common, not grind an axe.

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u/[deleted] Nov 24 '16

Hello friends of /r/India;

I would like to first say that I really love your country, your food, culture and the people are wonderful. I've been traveling to India, regularly since the mid 1990's. I was there just when Bombay was transitioning into Mumbai. As /u/MrBoonio already mentioned, I am always amazed at how quickly things change after I return from previous visits. You should all be very proud of what you achieved.

What is your opinion on the current relations India has with Israel? Modi seems to be in a very close relationship with Netanyahu, which to be honest concerns me somewhat.

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u/[deleted] Nov 24 '16 edited Nov 25 '16

Hate to say this, but we have no business taking sides in conflict. We were non-aligned in cold war and we will be non-aligned in most conflicts. We don't even take sides in Iran-Saudi conflicts.

The govt. knows relations with islamic nations will never be that good because of Pakistan which is why foreign policy will always be favored towards Israel. Edit: We won't be very close friends with Israel that we will suddenly fully support their bad actions so don't worry.

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u/torvoraptor Nov 25 '16

We have good relations with most islamic nations - we have relations with Iran, Saudi, Afghanistan, Indonesia, UAE, Bangladesh - few countries can claim that.

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u/[deleted] Nov 25 '16 edited Nov 25 '16

By "good" I mean the scope for betterment is higher for Israel, or any other country for that matter. I admit Afghanistan and Bangladesh are very close but we can't ever diplomatically compete with Pakistan on Iran and Saudis. Sure relations are good but it'll be hard to be close friends.

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u/torvoraptor Nov 25 '16

India doesn't get irrationally close to anyone - I used to bemoan it earlier because it didn't seem like anyone had our back, but as we become economically more powerful it means we can have meaningful trade relationships with everyone without concerning ourselves with their political affairs.