The words have come to haunt many now, but when Jaswant Singh, external affairs minister, had spoken of India and Israel being on the same side in the clash of civilisations on a tour of that country in June 2000, he was roundly berated. Things come full circle as Israel's Foreign Minister Shimon Peres arrives in India on January 7 to reciprocate that visit. His stated agenda for the five-day trip includes exchanging views on "bilateral, regional and global issues of mutual interest". The world has changed so much in the past year that it is expected Israel will seek India's support in the West Asia crisis.

This is a far cry from the way things were even 10 years ago, when the two countries did not have diplomatic relations. The P.V. Narasimha Rao government opened formal ties in 1992 by establishing an embassy in Israel. Since then relations, particularly in the military and security spheres, have grown much. So have Arab and Pakistani fears of Indo-Israeli cooperation. In the immediate aftermath of the World Trade Center bombing, a Pakistan newspaper was inspired to quote Osama in Laden as saying Israel and India, along with Russia and Serbia, may be to blame. That rumour has been buried under the rubble in Afghanistan but others about nuclear and anti-terrorist cooperation persist, and reports of Israeli agents in Jammu and Kashmir surface from time to time.

Peres' visit has been preceded by Israel stating Kashmir is a part of India. Though India has long been a supporter of the Palestine cause, and Israel enjoys close links with China, there is clarity now on both sides that some threats are shared. That India needs Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAVs) and Israel makes the best UAVs in the world is among aids to friendship. Fears of upsetting the Islamic world and segments of the Muslim vote in India have held back open cooperation in the past. Peres will be hoping things are different this time.

-Samrat Choudhury

LEARNING
Race Issue at Harvard

Race and gender demand absurdities in political correctness. Larry Summers, former US treasury secretary and Harvard University's new president, is lately discovering this fact of life courtesy a spat with teachers of the Afro-American Studies Department. The matter, which has now snowballed to the point where Cornel West, one of only 14 professors at Harvard, is threatening to walk out, began with a whimper of protest. Summers remarked that West ought to do some serious work sometime after the professor recorded a rap CD. Things shortly took on a racial hue and questions on Summers' support for affirmative action were brought in. Bill Clinton's old friend now finds himself trying to make peace with his new-found detractors.

-Anil Padmanabhan