ISLAMABAD – Andrew Korybko, an American political analyst based in Russia,yesterday blasted India’s celebrated expert Nandan Unnikrishnan for hittingbelow the belt when Indian foreign policy was criticised.
Nandan Unnikrishnan attacked Korybko on Twitter after an article waspublished by The Nation, titled: ‘Iran and the US-Indian hybrid war on CPEC(China-Pakistan Economic Corridor).
“Whatever this guy is smoking must be good stuff… freeing his mind toriot and not allow facts come in the way of a good argument,” NandanUnnikrishnan tweeted prompting a strong reaction from Korybko.
Nandan Unnikrishnan is a Distinguished Fellow at Observer ResearchFoundation, New Delhi. He joined ORF in 2004. He looks after the EurasiaProgramme of Studies.
Korybko said in a Facebook post: “Indians should be embarrassed that NandanUnnikrishnan, one of the most distinguished experts in the country and asenior fellow at the Observer Research Foundation (India’s top think tank),lost his cool and accused me of being on drugs because he couldn’t think ofany other way to deny that the joint Indo-American Hybrid War on CPEC hasfinally blown back into Iran and is destabilising his nation’s ambitiousNorth-South Transport Corridor.”
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He added: “It’s even more ridiculous that he felt the need to tag theIndian Embassy in Moscow and even his Minister of External Affairs,suggesting that he’s proud of his personal attack against me and wants toshow off to everyone that this is how Indians should respond whenever theircountry’s foreign policy is criticised.”
In his article Korybko had written: “The southeastern Iranian port ofChabahar, the terminal point of the North-South Transport Corridor thatIndia’s investing in to connect with Central Asia and Russia, was just hitby a suicide bombing that has yet to be claimed by any terrorist group asof the time of this article’s publication. Given what’s known about theregional security situation and its overall strategic dynamics, however,it’s conceivable that this attack is blowback from the joint US-IndianHybrid War on CPEC that both allied Great Powers are waging againstPakistan via their terrorist proxies of the so-called “BalochistanLiberation Army” and Daesh.”
He wrote: “The general concept put forth and vindicated in hindsight afterthe latest events is that US-Indian support for BLA and Daesh terrorismagainst Pakistan will inevitably spread across the border into the Iranianprovince of Sistan and Baluchistan that hosts the strategic Chabahar port,which could in turn hamper the efficacy of this project for connectingIndia to Central Asia and ultimately “balancing” Russian and Chineseinfluence there.
