Higher fuel prices and a poor electoral performance in key states have saddled the Congress-led UPA government with a political tinderbox at home, while it also is being asked to pick sides between old friends Iran and Israel.

New Delhi is walking a tightrope.

Trita Parsi, the founder and president of the Washington-based National Iranian Council, assesses India’s diplomatic performance so far and offers a view of how the U.S. can defuse the tension over Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.

Mr. Parsi is the author of “A Single Roll of the Dice: Obama’s Diplomacy With Iran.”

Edited excerpts:

India imports 80% of its petroleum needs and buys $12 billion of Iranian oil annually. How damaging to oil prices is Iran’s saber-rattling?
The U.S. has been trying to get sanctions on Iran and what the Iranians want to do in response is hurt the West. And one of the ways to do that is through saber-rattling that gets oil prices to shoot up. The Iranian government benefits because it’s an oil producer and exporter and the Western countries take a big hit because they are consumers. Obama takes a particularly big hit because higher petrol prices mean higher gas prices. And higher gas prices mean it’s going to be more difficult to create jobs in the United States.

Can OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia make up for the shortfall in Iranian oil production?
I’m not an expert on Saudi oil and their capacity to produce but what is clear is that whatever their capacity is, the markets don’t seem to be convinced and petrol prices are shooting up.

Despite the Iran-Israel standoff, India is pressing ahead with its economic agenda with Tehran. We’re looking at refurbishing the Chabahar port in Iran and we also managed to find a way around the West’s oil sanctions by making oil payments in rupees. How are these moves being perceived in Washington — who India has great relations with — and in Israel, from whom India buys its arms?
Both Israel and the United States are annoyed that throughout this period, India has managed to keep a neutral position and have good relations with all sides. At the same time India is such an important country that it has become difficult for the United States to increase its pressure on India too much. Obviously there will be some increased pressure but the question is how far the West can go on this issue. I’ve heard that the U.S. will now tell India that they view the relationship with Iran as “offensive” which is a step higher than how it has been viewed in the past.

And how might that impact U.S.-India relations?
The question is how far the U.S. is willing to take this and it seems unlikely that the U.S. is willing to risk a conflict with India over this issue. At the same time how far is India willing to take this? Is India willing to forgo the Iranian market and Iranian energy in order to retain its position with the West? I feel the Indian government’s calculation is that it feels it is completely unfair for the West, and the U.S. in particular, to put India in a position where it has to choose one friend over another. And some of India’s resistance is that it simply refuses to yield into such a pressure that perhaps smaller countries can succumb to, but for a rising power like India, it would be a bit embarrassing.

This piece first appeared in The Wall Street Journal’s India Real Time Blog. 

So let me back up and tell you all the nutty things I have managed to parse through this morning.

Space Ark- Iranian Style; Iran launches one mouse, two turtles and a bunch of worms into space

On Wednesday, Iran launched a rocket into space–with a special and somewhat wriggly payload.

One mouse, two turtles and some worms were packed into the “experimental capsule” in the “Kovoshgar 3 (Explorer 3) rocket and were given a one way ticket into the great yonder. The rat, nicknamed Helmz 1, and his buddies will now live out the rest of their lives on the rocket, their movements monitored by live video relayed from the space ark.

Read the rest of my piece here.

Giant hungry eagle pushes goat off cliff – Yayy DINNER!

And crazy lady found guilty of animal cruelty after piercing her kittens’ ears

What me, donkey?

We are upto our ears about what democracy should mean in the Middle East, in Afghanistan, and in Pakistan! But what about democracy in tiny places, no one has heard about?

Like little authoritarian Azerbaijan, sandwiched between Russia, Turkey and Iran.  In Azerbaijan, it took a donkey and some bloggers to get everybody yakking about the state of the nation.

CNN reports that two satirical bloggers who staged an interview with a donkey were sent to prison in Azerbaijan Wednesday, following a two-month trial for assault.  The bloggers’ actual crime that ticked off the authorities?

The interview with the donkey!

Bloggers Adnan Hadjizadeh and Emin Milli satirized Azerbaijan’s government in a popular YouTube video shortly before they were arrested, says CNN.

“There was a report by the government statistics bureau that the government bought two donkeys from Germany” for an exorbitant sum, Hikmet Hadjizadeh of Human Rights Watch said. “Of course this is money-laundering.”

So Hadjizadeh and Milli staged a press conference and interviewed a donkey, he said.

The super funny press conference (it gets hysterical mid-way) raises questions about the government’s dealings and the way NGO’s are treated in that country.

And like any self-respecting  authoritarian regime, Azerbaijan, kicked up a ruckus, clamped down on these bloggers and thew them in jail.

The bloggers plan to appeal their detention, but human rights watchers doubt there will be fair trial.

Azerbaijan is due to go to the polls next year, but in the absence of a free media, it’s anyone’s guess how fair they will be.

Hurray! Yet another corrupt, authoritarian regime! How the world needs you now!

Main takeaway from this story: Poop! You know your country needs to re-evaluate it’s political system, when you’re getting your knickers in a twist about a man in a donkey-suit giving an interview!

Photo Credit: Marcn (flickr)

Oct 6th  marked the 8th anniversary of the war in Afghanistan.  On Oct 8th, 17 people were killed in a car bomb attack outside the Indian Embassy in Kabul and on the tenth, 5 sweet men in Norway decided President Obama must be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, not so much for his “actions”, but for his “intentions.” Oh, Sweet Sweet Norway! A big Gold Star to Obama – just for not being President Bush.

We know that the U.N. doesn’t smell of sulphur anymore, but FYI, the wars are still on in Afghanistan and Iraq, Pakistan is still being overrun by militants, Iran just declared it has a nuclear facilty and China wont re-evaluate the Yen. So, what exactly was Obama being awarded for?

The Peace Prize has just served as fodder to Obama’s domestic critics who treat him like a snake oil salesman, who rests more on his charisma than achieving anything substantial.  A rhetorically gifted charmer who has just watched as the health care debate spirals out of control, unemployment peaks at almost 10% and according to Steve Kornacki of the Observer, a “first term Middle-East push, that has achieved virtually nothing.” Kornacki also mentions a rather liberal Facebook friend of his who wrote on her Facebook page: “I now have every hope of winning the Nobel Peace Prize. I’m a great speech writer and I’m full of good intentions.”

I think that’s a great indicator of how even liberals are slightly embarrassed by the whole deal. It’s rather odd because it’s the same Nobel Committee that waited for 21 years after President Carter left office to finally proffer him the prize.

Maybe, they should have waited a while for Obama to emerge from the several morasses he is in, to award him the prize. Or maybe this is just Norway’s way of giving the Prez an “A” for effort.

Read what others had to say about Obama’s win here, here and here