 America pours billions of dollars in the developing world but reaps hatred because its policies are exploitative and anti-democratic.In Asia, the relentless pressures of the Chinese Communists are a menace to the security of the entire area, from the borders of India and South Vietnam to the jungles of Laos, struggling to protect its newly won independence." This is what President John Kennedy said in a State of the Union message to the U.S. Congress on Jan 30, 1961. Some 49 years later, if one were to assess what America did in the name of freedom and people one would come to the conclusion that the nations in the region had to fight against Uncle Sam's domination to stay independent. In the process, they went through innumerable privations. They learnt from the experience, America did not.
China came through safe in the economic battles that America waged. Beijing had to register its supremacy by producing goods cheaper than any other country to capture the U.S. markets. It was not a victory of communism over capitalism but of pride over arrogance. That struggle has left scars of suspicion and has made people bitter, anti-America. There has been more unfortunate fallout: Communist China has become more rigid, more dictatorial in defending its way of living. Its people, with no human rights, are suffering. To the U.S. it hardly matters because it is only interested in business.
South Vietnam had to fight the American soldiers in jungles and villages to win freedom. Ho Chi Minh, leading the Vietnamese, was not a communist but a nationalist. He wanted the U.S. to understand that their arsenal of weapons, including air power, could not defeat the determination of people who were determined to stay free. Ultimately, Washington had to withdraw but left a trail of bitterness behind. Today Vietnam is a flourishing economy, but its doubts about America lurk. The Vietnamese have not yet overcome the tyranny which the U.S. inflicted in the name of the cold war. In fact, the Vietnamese had also to confront China which was nibbling at its territory. Beijing and Washington seemed to have an understanding to chastise Vietnam. Yet Ho Chi Minh won.
India, which appreciated President Roosevelt's constructive role during the independence movement, suffered when in the late sixties President Johnson pressured Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, to devalue the rupee. New Delhi's balance of payments was heavy and it found food grains shooting up in price due to the failure of crops in the wake of drought. Washington baled it out but had its pound of flesh.
Since then, the dollar has kept the rupee down to a fraction of what it was till the mid-sixties. True, the exports increased but what India earned after devaluation was more or less the same quantum of foreign exchange but it has to sell more goods abroad. The price rise in the country was relentless. India did not recover from the ill effects of devaluation until a decade ago when it introduced economic reforms. But that act has been like bringing back the East India Company which ruled India for 150 years. America dominates markets and the equity politics. No doubt, the growth rate has gone up to average eight per cent annually. Yet the gains have gone to the haves. The lower half is poorer than before and it curses America for having imposed its type of economy or the agenda of the U.S.
The largest democratic nation in the World expected from the most powerful democracy an honest and generous deal. But Washington has its own interests to serve and it has exploited India to the maximum extent. Even after the lapse of 1.5 years of the Nuclear deal, there are many questions which America continues to pose. Red tape is understandable but dictation is not. An average Indian has no love lost for America because he has come to believe that the abnormal price rise has taken place after India hitched its wagon to the U.S.. Despite America's effort to touch as many points in India as possible, it has not gained any goodwill in any field. Even the indigenous culture has rebuffed Uncle Sam's ways. The countryside, comprising 70 per cent of India, has not given even an inch to the ha-ha and ta-ta that the U.S. represents. However, the urban elite has been somewhat hypnotized by the American way of life. There are long queues before the outlets of McDonald's and Kentucky Chicken. Jeans are common in the youth. Still the old family system has retained its uniqueness. Elders are respected and obeyed, something which has become alien in the U.S.
The worst affected country by America in the region is Pakistan. From the days of General Ayub, who captured power through the show of military prowess, the army has more or less ruled the country. America has made its way to the top brass through arms which the latter believes come in handy to level up with a powerful neighbor like India. But, in the real sense, America's actions have worked against Pakistan: One, it has cost them their democratic governance; two, it has made them dependent on the army which keeps the fires of hostility against India burning for its indispensability.
Still America is hated because the war it is waging against the Taliban has been engulfing Pakistan, city after city, from Peshawar to Karachi. People do not know what their future is and whether they would even return to normal days because of America's interference even in their domestic affairs. Washington opens it treasury to give aid to Islamabad. But Pakistan's request to have trade facilities is not accepted. The U.S. does not want to strengthen Pakistan economically but insists on using it for the war in Afghanistan or in that part.
 An American is ‘ugly' even if it pours billions of dollars in the region because it has not helped the institutions to come up. The poverty graph has not slid down. Washington's policy in the developing world is exploitative and anti-democratic. People in the region still have great respect for George Washington and Abraham Lincoln because they stood for values and principles. They promised freedom and liberty all over the world. For them, America's security was not the priority. Helping peoples to stay free was.
Today's America has only erased the dividing line between right and wrong, moral and immoral. It has dazzled the political leadership in South Asia. The manner in which President Obama bulldozed the opposite point of view at the climate conference at Copenhagen showed how obliging and subservient was the South Asian leadership. It could not stand up to Washington's pressure and acted against its own interests.
People do not hate the U.S. as such. They hate its policy of domination in the region. Washington did not come to Afghanistan to protect the people from the fundamentalists but to hunt out those it believed were responsible for 9/11. And after having ignited unmemorable fires, Washington threatens to withdraw within two years. If it had poured water, the fire might have been quenched. But when it has some other interests to serve, it cannot even curb the Taliban. People in South Asia, or for that matter, in the world, do not love to hate the U.S. They hate it all the way through. 
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