Among the many mistakes and omissions of German foreign policy is the decades-long neglect of India. Because they were fixated on China, they overlooked the importance of South Asian supremacy even when it acquired nuclear weapons.
Putin's war is now forcing a long overdue realignment in this field as well. Next to Brazil, India is the most important emerging market trying to perform a balancing act between the Western and Russian camps. This will not change overnight, but at least the Chancellor's trip once again documents that the doors are open in Berlin.
Arms purchases in Russia
India's position is shaped by several factors: an independent claim to power (tradition of non-alignment), its own rivalry with China, and arms and oil purchases in Russia. Germany and the West as a whole can exert direct influence, especially through weapons. The more armaments India can obtain from the West, the less it has to show political consideration for Moscow. The planned sale of German submarines can contribute to this, so it would be good if the deal came about.
Helpful, because in the interest of both sides, would finally be the conclusion of a free trade agreement with the EU, for which Scholz rightly demanded more commitment in New Delhi. In the end, however, how firmly Putin has to subdue in Beijing will play an important role. The closer his alliance with Xi Jinping becomes, the more it comes into conflict with Indian interests.
Such strategic questions are not in the foreground at demonstrations. At the Berlin "Uprising for Peace", Wagenknecht and Schwarzer, two representatives of old German thinking in East and West, showed that some still confuse peace with cemetery peace. They did not bring so many people onto the streets that it had to rob the chancellor of his night's sleep in faraway India.