North Indians travelling south of the Vindhyas experience disconnect in terms of body-language versus verbalisation. “Yes” in those parts is emphasised with a side-to-side shake of the head. That gesture means “no” in most other places. Foreigners visiting India are often equally foxed by namaskars. Putting palms together is common to many forms of prayer and not employed much as a peer-to-peer greeting outside India.
Every culture has its own greeting system, including Scotland where “greeting” is slang for weeping. Eskimos rub noses. The Japanese bow according to a carefully graded system, where the degree of inclination holds deep significance. There’s peer-to-peer bowing, inferior-to-superior bowing, superior-to-inferior bowing, temporarily superior-to-inferior bowing etc. The wrong bow is insulting and allowances are not made for spondylosis.
Did US President Barack Obama make the wrong bow to Emperor Akihito? No, for the Japanese media hasn’t remarked on it. But there’s been a row on the other side of the Pacific because he bowed at all. Some Americans think he should have stuck to the egalitarian western handshake since they see all bows as an expression of inferiority.
The misconception arises from insularity. A bow is the Japanese equivalent of a handshake and means no more and no less than Mrs Obama wearing a kimono. But the gesture, which may have been an attempt to show cultural sensitivity, does come at a point of time where the diplomatic context has altered.
A year after winning election, Obama’s mission to recapture the hearts and minds of allies, unhappy with his predecessor’s penchant for unilateral action, continues. It has to because the US cannot go it alone.
The report card is not good. Iraq and Afghanistan are twin quagmires with no apparent solutions. America cannot withdraw, nor can it hope to win without vigorous action taken in cooperation with reluctant coalition members.
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The US economy is still deep in recession and unemployment near an all-time high. The trade deficit is of alarming dimensions. The Wall Street bubble may not yet have claimed its last victim. An attempt to redefine healthcare has not been very successful.
The reservoir of hope and goodwill, which existed when Obama took the oath, is running low. He has little wiggle room. He cannot antagonise the Saudis — they supply oil. He cannot antagonise the Japanese, or the Chinese. Their support of the dollar gives US consumers a chance to bootstrap out of trouble. If the East Asian giants change currency policies, the greenback could go into an unpredictable tailspin.
America remains the most powerful and richest nation by some distance. But it is a deeply vulnerable giant. More vulnerable than it has ever been since the Berlin Wall fell and the Soviet Union dissolved.
It’s realistic of Obama to acknowledge those vulnerabilities as he has tacitly done. Unfortunately, the US is not well versed in dealing from weakness because it is so unfamiliar with the situation. Historically it has dealt from strength, whether it’s been isolationist or engaged.
Missteps are inevitable in implementing new and unfamiliar policies. Obama has offended China by asking (however politely) for less censorship. He’s offended India by dragging China into the Indo-Pak relationship.
Offended or not, the world cannot do without America. There is no alternative engine of growth. Therefore, the world must help US recovery out of self-interest. It’s up to the US’ allies to understand where the US is now coming from.
By meeting Obama half-way as he reboots US diplomacy, it may be possible to reduce the unipolarity. Peer-to-peer may be a distant dream even for Japan and China, let alone India. But the space clearly exists to ease towards a world order where the US is just first among equals.