Tom Sharpe, a retired Royal Navy officer clinging to old maps and older mindsets, has declared India an “enemy” in The Telegraph. Not neutral, not even misguided, but an enemy. Why? Because India buys discounted Russian oil, still uses legacy Russian military gear, and refuses to parrot Western lines on Ukraine.
It’s laughable. But more importantly, it’s revealing.
This isn’t just about India’s defense policy. It’s about British discomfort with the one thing it can no longer control: an assertive India making its own rules.
The Decline Lecture Circuit
Sharpe served in the Royal Navy, once the pride of empire. Today, Britain has to rely on American air cover to patrol its own ships. And yet, here he is, thumping the pulpit, demanding loyalty tests from India — as though London still issues global report cards.
News flash: it doesn’t.
Post-Brexit Britain is in the middle of an identity crisis. Its economy is sputtering. Its global clout has shrunk. Its foreign policy mostly piggybacks on Washington’s. And while it desperately tries to punch above its weight on the world stage, it thinks it can keep former colonies in check by scolding them in op-eds.
Not going to happen.
The Oil That Broke the British Nerve
Let’s talk about oil. India, like any sane country, looks out for its energy security. When Russian crude came cheap, it took the deal — just like Europe did before February 2022. Even after the war started, Germany was still funding Putin’s gas empire through Nord Stream 1, and the UK wasn’t exactly rushing to shut its Russian business doors.
BP and Shell made billions off Russian assets before exiting. London’s luxury housing market? A playground for oligarchs, many of them Russian. If this is about moral purity, Britain’s ledger isn’t clean — it’s soaked.
So why single out India? Because India didn’t ask for permission.
Weapons, Not Worship
India’s use of Russian-made weapons is treated like some kind of betrayal. But this isn’t 1945, and India isn’t a client state.
It built its military ties with Moscow decades ago — when the West was arming Pakistan to the teeth. And now, as India indigenizes its defense industry and diversifies with U.S., Israeli, and French tech, Sharpe chooses to zero in on a warship from a legacy deal. Convenient.
India also conducts military drills with the U.S. Navy. It’s a key player in the Quad. It signed logistics and data-sharing pacts with Washington. And just last year, it signed a landmark jet engine deal with GE. That’s not how an “enemy” behaves.
It’s how a confident power plays both sides — because it can.
The Real Issue: India Won’t Bow
Sharpe’s article isn’t about arms or oil. It’s about control — or the loss of it.
India is the world’s most populous country. It’s on track to become the third-largest economy. It’s not asking anyone how to vote at the UN, how to trade, or who to align with. That independence is unsettling to a country used to calling the shots.
This is why Sharpe lashes out. Not because India is doing anything illegal or immoral — but because it’s doing things on its own terms.
Lectures From a Glass House
Britain bombed Libya into chaos. It joined America in wrecking Iraq. It sold arms to Saudi Arabia as Yemen burned. But now it wants to talk about ethics?
If moral consistency mattered, Sharpe wouldn’t be writing about India. He’d be writing about Britain’s own war record.
But that’s not the point, is it? The point is to guilt-trip India into falling in line. That tactic might work on a junior partner. But not on a country that stood up to empire and never forgot the cost of foreign advice.
Be Careful What You Push
If voices like Sharpe’s grow louder, the West risks losing India not just strategically, but emotionally. There’s a quiet patience in Delhi’s diplomacy — but don’t mistake it for deference. Push too hard, and that balance might shift.
And if India stops sitting on the fence and walks off the Western side? The loss won’t be India’s.
Final Word
India doesn’t owe Britain a justification for its choices. It isn’t violating any law. It isn’t propping up autocracies. It’s playing the global game smartly, on its own terms. That’s not a threat — that’s sovereignty.
So no, Mr. Sharpe. India is not your enemy.
But it definitely won’t be your subordinate.
Read More: Decades Later, Pakistan Still Lives in the Shadow of July 5
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