Responding to US’ public castigation of Israel for repeatedly imperiling the MoU with Iran, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently told Trump administration and the world that he has other friends too, that the country is not as isolated in the world as the US would like to think. In a recent interview to Fox News, he said, “We have some other friends, like a small country called India. It has 1.4 billion people, and boy, do we have tremendous support there.” Good for Israel.

But for most Indians who understand the fast-changing geopolitics of not only Asia, but the world at large, Netanyahu’s assertion of his friendship with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi conjures up the image of two men on the Olga beach in north Israel, alone, oblivious to the death and destruction around them, doggedly ignoring the rising haze of global isolation.

Netanyahu’s isolation is the consequence of the unending genocide against the Palestinian people, including unimaginable horrors inflicted upon the Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons. Modi’s isolation is the result of a foreign policy driven by ideology in which Pakistan has been cast as a permanent enemy and China as a formidable rival who India must be seen to be equal to through whatever means possible, even if it means riding piggy-back on the US.

The result is that India has been reduced to a spectator to the power-defining changes taking place in the world. Since it is driven so much by ideology, it is unable to see that the corner it had chosen for itself is on the wrong side of history. One would have imagined that as the leading global south nation and among the biggest Asian countries, when the developing world would rise India would be in the front row. But at precisely that moment, India chose to ignore its geography and jumped on to the US-led global north ship, which is sinking.

One of the reasons India has made this choice is the unresolved Kashmir issue and government of India’s insistence that there is nothing to talk about on this matter. This sentiment shapes the cover story for July, with a report from Kashmir being the anchor, supported by perspectives on South Asian neighbourhood, all of whom regard China as a valuable partner.

Of late, we have been paying greater attention to India’s much neglected Northeast, both through articles as well as interviews. In this issue, FORCE regular contributor Nandita Haksar interviews an important Naga leader, L Adani Mao, who talks about why peace has been elusive in this restive region and why soft borders can solve many problems. Softer border is an idea which Kashmiris also cling to—the ability to go across to meet family, to do trade or simply for pilgrimage. It’s an idea worth holding on to.