The former US Republican presidential contender, Nikki Haley, recently earned a degree of infamy in the Islamic world for inflammatory comments made in support of Israeli massacres. This prompts the questions: what is her background, agenda, and scope of potential future influence?
Nikki, whose birthname was Nimarata Nikki Randhawa, is of Indian ancestry and only supposedly converted to Christianity later in life. She catered her name, religion, ideological inclinations, and even accent to appeal to America’s White conservatives. She’s part of a recent trend of increased Indian-American influence in US politics.
Despite her rebranding attempts, Nikki lacks the popular appeal of Trump, and so relied upon establishment backers for campaign support. These are the typical Neocon pro-war lobbies, Zionists, and even leftist donors. As political agendas are determined by backers, she has been unconditionally supportive of Israeli war crimes, and US imperialist policies in Ukraine and elsewhere.
Political actors with complimentary abilities tend to partner, and so it’s possible that Trump (whose actually a savvy political operator) will choose Nikki as his VP-pick. Trump has great popular appeal, but difficulties with the US establishment. Picking Nikki, or another establishment stooge, allows Trump to secure a measure of elitist support. There’s signs a future Trump presidency will more resemble George Bush’s militant brand of ‘American Exceptionalism’, than Trump’s somewhat pacifist (by US standards) first term.
In general, the rising influence of Indian nationalism (cloaked under a guise of American conservatism), and its synergistic relation with the Zionist lobby (due to a shared hostility towards the Sunni Islamic world), serves as a future threat to Turkish interests. Populists like Trump represent a lesser evil than such establishment-oriented figures, as populists are less tightly coupled to special interest politics, and the imperialistic establishment mindset.
