Quadrophenia

The editors of the Washington Post speak out in favor of “the Quad”, the co-op of the United States, Japan, India, and Australia, revitalized by President Trump and with whom President Biden met (virtually) last week. I agree.

However, this passage struck me funny:

That said, the strength of the grouping should not be overstated. It is not a military alliance and is unlikely to become one anytime soon; if the Xi regime launches a war in the Pacific in the coming years — say, to conquer Taiwan — it might not be of much help. Under its new prime minister, Yoshihide Suga, Japan appears less invested in the initiative than it was under his hawkish predecessor, Shinzo Abe. Perhaps most troubling, the Quad casts itself as a group of democracies promoting liberal values, but Mr. Modi’s government has been so repressive of free speech and civil liberties that India was recently downgraded to “partly free” in the Freedom House survey.

for several reasons. First, the same thing could be said of our NATO allies in the event of a war with Russia. How much help would they be really? Of them only France and maybe the UK are capable of doing their own logistics and, as we learned in 2011, not for very long.

The second reason is the passage critical of India:

but Mr. Modi’s government has been so repressive of free speech and civil liberties

I think that’s a case of the perfect being the enemy of the good. I would rather India were more closely allied with the U. S. than more closely allied with China. Which would they prefer?

If they can only tolerate views of civil liberties like those we’ve historically espoused, that pretty much limits things to the Anglosphere, i.e. the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.