The Unknown Indian vs. European Bigots

Wall Street Journal writes today, admiringly, of Laksmi Mittal.

A takeover of Arcelor would take Mr. Mittal a long way toward realizing his vision of a dominant global steelmaker in an industry for decades characterized, and brought low, by fragmentation. To pull it off, Mr. Mittal needs to break an Old World taboo against takeovers, hostile or otherwise, involving a company dear to Continental protectionists' heart. That this task falls to a man born in Rajasthan, and raised in Calcutta, is one of the more delicious gifts of globalization.

Contrast this favorable attitude of the American conservative establishment with the typical (continental) European bigotry Mr. Mittal is currently enduring.

The attacks on him have been vicious. Valery Giscard d'Estaing, the former French president, warned against giving into economic "laws of the jungle." A former French finance minister referred to Mr. Mittal as "an Indian predator," although his company is traded and based in Europe and he hasn't lived in India for 30 years. Mr. Dollé, the Arcelor boss, said Rotterdam-based Mittal Steel is a "company full of Indians" that wants to buy his with "monnaie de singe." The expression means "monopoly money"--Mittal's offer is mostly shares--but the literal translation is "monkey money." That double-entendre wasn't lost on people.

Let there be no mistake. The arrogant and pathetic Europe is frightened of India -- it's exactly the place where Indians need to feast on as we build up our global power. Given the myopia of their fading years, they see us as a barbarian enemy, and we respectfully -- and with compund interest dating back to the years of their barbaric colonialism -- reciprocate the sentiment. In a long twilight struggle, it's Europe that will eventually bite the dust.

That America will likely be our ally in this, is the real "delicious gift of globalization"!