Most definitely. It was purely economic than militaristic. EU companies are generally seen as superior just for being from the EU in Asia.

This is a very insightful comment, thank you. I absolutely agree with most of your points. Though one minor disagreement I’d have: it wasn’t Trump who brought on the waning of US soft power, but US’s failure in Afghanistan/Iraq/Yemen during 2nd Obama term.

Ultimately the expense in forging the US influence overseas during the Bush era came at the cost of ignoring those back home. Trump capitalized on all that resentment. In fact he still is riding on it. Coinicdentally Its a lesson Modi needs to learn from his recent election result at home too.

Sidestepping the whataboutism of US support of Iserali “invasion”, the US/EU soft power is clearly waning in the East. Sanctions are only as effective as long as everyone is willing to comply.

Others commented about misogyny etc. in India miss the fact that India is (a) not a monolith & (b) flights are too expensive for 80% of India’s population (yes, wealth disparity in India is that bad). So the men on flights are less likely to grope women than let’s say a man on a train.

I asked my Indian colleagues about this, and they said they’d use this preference for space (not purely safety). One of them also said men smell worse than women so she’d prefer a woman next to her.