One tends to believe that democracies can be allies. The reality is that two nations become allies not because they are democracies but because they have common interests. The India-United States relationship is a classic example: Far from being allies, they remained “estranged democracies” precisely because their interests remained divergent and uncommon. Yes, India and the US have some commonalities, especially on the issue of security and terrorism. But they have far too many arenas of divergences. So much so that this has been a considered view of this writer that the US and India can be friends, but they...