India, Oct. 28 -- External affairs minister S Jaishankar's flagging of India's concerns, such as increasing constriction of energy trade and access to markets at the East Asia Summit in Malaysia, came at a time of growing disenchantment and worries over the disruptive impacts of the trade and tariff policies of the US administration. Jaishankar also raised the selective application of principles and the failure to practice what is preached - an obvious reference to the doublespeak at the heart of US and western sanctions aimed at India, which is not the only buyer of Russian energy. These sanctions and punitive actions have already created market distortions, driving up crude prices and triggering fears of a shortage of supplies.

It has ...