Kuala Lampur, Aug. 18 -- Picture a bull let loose in a fine porcelain store, snorting, swinging its horns, smashing centuries of careful craft in a single blind charge. That's Washington under Trump. And somewhere across the Himalayas, the dragon and the elephant - once clawing and tusking at each other on frozen ridges - are suddenly glancing at the wreckage and wondering if maybe, just maybe, they'd be better off sharing a drink than watching the shop burn.

For two decades, India and the United States had been edging closer, stitched together by the shared obsession of containing China's rise. Washington loved the idea of India as the democratic counterweight in Asia - young, hungry, and ready to outgrow Beijing's shadow. Modi was fete...