This brave-face tirade against the NMD, however, has lately begin to appearas one goaded more by Beijing’s increasing fears of becoming isolated asUnited States begins to engage both India and Russia. The popular theory doingrounds here is that India has almost joined the Western bandwagon with severalrecent instances provided as examples. The narration begins with ForeignMinister Jaswant Singh being escorted by Bush Junior to his Oval Office followedby sudden change in India’s attitude towards the whole NMD issue which hassince moved from becoming silent on its criticism of NMD to now an open supportfor Bush proposals. The last few press briefings by US official spokespersonshave witnessed them clubbing India along with South Korea and Japan as "goodfriends" of the United States. The US National Security Advisor, Ms.Condoleeza Rice is reported to have spoken to Jaswant Singh few hours before MEAissued that official statement expressing India’s support for Bush proposals.And finally, the special envoy of Bush Junior, Richard Armitage, DeputySecretary of State, on a tour to illicit support for Bush proposal amongstAmerican allies, included India to his itinerary of visiting Japan, South Koreaand Australia, which is seen as a paradigm shift in Indo-US relations. There areseveral other linkages that are being circulated as scholars try to decipherIndia’s motivation for this policy shift of historic dimensions.