New Delhi, Feb. 23 -- A new world order is emerging and India will have to defend its rightful place in it.

It all started at the annual Munich Security Conference, which is usually a quiet affair and dominated by defence ministers, diplomats, security analysts and policy wonks as they engage in dialogue to peacefully resolve conflicts around the world. It's been like this for 60 years, restricted initially to members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato) and then expanded to include other nations after the Cold War ended.

The conference's tranquillity was shattered recently after US Vice-President J.D. Vance berated European nations for straying from (what the Republican Party considers) shared democratic and liberal ideals....