COLOMBO -- A defense agreement the U.S. government signed with the Maldives this month is a sign of shifting geopolitical tides in a strategic stretch of the Indian Ocean once dominated by India, South Asia's main power.
Unlike a similar initiative seven years ago, the new framework for cooperation between the U.S. and Maldivian departments of defense went through without objection from India, a leading player in the latest version of the South Asian Great Game in which China, Japan and the U.S. are contesting for influence.
