Recent newspaper reports of China having entered into a secret agreement with Pakistan for constructing a third 1000 megawatt nuclear reactor at Chashma in Punjab province has stirred up a sense of urgency in Washington and New Delhi’s diplomatic circle to find suitable ways and means of preventing any breach of international protocol concerning nuclear […]
One of the more remarkable (though largely unremarked) developments in recent Indian politics has been the startling shift in the country’s discourse about capitalism. As in many developing countries, “self-reliance” and economic self-sufficiency were India’s national mantras after independence – and, in India’s case, remained so for more than four decades. Whereas most Westerners axiomatically […]
On a table in the office of a senior Indian diplomat sits an unusual piece of memorabilia: a baseball bat. It is signed not by members of the official’s favourite baseball team, but by the U.S. officials who participated in the inaugural session of the now well-established consultations between India and the United States on […]
There is something about the number five in Sino-Indian relations. Asia’s two giants have long defined their relationship in terms of the famous Pancha Sheela: mutual respect for each other’s territorial integrity and sovereignty; mutual non-aggression; mutual non-interference in each other’s internal affairs; equality and mutual benefit; and peaceful co-existence. Read Here – Project Syndicate
As a defender of Tamil rights, Karunanidhi is in competition with the state’s Chief Minister Jayalalithaa. She has been proactive on this front, recently ordering a school football team home from Colombo, even going to the extent of suspending a sports official. Under her watch as Chief Minister, ordinary Sri Lankans (including Tamils) have been […]
The ostensibly secular President Hosni Mubarak took 18 years to come to secular India to receive the Indira Gandhi Prize for International Understanding; he had visited China more than once during that time. The avowedly Muslim Brotherhood member President Mohamed Morsi is visiting India within two years of assuming office. The conclusion suggests itself. Mr. […]
U.S. sanctions that went into effect on February 6 also make it nearly impossible for Iran to repatriate foreign currency. India currently buys Iranian oil by paying into an in-country escrow account managed by the Iranian government. India’s oil purchases now act as a kind of domestic stimulus: India used to pay for oil in […]
When a friend behaves badly, it’s easy to take a time out. Stop taking their phones calls, pretend to be out when they come to apologise. But responsible nations don’t have the luxury of ignoring each other. That is why diplomacy can be a messy business, as India and Italy are learning this week. Read Here […]
Nations that want to be taken seriously must match their actions with that aspiration. The refusal to send back Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone — the Marines aboard the merchant ship Enrica Lexie accused of shooting and killing two fishermen off the Kerala coast after mistaking them for pirates — may win the new Italian government brownie […]
As China, Japan and many other nations face an aging demographic profile, the youth segment of India’s population is growing rapidly, and is projected to continue to do so for the next 30 years. Provided India can act quickly on health, education and employment, this demographic dividend has the potential to inject new dynamism into its flagging economy. […]
looking beyond borders 