Obama’s Challenges In Syria
President Barack Obama’s case for intervening in Syria is legally weak, internationally divisive and morally hollow Read Here – The Hindu
Tag: Russia
Unleash Diplomacy, Not Missiles in Syria
The alternative to the proposed US strike is not inaction, but rather a more comprehensive approach which takes into account the underlying reality in which the horrors at al-Ghouta took place: the proxy war in Syria. Come what may, only talks aimed at achieving a ceasefire, including wrangling with Russia and Iran, will stop the […]
Terror Threats And People’s Rights
By the time Tony Blair left office in 2007, he had built a surveillance state unrivalled anywhere in the democratic world. Parliament passed 45 criminal justice laws – more than the total for the previous century – creating more than 3,000 new criminal offences. That corresponded to two new offences for each day parliament sat […]
…And Whatever Happened To Emerging Markets?
When the U.S. financial system crashed in 2008, market watchers were increasingly romancing the idea of a “decoupling” that would separate emerging-market fortunes from those of the subprime-hobbled U.S. Such economies as Brazil’s and China’s, the thinking went, had the demographics and national balance sheets to keep growing and wowing as America foundered. Never happened. Read […]
Iran’s Long Shadow Over Afghanistan
Iran has positioned itself as an important regional actor in Central Asia and is committed to playing a role in neighboring Afghanistan. As U.S. troops draw down their numbers in Afghanistan, Washington should consider how improved U.S.-Iranian relations could further long-term U.S. policy goals in Afghanistan and in the region. Read Here – Carnegie Endowment […]
China’s Search For Its Peter The Great
China’s leaders going back to Deng Xiaoping have made the case that the country could—and should—pursue economic reform before political reform. Now, they are pursuing neither. Why? Economic reforms, initiated at the end of 1978 by Deng, have enriched state institutions, and these institutions have been able to translate economic success into political power. They […]
Is Putin Relevant For Obama? Probably Not
Despite the distraction posed by Edward Snowden’s continued presence in Moscow, the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama would like to inject some positive momentum into the flagging U.S.-Russia relationship. The Kremlin, however, evinces little interest in making progress on issues that are important to the White House. If that remains President Vladimir Putin‘s approach, the Moscow summit in early September is in jeopardy, and Putin may find he does […]
Crude Is Not Always Sweet
In the public perception, it is almost axiomatic that overseas oil assets constitute energy security. It assumes that ownership confers rights of unqualified access. There is a belief that if you own hydrocarbon assets in any corner of the world, it automatically and ineluctably entitles you to physically access those resources as and when you […]
Russia’s Post-Soviet Grandmaster
What changed Putin’s largely positive attitude toward the United States were the “color revolutions” in Ukraine, Georgia, and Kyrgyzstan, which he saw as U.S. actions to displace Russia from its “zones of interests,” at best, or, at worst, as a dress rehearsal for a regime change in Russia itself. Putin then changed tack and left […]
The Two K’s – Kashmir And Kalashnikov
It was not the lethality of the AK that India feared, for it had a million-strong army to counter it. It was the psychological change that the assault rifle unleashed everywhere it went. AK stands for Avtomat Kalashnikova, and 47 denotes 1947, the year of its adoption by the Soviet military. The assault rifle made […]
looking beyond borders 