“A modest man,” Winston Churchill supposedly quipped about Clement Attlee, his successor as prime minister, “but then he has so much to be modest about.” We should say the same about economists, particularly their ability to forecast anything in a useful and timely manner. Those predicting an imminent American economic decline have usually been no exception. This […]
The just-concluded 13th Indo-Russian summit between visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was much bigger and important than envisaged so far. Two reasons why: (i) The two sides went ahead in signing defence deals worth $5 billion, defying the impression that Russia, which still takes care of almost 70 percent of Indian defence […]
Months of speculation about the possible development of an air-launched version of the Indo-Russian BrahMos supersonic cruise missile finally came to a head, with India and Russia announcing they had signed a co-development deal, with plans for a test-fire within six months. The deal was made public a day before Russian President Vladimir Putin was scheduled to arrive in […]
I am glad to have an opportunity to address the readers of one of the most influential Indian newspapers — The Hindu. As my visit to New Delhi is beginning, I would like to outline approaches to further development of the strategic partnership between India and Russia. This year marked the 65 anniversary of diplomatic relations […]
The crisis was precipitated by weakness in the global economy and the effects of recent policy errors. Other contributors were the strategies left over from the pre-1991 Soviet-style planning era and the Congress Party’s socialist background and bent toward income redistribution in favor of rural areas instead of economic growth. Furthermore, the elections scheduled for 2014 […]
More than half a decade has passed since the recession that triggered the financial panic and the Great Recession, but the condition of the world continues to be summed up by what I’ve called ‘turboparalysis’ — a prolonged condition of furious motion without movement in any particular direction, a situation in which the engine roars […]
Russian President Vladimir Putin will need to mix fresh ideas with his trademark patriotism and tough-guy image on Wednesday when he lays out his plans to a cynical population weary of corruption and poor state services. Thirteen years after he rose to power, and more than two decades after the collapse of the Soviet Union, […]
The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 was supposed to mark both the “end of history” and the birth of an international community founded on the universal acceptance of Western values — a world in which “market democracy” was the norm. Instead, the West has suffered a litany of disappointments — from costly wars […]
The first sign of officialdom you see when you drive from the Kabul airport parking lot is a government billboard looming above a traffic jam. It’s the size of a highway billboard in the United States, but closer to the ground, so that you can make out every nuance of the faces on it. Those […]
Recent developments in Russia have evoked memories of a famous line by Vladimir Lenin: “The courts should not do away with terror … but should give it foundation and legality, clearly, honestly and without embellishments.” In just the six months since he reseated himself as president,Vladimir Putin has been busy creating a legislative framework that might make Lenin proud. Under the Soviet legal system, the court […]
looking beyond borders 