Courtesy: nazeah/Wikimediacommons - Ramesh Lalwani/Flickr
The year 2011 saw various events - the Arab Spring, anti- corruption protests, Europe's sovereign debt crisis - transform countries and reshape the world order. Gateway House takes a look at what these events mean for India, and presents India's top foreign policy cheers and jeers for the year.
Courtesy: U.S.ArmedForces/WikimediaCommons
The 'memogate' fiasco in Pakistan highlights, yet again, the tensions that exist between the country’s political establishment and the Pakistan Army. While the final acts of this maneuvering are being played out, will the all-powerful Army continue to push the civilian government into a corner?
Amidst myriad country groupings that already exist – BRICS, IBSA, APEC, SCO and many others – a new initiative in the Pacific is looking to integrate more powerful countries to form a multilateral free trade agreement – the Trans Pacific Partnership. How important is this towards the reshaping of trade and power?
Courtesy: Gage Skidmore/WikimediaCommons
The U.S. presidential race for 2012 is on, and the Republican Party will see a Gingrich vs Romeny face-off. One must, however, invoke the cliché that ‘a week is too long in politics’ as an insurance against faulty predictions.
Courtesy: White House photo/WikimediaCommons
The Wahhabis, who now merit NATO backing, continue on their global mission of converting the Muslim Ummah to its relatively harsh and antediluvian ways of thinking and living. For NATO, this is a geopolitical miscalculation that will have tragic security consequences for the alliance within a decade.
Courtesy: US Army/ Flickr
President Barack Obama is receiving pressure from domestic politics and Israel to maintain his stance on a nuclear free Iran. Will the United States go so far as to attack Iran, and if so, can it deal with the consequences?
Courtesy: Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff/Flickr
The 'double-dealing' of the U.S. and Pakistani army - all with the ambition of military dominance - has significantly aided various terrorist groups. After 26/11, there is no place to hide for the Mike Mullens and countless others who have been apologists for the Pakistan army and the state it controls.
Courtesy: Kash_if/Flickr
In the aftermath of the Mumbai attacks, the Pakstani deep state role was highlighted. The U.S. has come to realise this reality too. Bilateral information sharing could prove to be vital to combat terrorism - both regionally and globally.
Courtesy: isafmedia/Flickr
Last May, U.S. citizen David Headley confessed to being a spy for the Lashkar-e-Taiba. What no one has tackled yet is whether there are other Headleys out there whose actions threaten India, or any other country. Even with thousands of intelligence agencies scouting for terrorist activities, are we really safer?
Courtesy: Gateway House
Today, both India and Brazil face the risk of an increase in communicable and non-communicable diseases, given the inefficient healthcare delivery systems. How can these nations help each other implement policy changes – to weed out hiccups to healthcare systems – and serve as a model for developing nations?