Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons/Htoo Tay Zar
The West is quick to claim that their sanctions against Myanmar have forced the government to implement political and economic reforms in the country. However, such bans do not usually achieve their stated purpose of forcing regimes to change their behavior.
Courtesy: U.S. Department of Defense
An important take-away from the preliminary pact reached by Kabul and Washington is that unlike the 1990s, the Americans are not just packing their bags and leaving. This is good news in terms of regional stability, and the upcoming NATO summit may answer some questions this draft agreement raises.
Manjeet Kripalani, Executive Director, Gateway House blogs about the hurdles social entrepreneurs in India face and the alluring idea of an India-South East Asia Social Enterprise Corridor.
Courtesy: LGEPR
With turmoil in the Middle East, a drawdown in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Iran-Israel-U.S. conflict, the international community has paid little attention to the democracy of a small group of people - the Bahrainis. More worrisome, however, is that politics now responds to the elite.
Courtesy: Flickr/freeedomania
By forcing regime change in Libya, and attempting the same in Syria, and by promiscuously arming disparate groups of Wahabbis and Salafists to achieve this aim, NATO is creating more room for instability in the region. What Syria needs is engagement, not isolation; it needs dialogue and not the arming of rebels.
What are the implications for India if Iran is attacked? How effective has the response been by gulf nations to their own protests? Ambassador Talmiz Ahmad, India’s former Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, discusses the dynamics of West Asia with Gateway House’s Alisha Pinto and Azadeh Pourzand.
The scope for any process on nuclear talks with Iran to founder on distrust, misunderstanding and political in-fighting in both Tehran and Washington remains formidable. Equally disturbing are the wider political realities. Can the upcoming talks in Istanbul launch a process that can, over time, lead to agreement?
Courtesy: World Economic Forum/Flickr
The emerging BRICS economies agree that the West should hold less sway in the global economy. But their leaders, despite regular summits, have failed to articulate a coherent vision because of divergent interests, says journalist Martin Wolf.
Courtesy: Saurabh Das/AP Photo
The 4th BRICS Summit in New Delhi has brought a new dimension to emerging markets. The author explains why the summit was perhaps the most significant of the BRICS meetings so far – and one that should have the developed world really worried about their eroding position at the top of the global heap.
Kostas Botopoulos, Greece’s point-man in money markets, speaks to Gateway House's Akshay Mathur about Greece's bailout process, building consensus within the European Union, the reforms demanded by stakeholders and what it all means for India and the global economy.
