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.
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.
Courtesy: Ministry of Defence, India
India must revisit the need for a unified command structure, to effectively use the enormous combat power it is developing at such astronomical cost. A balanced force-restructuring based on operational needs can enable the armed forces to project itself as a single, viable, effective war machine.
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: U.S.ArmedForces/WikimediaCommons
Asif Ali Zardari, who previously made sound pronouncements on Indo-Pakistan ties, will soon be the first Pakistani President to visit India since 2005. Though he has a reputation and interest in business affairs, a modest, innocuous deal may work better this time than the lofty promises made in the past.
Courtesy: PMO
Although political discourse around Iranian sanctions is binary and stark in Washington, the reality of India's actions within its bilateral framework with Iran is complex. India is engaged in an excruciating tightrope walk, and has to defend its choices and compulsions with ardour.
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.
Courtesy: PascalSubtil/Flickr
At times of declining growth rates and marginal economic reforms, there is a need for leaders in India to balance their needs with their budgets. With the absence of a comprehensive national security doctrine, can India afford high-cost acquisitions like the MMRCA deal?