Latin America Update, April 2014
In 'Latin America Update' Gateway House lists some of the important events in Latin America over the past month
Courtesy: Google Maps
Courtesy: Google Maps
Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons
The Left surge in Latin America
Latin America continues to turn to the Left. Michelle Bachelet became president of Chile in March and has promised fiscal reform; Salvador Sanchez Ceren took over as president of El Salvador in June and will tackle inequality; and in Costa Rica too, the centre-left Luis Guillermo Solis assumed power
Courtesy: Indianhillybilly and Ambuj.Saxena/Wikimedia Commons
Election 2014: A view from the U.S.
As India goes to the polls, many in the U.S. and at home will hope that a new government will usher in a new era in the India-U.S. bilateral. Yet, past condemnations of the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate and the Obama administration’s liberal leaning bureaucrats might prove to be stumbling blocks
Courtesy: U.S. Central Intelligence Agency/Wikimedia Commons
South China Sea: a new war brewing
China is reportedly taking advantage of the situation in Ukraine to further its claims in the South China Sea. Its aggressive stance has pushed the Philippines to approach The Hague for arbitration. There are concerns that the tensions could lead to a breakdown of trade routes in the Western Pacific
Courtesy: Alfred A. Knopf
Book review: Igniting a debate on U.S. war policy
‘Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War’ paints an unflattering and scary picture of the workings of Washington. The book stresses that U.S. presidents have too often been too quick to use military force
Courtesy: Staff Sgt. Christopher Allison/Wikimedia Commons
Afghanistan: At a turning point
The presidential election is vital not only for Afghanistan’s future but also for the stability of the region. The ensuing race has thrown up candidates from various ethnicities and they face an uphill task with a resurgent Taliban and a former President who still hopes to be a force in the political arena
BRICS versus the G8?
A new equation is emerging between the BRICS countries and the informal grouping of the most industrialized economies, called the G8. The G8 has been reduced to G7 following Russia’s suspension. Of late, BRICS have taken an assertive stand against the G8 in economic as well as the geo-political fora
U.S.: prolific on sanctions
The recent U.S. sanctions against Russia and the Ukraine is the latest in a long list of countries and organisations that have been targeted by Washington over the past decades. In the table below, Gateway House looks at the U.S.’s prolific sanction programme
‘Ukraine is a vital trading partner’
Debabrata Saha, former Indian Ambassador to Ukraine, talks about the ongoing crisis in Ukraine and its likely impact on bilateral trade ties. In an interview to Gateway House, he also examines India’s position on the crisis in the backdrop of worsening U.S.-Russia relations
Courtesy: Jeremy Edmunds/Flickr
A new house for sovereign ratings
Efforts to reform credit rating agencies after the 2008 financial crisis have failed to address concerns about their ability to assess a nation’s financial status. Issues like private interests and a disregard for the diversity of development models have made it imperative to think of a new multilateral agency