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.
Courtesy: PMO
Over the past thirty years, the U.S. and Iran have been at odds over Iran's alleged nuclear weapons programme. India too has a large stake with both countries - with the U.S. as a strategic partner and Iran for its oil imports - and resolving this conundrum will require some creative diplomacy.
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: Asia Briefing
China’s Outbound Direct Investment(ODI) has reached commercially and geo-economically significant levels and begun to challenge international investments by other countries. Local provincial companies of China are among the fastest growing area in outward investment.
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.
Given the immediacy of rising tensions around Iran’s nuclear programme, what can India and the U.S. do to resolve the issue? Gateway House’s Manjeet Kripalani talks to Ambassador Frank Wisner about the possibilities of a strike against Iran and its effects on the India-U.S. relationship.
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.
