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As the Year 2005 draws to a close, it is worthwhile to find out where are we today on the path of reconciliation with Pakistan? Is there a process to the peace?

Professional diplomats will find little that is new or startling in the Wikileaks cables. For them the quality and content of reporting in the leaked cables is quite standard fare. Transmitting to Headquarters information gleaned from contacts, assessing its worth,

Given the need to prioritise growth in the developing world, the goals must be 'development-climate compatible,' not, 'climate-development compatible', according to Dr. Youba Sokona, coordinator, African Climate Policy Centre (ACPC) based in the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.

The thaw in the India-Pak relations has opened a new window of opportunity. In the first stage, it will assist in India hosting the Heart of Asia conference next year and may also lead to a fruitful visit by Modi to Islamabad for the SAARC Summit.

Overall, the infrastructure sector is the winner in this year's budget. The allocation to the sector will go up by 700 bn rupees in 2015/16 over last year. But this sector needs consolidation in policy framework starting from approval to implementation and an institutional mechanism for fair pricing and competition.

Bangladesh's bilateral relations with India got a major boost with its Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's visit to Tripura on January 11 and 12. Sheikh Hasina visited the north-eastern Indian State to attend the convocation of the Tripura Central University at Agartala.

President Barack Obama's State of the Union address to the US Congress begins with America's recent military engagement in self congratulatory terms. Among the more modest claims is: "For the first time in two decades, Osama bin Laden is not a threat to this country".

ORF Chennai chapter pays tribute to R K Mishra, Chairman of the Observer Research Foundation.

The story doing the rounds in Delhi is that in another exhibition of generosity, India is about to withdraw from the Saltoro Ridge (commonly referred to as the Siachen Glacier) in the interest of peace, but without securing the country¿s strategic interests.

If Hindu extremism prevails, India will have little to give the world and be in no mood to learn. Unless the PM acts now to check these negative forces, Modi and the agenda for India could end up being a minor part of the vast collateral damage.

At a roundtable on the situation in Bangladesh, experts underlined the need for ensuring a credible election in Bangladesh for the country's stability and the strengthening of India-Bangladesh relations.

If internecine clashes in the eastern Afghan city of Herat are a sign of the things to come, peaceful political evolution of the country seems to be a messy affair. Around 50 people had been killed in those clashes that continued for eight hours in one of the more stable cities of Afghanistan.

In Delhi, the Army still honours its martyrs in the airport parking lot as, ostensibly due to security concerns, it doesn't have access to the reception area built last year.

West Bengal Governor M.K. Narayanan thinks that India must carve out an area of influence for herself as China has made it clear that it is not going to restrict itself to Western Pacific, and so, there is high likelihood that China will come into the Indian Ocean because of its interest in oil.

It is becoming increasingly clear that a resolution to the Kashmir dispute cannot be delayed much longer if the peace process between India and Pakistan is to yield tangible results in the foreseeable future. This period cannot be longer than five years.

It is time that the Modi Government carried out a comprehensive assessment of our internal security structures and put in place measures to enhance their efficacy. Also, the feasibility of the earlier proposal by the army for permitting lateral movement of its personnel into the CAPF needs to be re-examined.

The government has to free India's top 50 institutions across all disciplines from the iron grip of UGC and AICTE. The institutions must be given the freedom to devise their own course curriculum. After all they have the best subject experts.

There is uncertainty in the availability of domestic coal and in this context there is probably a need to rethink India's energy security strategy based on domestic coal

Clinton's India visit was only moderately successful with not much progress on nuclear liability issues and Afghanistan. But the good thing is that both countries are talking out their differences, showing their commitment to taking this mutually-beneficial partnership to a new high.

Nepal's relationship with China has historical links and thus is not new. Their first recorded official engagement dates back to the middle of the seventh century when Nepal's adventurism in Tibet led to Chinese intervention in favour of the latter.

This is the biggest protest campaign in Afghanistan since the ouster of the Taliban regime. This is bloody, widespread and countrywide.This also shows that they are fed up with the United States and they just needed a spark to vent their feelings.

The central administration in China is wary of a protracted confrontation about the public in Hong Kong, and considering the nature of the demand, a prolonged protest would certainly be an embarrassment to China in the global political arena, says a China expert.

The Indian army’s higher leadership must reflect on its role as the sword arm of the republic, and have a clear vision of itself as the upholder of law.

It does not require much investigation or analysis to prove that Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf is not really inclined to set his house in order when it comes to terrorism.Take his July 22 address to the nation. He seemed to be at pains to explain how Pakistan itself was a victim of terrorism.

There is a strong sense in Japan today that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and India's new Prime Minister Narendra Modi would take India-Japan relations to a new height, say senior officials and scholars in japan.

Mr. Larry Diamond, Senior Fellow in Stanford University, US, spoke on 'Horizontal Accountability: The Quest for Effective Democratic Governance, at an Interaction of the ORF Chennai Chapter of the Observer Research Foundation, on 12 December.

Most of the joint exercises being conducted by security forces, like like the Malabar 2015, are of the simple basic variety and, hence, really provide no 'net value addition' to the Indian force that participates. Thus, approvals for such exercises should necessitate a case-by-case approach in the future.

With the US and EU, who together are responsible for the makeup of 46% of the world economy, preparing to enter into the largest trade deal in history, the TTIP, the question of how the BRICS adapt and consolidate their position globally is one that holds considerable relevance. The options available to the BRICS are limited.

In 1990, China's GDP was roughly the same as India's and parts of its infrastructure, such as its railway system, were considered inferior. Today, China's GDP is around $9 trillion and India's is $2 trillion. The high speed train travelling at 300 kph from Shanghai to Beijing signals the extent to which China had pulled away from India.

During a discussion on "Urban Middle Classes and the Ascent of New Politics in India" at ORF, it was noted that success should not be measured in terms of the ability to ensure successful electoral outcomes but as an attempt to make better societies.

The Centre seems to be keen on development of Free Trade Agreements with our East Asian and South-East Asian neighbours. The general idea floated in this context is: Trade is good. More is better. But, unbridled market force in the form of unbridled trade without the concomitant safeguards in regulation and risk management mechanisms might not be a wise idea.

Before the elections in the beginning of this year, the authorities of the Iraqi Government had announced warrants for the arrest of 29 Iraqis and foreigners, who, according to them, are either former members of the Saddam Hussein Government or part of the Abu Mus¿ab al-Zarqawi terrorist network of the Al Qaeda.

It might be interesting to analyse our diplomatic handling of China and Pakistan on a comparative basis. These two countries pose the most difficult and complex foreign policy challenges to us. Is our approach to both countries similar, or there are differences in the way we engage them?

The behind-the-scenes drama had all the ingredients of a potboiler.

A World Bank report on 'State of Social Safety Nets' paints an overall positive picture, with over one billion people worldwide being included under at least one safety net initiative. But the reality is that more than two-thirds of the world's 1.2 billion poorest are not covered.

150 innocent lives have been lost in the serial blasts set-off by terrorists in Mumbai on July 11, 2006; the death toll is likely to mount. The blasts, sadly, are a chilling reminder that terrorist can strike with impunity and at will, secure in the comfort that they cannot be touched. If the 1993 Bomb blasts in Mumbai had a fig leaf of an excuse (the demolition of the Babri mosque), the current blasts have none.

Terrorists have taken to the use of social media networks in a big way. This brings us back to the old dilemma of how much data is information and how much information is adequate intelligence. The other dilemma is how much surveillance is enough for security. The third dilemma is how much liberty is to be sacrificed for security.

The quest for media management in an environment of a media so controlled is a quest for the impossible.

In the US, the party primaries to elect the candidates for the November election have begun. It is clear from the primaries that the Republican party is seeking to return to the middle ground from the excesses of the past when it was held hostage by the right-wing Tea Party.