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Pakistan seems ready to expand its counter-terrorism strategy. But such a break from the past needs time, and a sense of ownership. Patience, therefore, will yield greater long-term returns. So, repeated public admonishment by the US will serve to be only counter-productive.

Asif Ali Zardari, 53, the 12th President of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is not new to politics, nor is he to the Machiavellian twists and turns necessary to survive in the intensely fratricidal politics of Pakistan where the final shots are called by the Chief of Army Staff.

The Indian President's presence at the 70th anniversary of the Allied victory in World War II in Russia on May 9 is in part about extending New Delhi's solidarity with Moscow at a time when many Western leaders have decided not to show up in protest against Russian President Vladimir Putin's policy in Ukraine.

President Medvedev's recent visit to India (December 21-22) has contributed to retrieving some of the ground being lost in India-Russia ties. A perception has been growing that the relevance of Russia to India has declined in the context of the changed international situation,

Politics is no more news in Maldives. Even media commentaries these days focus on culture and other aspects even as the news columns take time off to report more on crimes like abuse of foreigners by resort employees and the like.

A few days before President Obama's Indian visit, the US will witness midterm elections. If the opinion polls are anything to go by, the Democratic Party appears to be in trouble. However, Obama can utilize the polls to retool his strategy and win back the voters as Bill Clinton did in 1994.

During the meeting with visiting Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena, Modi has indicated he would like to visit Sri Lanka in March. During the tour, the Indian PM may also visit Maldives, Mauritius and Seychelles. The visit has the great potential for these nations to emerge as a collective Indian Ocean Rim voice.

Independent of the Presidential poll results, which seem to be a foregone conclusion at the moment, the run-up to the poll has exposed chinks in the rival alliances, existing and prospective.

After the Boston bombings, the big counter terrorism question for the US will be how to prevent such attacks in the future. The possibility of 'copy cat' attacks cannot be ruled out. It will be difficult to prevent or monitor the sale of pressure cookers or other utensils. Tracking the locally available incendiary materials could be a better and more effective counter action.

Iraq's Prime Minister designate, Haider al-Abadi, a member of the Shia-led Islamic Dawa Party, must build an inclusive national government and unite Iraq's fragmented ethno-religious communities against the rise of the Islamic State (IS).

The US has placed India in the category of 'closest partners' for defence cooperation. The official spin was that New Delhi would now be on the same footing as the closest allies of the US such as Britain. That may be the endpoint that New Delhi and Washington have decided upon, but it is far from the current reality. Both sides would need to do an enormous amount of work to attain that goal.

One of the critical issues that seem to have missed the Indian-Pakistan peace process is terrorism. Pakistan has quietly managed to keep the issue on the backburner by raising the issues of Baglihar dam and Kashmir.

Digital financial services have benefits but pose privacy risks that harm consumers, merchants, markets, and nations alike. Some payments systems in India suffer from vulnerabilities because they were not prospectively designed on the basis of the ‘privacy by design’ principle. At the back-end, the centralised storage of data is risky. At the front-end, faulty capture devices enable data misuse. Across the middle mile, data is transmitted wit

Long before Snowden, it was suggested that the best way forward was to abandon 'the Internet' and embrace multiple internets, essentially privatising networks. The splintering of the Internet is one possible consequence of viewing Internet rights through the prism of private property.

CyberSpace is a free-wheeling mind- Space at the cutting edge of innovation precisely because of the absence of sovereignty and artificial barriers. Declaring sovereignty here is as absurd as extending one's jurisdiction deep into the minds of others.

The G20 meeting in Seoul next month ( November 11 and 12th) for the Finance Ministers of the twenty member countries that include India, China and the US, is likely to be a stormy one judging from the controversies surrounding the state of the world economy.

For their survival and success, terrorist organisations need recruits, sanctuaries from which they could operate, funds and arms and ammunition, explosives and other material required for their acts of terrorism. Where, in addition, sponsorship by a State is available, it adds to their strength and to the difficulties of the counter-terrorism agencies in dealing with them.

The workforce participation rate of India’s women is significantly lower than that of the men; and amongst the women, the employment levels of urban women are lower than those of their rural counterparts. Using the findings of the 2018 Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), released in 2019, this brief provides an overview of the current state of female labour force participation in urban India. It analyses data on vocational training and employm

The application of emerging technologies in humanitarian assistance has increased in recent years, and they have proven effective in delivering life-saving interventions to populations in need. In a fast-changing technological landscape, the use of such tools is only expected to increase further. At the same time, however, the use of technologies brings certain challenges, such as misuse of data and the spread of misinformation. This brie

In the recently inked sustainable development goals (SDG's) which identify international cooperation priorities and set the paradigm for global cooperation, India would be a key contributor laying emphasis on south-south development cooperation as an important pillar of the SDG's post 2015.

The Observer Research Foundation hosted an exciting, in-depth interaction with Nepalese Maoist leaders Prachanda and Baburam Bhattarai on November 18, 2006. Addressing their first international audience together from the same platform, the Maoist leaders put before the distinguished gathering, which included political leaders, former diplomats and members of the academia and media, their vision about a new Nepal which they would like to bui

Japanese are leaders in global technology dealing with energy efficiency and energy savings. As a result, Japan has lowest energy intensity amongst all countries. This situation was brought about in a dramatic change after the 1974 oil shock.

Moscow took serious note of the event and President Dmitry Medvedev sent his envoy to the northwest region Ilya Klebanov and Deputy General-Prosecutor Aleksandr Gutsan to Kaliningrad for an emergency meeting

War on terror was the rationale for the occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq. What was the rationale for the destruction of Libya and now persistent destabilization of Syria?

The rape of the young medical student in Delhi, who was returning from a movie with a friend, is not only a failure of the law and order system but also traditional India's incapacity to accommodate the 21st century nation.

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) placed itself in a highly embarrassing situation with its decision to ban the usage of 'obscene' words in text messages. Stiff resistance from users,

The problem of female foeticide and sex selection was highlighted as a big public health concern at a seminar on 'Public Health Concerns and Reforms' organised by ORF and RLS in Delhi. It was said that India could witness elimination of 9-10% girls in the times to come.

The Centre having addressed issues in terms of suppliers' liability through parliamentary legislation in the case of nuclear power projects, the nation will have to now decide if it wants growth with risks or would be happy with riskless regression.

Some of the country's most prominent scientists, academicians, policy makers and industry leaders have pledged to come together to explore ways to strengthen research-oriented higher studies in engineering education in India. At a panel discussion on 'India's Leadership in Manufacturing: Role of Engineering Education' organised by the Observer Research Foundation (ORF), India's leading

A study done in 2010 by Observer Research Foundation for the Integrated Defence Staff, Government of India, Navigating Near: Non Traditional Security Threats to In dia, 2022', highlighted the huge deficiency that India faces and also recommendations to address some of the gaps

The results of the Assembly elections in five States, including Punjab, will be out on 6 March. It remains to be seen whether Punjab will stick to history and vote out the incumbent Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)-BJP government or whether history will be made and the latter will be re-elected.

New Delhi and Islamabad dominated dialogue have failed to come up with any solution to vexed issues like Kashmir. May be sub-regions like Punjab and other border provinces like Rajasthan-Sind.

Army and the intelligence agencies have always shaped the political process in Pakistan and things won't be any different after the 2007 general election ---- President Pervez Musharraf is all set for his re-election in 2007. He has already declared his intention to be re-elected by the present set of elected representatives.

The US would be foolish to deepen the new Cold War atmosphere by trying to isolate Russia over Ukraine developments. As for China, that option is simply not open to them any more. The reason is that the Americans need cooperation from Moscow to deal with Syria, Iran and Afghanistan.

Russian President Putin's Eurocentric approach and having a Europeanist as his primary foreign policy advisor seem to be impacting on his policy towards Asia. The clout that the Orientalists and Indologists once had in the Kremlin is well and truly gone, and the relationship is that much weaker for it.

When more than a third of the world's population does not live to see 40 on average, it is clear that securing the right to life for these people should be the only priority of global developmental processes. Can there ever be any shared values, if there is no agreement on the fundamental right to life?

Left-wing extremists, Naxalites of the People's War Group (PWG), have traveled a long away from fielding hand-held, traditional farm tools as weapons. Their sagacity is, indeed, amazing. Perhaps, to state in a lighter vein, they would give a complex to India's defence technologists, if not put them to shame.

ATTACKING the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Mr Chandrababu Naidu, on October 1, 2003, is most spectacular act that Naxalites of the People's War (formerly People's War Group or PWG) have carried out till date. The rebels have not only proved that they have the ability to strike at locations far away from their traditionally known strongholds but also that they were poised to expand their influence beyond the state boundaries.

Reports from Nepal indicated that a detained Maoist insurgent had admitted on the state-run television on November 17, 2003-nighht that the Maoists insurgents have received training in handling weapons and explosives from the fraternal People¿s War Group Naxalites of India. This is for the first time that such admittance was made in public on the national media. However, such reports of the nexus between the Nepalese Maoists and the PWG have bee

The striking capability and influence of the People¿s War Group (PWG) Naxalites¿ has steadily been declining in their flagship North Telengana Special Zone (NTSZ) area since the past few years. The death of some experienced, capable and important leaders of the NTSZ, especially in the past couple of years, in security force operations has weakened the Naxalites there.