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United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is to be complimented for her candour. Her press conference in Moscow with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov unavoidably focussed on Iran's nuclear plans and Mr. Lavrov said Iran had the right under the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT) to the nuclear fuel cycle. Dr. Rice said, "this is not a question of rights but whether or not the fuel cycle can be trusted in Iran."

Until the early 1990s, India’s urban local bodies (ULBs) were under the complete control of the states, having little functional, financial and administrative autonomy. The 74th Amendment Act of 1992 sought to make ULBs self-governing institutions. Many salutary provisions were made in the Act and there have been certain positive outcomes since it came into effect in April 1993. However, many key issues have remained unresolved and at present,

India’s desire to play a more significant role in global governance should not cause anxiety in the United States. While India won’t promote every U.S. priority, it won’t jeopardize U.S. core interests.

Afghanistan has eroded US power and credibility. A transactional America will now encounter transactional friends

In 2011, the government set up a task force to examine the processes and procedures related to national security in India and come up with recommendations to fix the problems and plug any gaps that emerged. The panel, chaired by former Cabinet Secretary Naresh Chandra, submitted its report to the Prime Minister. Now the bureaucratic grapevine suggests that the report may soon meet the fate of other similar endeavours: getting shelved.

Speaking recently in New Delhi, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said the Government was committed to modernise the armed forces, but "that there is a need to exercise financial prudence and optimise all available resources".

Trump’s rise symbolises the US’s polarised polity, but he is only the manifestation of the disease, not its cause.

Port cities are playing an increasingly vital role in driving economic growth within the blue economy. This paper examines how these cities, particularly in the Global South, can strike a balance between economic development, social equity, and environmental sustainability. It emphasises the imperative of integrating local contexts—especially the needs of indigenous peoples and local communities—as well as cultural heritage into urban plannin

Urbanists are divided on whether high urban density is a boon or a curse. Its champions maintain that it promotes greater productivity, fosters innovation, and enables economical space utilisation. The other side argues that excessive compactness destroys a city’s permeability, heightens the ‘urban heat island’ effect, increases congestion, eliminates green spaces, reduces inclusivity, and increases vulnerability to climate change and disas

Post-India's surgical strikes in aftermath of Uri attack more questions than answers for Pakistan's ruling establishment?

There were serious lapses in following Standard Operating Procedures over the Uri fiasco.

On the surface, the two-day summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Barack Obama seems to be yet another step signalling that the world is headed towards a bipolar polity dominated by the US and China. But a deeper analysis will show that it is part of a more subtle effort by the US to protect its global dominance, which from the Indian point of view may not be such a bad thing.

Opinion polls could be misleading and the pandemic’s impact difficult to assess; the cyclical shift in politics is unsure

As the American presidential election draws closer, both candidates-Barack Obama and Mitt Romney-are well aware that domestic issues would be the major factors determining the poll results. Policies, related to immigration, taxation,...

This essay considers the implications of the new cyber-security agreement betweenChina and the United States in terms of the evolution of an international legal regime governingthe use of cyberspace. This agreement lays down the foundations for norm emergence in thearena, which could also carry implications for India by shaping the country's response andcarving its path towards becoming a crucial international stakeholder in the cyberspace regime

The real undercurrent of US concerns relates to how China's advancement in technologies that can enhance its rising military capabilities.

The US slipped from producing nearly 40% of the world's chips to just over 10% in the last three decades. By allocating $53 billion towards the enhancement of US semiconductor manufacturing, R&D and the augmentation of its skilled workforce in the domain, the Act sought to change China's comparative advantage

While India would be hoping that the reported secret talks between the US and Iran succeeds, avoiding a conflict, New Delhi could take a leaf out of the Chinese and Japanese strategy of reducing its exposure to Iranian oil in return for a waiver from US sanctions.

Stability in Russia-US ties will alleviate pressure on India at a time when the rise of China has changed the geopolitical calculus for  the Indo-Pacific

The US-Taliban deal must be subjected to consistent academic scrutiny as an agreement that was designed for a safe exit passage from a theatre of war for the US, not stability for Afghanistan or the Afghan people

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is emerging as a promising solution to the challenges of inefficiency and high compliance costs in the fight against money laundering. This brief examines the capabilities, benefits, and challenges of AI in the context of detecting and preventing financial crime. The brief explores the ways in which AI can aid anti-money laundering efforts, particularly by reducing compliance costs and enhancing efficiency. The findin

As global climate adaptation finance continues to fall short of the requirement, the current diversity of interpretations and fragmented markets are further disincentivising investors. A localised adaptation finance taxonomy would establish clear standards, enabling investors to compare opportunities and better assess environmental impacts. This brief argues for a sector-specific framework for adaptation finance. It examines key challenges in dev

By the very nature of the two-decades-old ethnic war and the stalled peace process in Sri Lanka, the week-end LTTE proposals falls short of the doomsdayer¿s predictions. Or, so would it seem. For starters, it confines itself to an interim administration, without formally seeking status and powers of a sovereign State, starting with legitimacy for the LTTE¿s military wing,

Time is running out for the Joe Biden administration, but there is an opportunity for Brussels to take a lead role

New Delhi’s decision to import oil from Moscow has disappointed the US and UK, but urging us not to do so as that would help the Russian economy is blatant hypocrisy.

If the stalemated war produced a truce, the stalemated peace ever since the Sri Lankan Government and the Liberation Tigers Tamil Elam signed a ceasefire agreement (CFA) in February 2002 has contributed to the revival of violence in the island-nation. The deteriorating ground situation has been accompanied by repeated calls from the Sri Lankan parties for greater Indian involvement in the peace-making efforts. This report is a summary of an inter

This brief examines how fear and anxiety during a disease outbreak can be exploited by state and non-state actors to further their political, strategic, or ideological agendas. Such fear, compounded by religious and cultural strife, or unfamiliarity with socio-cultural beliefs can provide fertile ground for the spread of misinformation from malicious actors. The brief illustrates these patterns using examples where information had been we

As liberal democracies struggle to deal with their domestic crises, China is finding it opportune to fill the gap in global leadership. China’s economic growth in four decades—called by many analysts as a “miracle”—has made its “state-controlled capitalism” model attractive especially to countries facing massive development challenges. More importantly, President Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) have their ey

America’s leader has signalled the continuity of its China policy but Indo-Pacific countries aren’t yet sure of it

Russia’s war on Ukraine, interrupted value chains, and increased regionalisation are putting pressures on the already-strained multilateral trading system. Though a strong World Trade Organization (WTO) is needed to navigate these challenges, the organisation risks becoming irrelevant if far-reaching reforms are not implemented as soon as possible. In the short- and medium-term, WTO members must agree on limiting export barriers, especi

Trusted connectivity, diversified sources of materials, and resilient financial and trading arrangements have become a strategic imperative for India

China doesn’t have the money to fulfill its infrastructure-building ambitions. That doesn’t mean the West should pay up.