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If we accept the US to do something for us, we too have to be able to offer a quid pro quo, remembering that in international relations, national interests are supreme, sovereignty is (sometimes) equal but power and reach are not equal.

One of the most awaited and celebrated events of 2010 in India was the State visit of US President Barack Obama from November 6-8. Considerable amount of discussions and debates had taken place both before and during the visit.

On the eve of his recent visit to India, in an interview to an Indian newspaper, King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia remarked that "India should have an observer status in the Organisation of the Islamic Conference similar to that held by Russia." He added it would be "beneficial" if India's entry was proposed "by a nation like Pakistan."

If Narendra Modi becomes prime minister, he will join a select band of predecessors who can be called "outliers" - a scientific term used to describe phenomena which are outside the normal experience.

In the US presidential election, dominated by domestic issues and with little focus on foreign policy, outsourcing has emerged as a point of discussion. India is one of the top countries to which the US outsource work.

It is not the first time that the Pakistan army has accused the R&AW of fomenting trouble in Pakistan. India should be cautious of what lies behind this seemingly sudden provocation. The Pakistan army prepares the ground for a major attack against India and its assets by raising the pitch of allegations to whip up public support at home. This has been the case in the past, including the Mumbai attacks of 2008.

The big paradox that the US confronts is the need to confront China and Russia at the same time. Clearly, even the mighty US does not have the energy and resources to do that. Beijing is, of course, quite self-confident because it is locked into the western economies and is, in that sense, sanctions proof.

There is an irony in the government's crackdown on Ford Foundation that seems to have escaped most observers. In the 1960s, the principal critics of the Foundation were the Indian Left. Now, the government and critics of foundations and NGOs fail to realise one thing. Now we are a self-confident, resilient society with institutions that have gained considerable depth. We are also a transparent and open society.

Once Narendra Modi steps away from the minefield of Nepal's domestic discourse on the Hindu state, the Indian Prime Minister will find the shared Hindu and Buddhist heritage a solid foundation on which to build a new and lasting edifice of bilateral cooperation.

The simple fact is that there are no easy answer for progressives, whether in Europe, Asia or America.

Strategists in New Delhi would have to factor in that a two front confrontation with Pakistan and China cannot be ruled out. US response in this case is an uncertainty. We need to remember that in the ultimate analysis, China is the resident power and the US is a distant power.

It is easy to criticise Nehru today. His priority then, as it remains that of our country today, is to take poor Indians out of poverty and protect the country's territorial integrity. Given the circumstances, he did not do a bad job, and he did it without murdering millions as was done in China, or overturning democracy, as was the case in many countries of the time.

The real American dilemma is to find allies in Islamabad who reduce and not multiply anti Americanism

The terrorists may be an extreme minority, but they have successfully coerced the majority?or, to be more accurate, enthralled them?into sympathy for them. They have successfully also intimidated a large number of writers, artists, journalists, film-makers, many of whom live in exile.

The impact of the Kachin conflict should also be evaluated in terms of Myanmar?s ties with other nations, especially Japan ? a nation that is one of the principal aid providers and architects of Myanmar?s path to development.

The Modi government needs to break from traditional, statist methods of conducting water diplomacy and distinguish itself by including the concerns of basin inhabitants on both sides to find a lasting solution to the Teesta issue.

It is time to conduct a reality check on the India-Pakistan peace process. In fact, there is a particular urgency for it. For, the peace process seems to have got hijacked by secessionist elements in Kashmir and Pakistan who never had any stakes in it.

Australia is back for the second year in a row, underscoring the Quad’s deepening commitment to cooperation in the Indo-Pacific.

As India, Japan, Australia and the United States renew their quadrilateral cooperation in the Indo-Pacific, there are suggestions to expand the ‘Quad’ into a ‘Quad-plus’ grouping to include the countries of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). This brief argues that the Quad will not have much to offer to ASEAN; it has, in fact, the potential to dilute ASEAN centrality which is the pillar of the regional bloc.  India, too

The President of Pakistan had expected his handpicked Prime Minister, Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, to perform his bidding and strengthen his position. But President Musharraf was disappointed. He, therefore, felt that a change was essential in order to secure his own place and keep the other power players content.

¿Arise, ye Arabs, and awake!¿ was the seditious 19th century slogan of Arab nationalism in its infancy. It aroused them against the Ottoman rule but did not hinder the subsequent imperial designs of Britain and France. The moment of liberation became the start of newer forms of dominance.

The proximate political failures in both these cases are greater than in 2012, and require a more robust political response

By organising the two-day Lahore convention through Hafiz Sayeed and his Jihadi organizations of LeT and JuD, Pakistan wants to demonstrate that the people of Pakistan are not happy with the way the events have taken place in Kashmir.

It was evident at some of the various Track 2 dialogues a few years ago, where water from Kashmir was the issue that Pakistani delegates wanted to discuss saying that this could become the new flashpoint. Actually, water from rivers that flow through Kashmir has always been the real issue for Pakistan and not Kashmiris or their religion.

Once the US successfully built and used nuclear weapons to devastating effect to end the Second World War, other great powers of the time realized that the acquisition of nuclear weapons was essential to maintain their status. In 1970, after three decades of hectic developments,

The first part of this effort documented the various acts of omission and commission by the non-proliferation ayatollahs that led to the 1998 nuclear weapons testing of India, followed by Pakistan. However, the stark reality of the consequences of the dubious policies adopted by the NPAs towards Pakistani and Chinese proliferation came to light recently in the exposé of the Pakistan¿s ¿nuclear father¿ Dr.A.Q.Khan and his nuclear smuggling rin

Iraq is back in the headlines, loaded with euphoria. The electoral exercise has been undertaken; the results have yet to be announced. The running commentary on CNN on January 30 tended to suggest a near perfect exercise. No mention of course was made of the invasion, the occupation, the Iraqi dead, the reduction of Iraq to a stone-age condition, the falsehood of the pretext for war and the failure to find traces of weapons of mass destruction

Afghanistan fell to the Taliban in August last year and since then, serious security concerns have arisen for India. There is the spectre of terrorist groups in neighbouring countries gaining strength; there is also the threat of Indians travelling to Afghanistan to either live as civilians desiring a home under “Islamic rule”, or else fight alongside terrorist groups. Indeed, other South Asian countries such as Bangladesh are reporting that

At some point in the near future, everyone will have a smart digital device. The new digital divide will be of those with access to interactive digital content and those without.

Like the proverbial phoenix of Greek mythology that rose from its ashes, the Taliban is resurrecting in Afghanistan. The good news is that the ¿rising Taliban¿, on the one hand, is supposed to be moderate, and on the other hand, seems to have severed its links with Al Qaeda. The bad news is that it is still the Taliban.

The Modi-led government is placing a strong accent on the use of soft power in India’s foreign policy. One of the more novel manifestations of these initiatives has been engagement in Buddhist diplomacy. The Buddhist faith, due to its emphasis on peaceful co-existence and its wide pan-Asian presence, lends itself well to soft-power diplomacy. This brief will examine India’s attempts at leveraging its historical and present-day associations wi

As India places the Mekong sub-region among its priorities under the country’s ‘Act East’ policy, the ongoing India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway project––currently the only land connectivity project between India and the Mekong countries and the wider Southeast Asian region––could prove to be a game changer. It is imperative to explore ways to ensure early completion of this strategic communication link. This paper focuses on

There is no dearth of evidence that shows how cross-border connectivity brings manifold benefits to the countries involved. In the Bay of Bengal and Indo-Pacific, greater engagement amongst the countries in these geostrategically and economically significant regions has become more crucial in the recent years. This report analyses the potential for greater connectivity in the Bay region within a collaborative framework involving India, its easter

India and Germany, on their own, are important countries in their respective regions. Together, they have developed and diversified their partnership since the end of the Cold War. Yet, popular perceptions have historically failed to match what the governments are doing. This paper argues for better perception-building between the two countries, given its proven role in nurturing international relations, especially for countries like Germany wher

Russia and Pakistan have never really had warm relations. Following Pakistan’s independence in 1947, then Prime Minister Liaqat Ali Khan was invited by both the Soviet Union and the US. He chose to visit the US, mainly because the US had 2 more capacity to help Pakistan economically.

For over seven decades the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia took justifiable pride in the stability of its political system, the tranquility of its social scene, and the in the overall loyalty of its citizenry. The compelling simplicity of the Saudi flag reflected the cohesion. Occasional murmurs of discontent, and an eruption or two in recent decades, did not belie this judgment.

As India joins the SCO, it must keep in mind certain geopolitical realities.

The 55-45 percent Scotland referendum against independence has revived the on-again-off-again discourse of the kind among Sri Lankan Tamils (SLT), one more time. Rather, certain Tamil web campaigns have cited even a 'No' vote in Scotland to justify their demand for a referendum in the SLT community.

The 2004 annual piracy report published by the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) had noted that the Tsunami tidal waves that hit Sumatra in Indonesia might have destroyed the piracy related infrastructure. Some of the pirates may have even perished in the disaster. Besides, there was also a large naval presence and may have acted as a deterrent against piracy activity in the Malacca Straits.

Rekindling a romance is never easy. However, if the expansive agenda unveiled by Modi and Obama is matched by bureaucratic purposefulness in Delhi and Washington, India and America have a second chance at building a strategic partnership of considerable consequence.

India ranks 114 out of 142 countries in the Global Gender Gap index this year. Except Pakistan, most of the South Asian countries rank higher than India. What the index shows is a reflection of reality that no matter how rapidly India grows, women's status in society needs faster improvement.

An Indian Prime Minister's visit to China has always been of strategic significance. Rajiv Gandhi's visit to China in 1988 following Wangdung episode resulted in the formulation of Mutual Understanding, Mutual Accommodation and Mutual Adjustment for a long-term Sino Indian boundary solution.