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The alphabet soup at Goa
Oct 13, 2016

The alphabet soup at Goa

This weekend at Goa Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his foreign policy team will undertake a significant manoeuvre with SAARC grouping gasping for breath

The Andijan uprising - the Back Ground
May 16, 2005

The Andijan uprising - the Back Ground

The violent uprising of the people of Andijan in Uzbekistan on May 13,2005, seems to have been crushed for the time being by the Uzbek authorities with heavy force, resulting in the death of at least 20 civilians. The anti-Government elements, which organised the uprising, claim to have captured 30 Uzbek soldiers and to be keeping them in their custody.

The Arab divide on Syria
Sep 02, 2013

The Arab divide on Syria

The Libyan case is vastly different from that of Syria. The maverick Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi had few friends in the Arab League. Unlike Libya, Syria is a critical element of the regional balance of power in the Middle East.

The Arab Spring & India: Promises and Challenges
Jul 20, 2011

The Arab Spring & India: Promises and Challenges

Saeed Naqvi, Distinguished Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation, traveled to Bahrain, Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, Baghdad, Najaf, Amman, Cairo, Jerusalem and Ramallah after the Arab Spring broke out. Earlier, he visited Tunisia, Iran, Yemen, Somalia, Sudan, Western Sahara and Libya. In this paper, he shares his first-hand experiences and discussions with leaders and diplomats, many of whom have requested anonymity. This paper follows

The art of the deal with America
Jan 29, 2015

The art of the deal with America

To understand the strategic significance of the second summit meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Barack Obama, it is necessary to look beyond the very important and tangible outcomes that the two leaders have unveiled.

The Baloch want to tell their story
Jan 09, 2014

The Baloch want to tell their story

Whatever be the demands of the Baloch nationalists, the situation now is that of a growing humanitarian crisis that the rest of the world chooses to ignore. Continued indifference will not help the problem go away but will only exacerbate it further and make it more intractable.

The battle for Kunduz
Oct 17, 2015

The battle for Kunduz

Kunduz has a large ethnic mix of Pashtun, Uzbeks, Tajiks, and others - all of whom wish to hold the province. The recent move to capture Kunduz by the Taliban is significant in many ways. It is the first major engagement by the Taliban after Mullah Akhtar Mansour succeeded Mullah Omar.

The battle for States' rights in India
Feb 24, 2012

The battle for States' rights in India

Though it will be difficult for the Central Government and the States to agree upon certain foreign policy issues, they should work together on issues of national importance-such as terrorism and foreign policy-in order to enact policies that benefit its citizens.

The Beslan Jihadi Carnage & After
Sep 09, 2004

The Beslan Jihadi Carnage & After

From the available facts of the jihadi terrorist carnage at the North Ossetian town of Beslan in Russia on September 3, 2004, the following reconstruction is possible:

The best of both worlds
Nov 15, 2013

The best of both worlds

The West has finally woken up to something that strategic analysts in India have been saying for decades: Saudi Arabia funded the Pakistani nuclear programme. In this connection, we have three questions to analyse; First, how valid is this information? Second, how is it then that Saudi Arabia gets away with so much? Third, why is Nato and Israeli intelligence taken seriously but not the Indians?

The Bhagidari Programme of Delhi Government
Jun 04, 2008

The Bhagidari Programme of Delhi Government

In January 2000, the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi initiated a 'Bhagidari Programme' as an attempt to resolve the various problems being faced by the city's residents. Smt. Sheila Dikshit, the Honorable Chief Minister of Delhi, visited the Observer Research Foundation campus on April 10, 2008 to make a presentation on the programme. The discussion was facilitated by Ambassador M. Rasgotra. This discourse is an abridged documen

THE BIGGER PICTURE: Can China and India now press the reset button?
Aug 27, 2013

THE BIGGER PICTURE: Can China and India now press the reset button?

China is looking at their problems and working on them and willing to shift established positions if the situation so demands, while India seems to be trapped in the verities of the past and are unable to move beyond tired slogans and nostrums.

The BRICS view on Iran: India's motivations
Apr 20, 2012

The BRICS view on Iran: India's motivations

The problem with imposing sanctions on a country which has the world's third largest proven reserves of oil and second largest conventional natural gas reserves is that the implications are felt globally. The price of oil is highly correlated throughout the world due to market arbitrage.

The Budapest Convention and cyber cooperation
Mar 18, 2015

The Budapest Convention and cyber cooperation

There is no universally accepted international cyber treaty. However, the Council of Europe?s Budapest Convention on Cybercrime, which has been in force for a decade and has been ratified by 44 countries, is the closest.

The Bush - Blair media campaign backfires.
Dec 10, 2003

The Bush - Blair media campaign backfires.

The good old days of media diplomacy launched by Washington and London to justify the Iraq invasion seem to be getting over.The American and the British administration had successfully hijacked media spaces across the world to build legitimacy for the offensive on Iraq.

The Caucasus and Iraq - The Chechen Connection
Jun 25, 2004

The Caucasus and Iraq - The Chechen Connection

On June 22, 2004, over 200 well-armed persons simultaneously raided three towns in the Ingushetia Republic of Russia, adjoining Chechnya, and attacked police stations, government buildings and checkpoints with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades. The Russian and the local security forces were totally taken by surprise. Ninety-five persons were killed, the majority of them members of the security forces and other Government officials,

The Centre, the State - and Tamil Nadu
Jan 30, 2013

The Centre, the State - and Tamil Nadu

There is an urgent need for the appointment of a new commission, on the footsteps of the Sarkaria Commission and the Justice E Venkataramaiah Commission, to review Centre-State relations, and State-to-State relations.

The Chicago chance
May 22, 2012

The Chicago chance

If the Obama Administration avoids the temptation of returning to business as usual with Rawalpindi, it has an opportunity to get both Afghanistan and Pakistan right.

The China Big Picture
Oct 15, 2011

The China Big Picture

India needs to take a broad approach to its foreign policy. One of the biggest mistakes Delhi could make would be to see the Indo-Vietnam relationship as simply a means for countering China.

The China factor in the global coal market
May 10, 2012

The China factor in the global coal market

The idea of energy security which was hitherto rooted in the supply and price of oil has now been expanded to include concerns over the availability and trade of coal. The key concern is the demand growth from China and its impact on coal price and availability, given the level of concentration in its sources of supply.

The China-India Defense Dialogue
Apr 20, 2015

The China-India Defense Dialogue

China is touting its vision of linking two Indian projects (Mausam and Spice Route) with its One Belt One Road (OBOR) initiative. China's main goal is to coordinate regional policy so that each country's economic development plan becomes part of a larger regional vision.

The Chinese are coming
Apr 03, 2015

The Chinese are coming

While West Asia is volatile, the Chinese are beginning to get more active in Afghanistan, retain their pre-eminence in Pakistan and strengthen ties with Iran. In fact, Iran is the third leg of China?s policy in our immediate western neighbourhood. The Chinese are obviously making preparations for the time when peace returns to the Arab world, which might leave a stronger Iran.

The Chinese interest in Special Drawing Rights
Apr 26, 2011

The Chinese interest in Special Drawing Rights

The fall in the value of the dollar would be worrying the central bankers in China because the value of their reserves also declines simultaneously. The promotion of the SDR agenda by the Chinese is certainly no coincidence given the position of the dollar today.

The complex battlefields of Iraq
Oct 10, 2005

The complex battlefields of Iraq

Yemen is the cradle to the Arabs, Iraq their grave. So goes an Arab proverb. Since March 2003 Iraq has certainly been the grave of a great many Arabs ¿ men, women, and children caught in the crossfire of a conflict wantonly unleashed to sustain a misbegotten thesis.

The cow, India's icon: Who'll pay the price?
Jun 05, 2017

The cow, India's icon: Who'll pay the price?

The Centre has chipped in by banning the export of beef and cows, thereby minimising the incentive for cow slaughter.

The curious case of India and China
Oct 29, 2013

The curious case of India and China

India and China, the two pillars of the dawning Asian century, are still prisoners to their perceived insecurities and imagined magnificence. They seem condemned to "never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity," as one wise man had once remarked. And Mr Manmohan Singh's China visit has added yet another chapter to this narrative.

The decline of America
Mar 23, 2010

The decline of America

The decline has gone unnoticed because of the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War

The Delhi Blasts: What Next?
Nov 09, 2005

The Delhi Blasts: What Next?

The three synchronised Delhi blasts of October 29,2005, have proved¿¿if further proof was needed¿¿that the motivation and the morale of the pan-Islamic jihadi terrorists belonging to the International Islamic Front (IIF) formed by Osama bin Laden in 1998 continue to remain undamaged, despite the successes scored by our security agencies in neutralising many of their sleeper cells.

The Disappearing Crafts
Feb 04, 2005

The Disappearing Crafts

Indian designers seem to be gaining in importance both in India and abroad because they are using a lot of embellished textiles in which intricate embroidery, zari, beads and semi precious stones are sown into the fabric. Unlike the western designers who use the cut of the dress or suit as the unique selling point,

The doctrine of "national interest"
Nov 05, 2005

The doctrine of "national interest"

In a perceptive essay written some years ago, Joseph Nye had observed that "national interest is a slippery concept used to describe as well as prescribe policy." Decades earlier, the philosopher Gilbert Ryle had cautioned against "systematically misleading expressions" couched in a syntactical form improper to the facts recorded.

The DPJ and the Parliamentary Stalemate in Japan
Feb 09, 2011

The DPJ and the Parliamentary Stalemate in Japan

The Democratic Party of Japan ( DPJ ) has been in power for about a year and a half. Despite scoring a landslide victory in the House of Representatives election in August 2009, the ruling party has failed to cash in on this great opportunity.

The dragon in the room
Dec 21, 2012

The dragon in the room

India has indeed sounded the trumpet of defence diplomacy as part of its engagement with the ASEAN over the last two decades. If Delhi does not help promote a stable balance of power in Southeast Asia now, India's own security challenges in the future could get a lot more daunting.

The drift to a national security state
Aug 03, 2013

The drift to a national security state

Ensuring national security is an important attribute of a modern nation-state. But as the erstwhile Soviet Union realised, the threats to the state these days do not come from orthodox sources. And looking at India with its nuclear weapons and huge armies, it is even more difficult to believe that any combination of external and internal threats can actually pose an existential challenge to the nation.

The dying embers of the old order in Asia
Mar 30, 2017

The dying embers of the old order in Asia

Countries like India that have relied on the extant order for furthering their economic and security agendas will have to rethink their own roles and priorities

The Earthquake: A Tragedy and an Opportunity
Oct 15, 2005

The Earthquake: A Tragedy and an Opportunity

Fifty-six years after the ceasefire line was drawn between the Indian and Pakistan occupied Kashmir, the underlying seismic fault lines have made a mockery of this line. This map delineation, which was renamed as Line of Control after the 1971 Indo Pak war, has gone out of control, at least temporarily, by the fury of the nature when the earthquake struck this area on 8 October.

The easter bombings in Sri Lanka foreshadow a regional challenge
Apr 24, 2019

The easter bombings in Sri Lanka foreshadow a regional challenge

The shocking Easter Day terror attacks in Sri Lanka underscore a regional problem.

The Eastern Situation in Sri Lanka
Jun 30, 2004

The Eastern Situation in Sri Lanka

The situation in the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka is getting messier by the moment with twists and turns in the script has made it that much more difficult for all the actors in the ¿peace process¿.

The emergence of the New Development Bank
Jul 25, 2014

The emergence of the New Development Bank

The BRICS' National Development Bank is not trying to replace the IMF-World Bank. It will play a complementary role, catering to the needs of developing countries.

The emerging markets conundrum
Feb 17, 2014

The emerging markets conundrum

As the EMEs grow and mature, they can no longer rely on export-driven, credit-fuelled growth and must look inward to initiate deep seated structural reforms and modify their path to economic prosperity. There is a need for effective governance and strong leadership to restore the lost pride of emerging markets.

The Energy Challenge
Sep 21, 2011

The Energy Challenge

First let me say how pleased I am to be here. The Observer Research Foundation has a strong track record of building partnerships between business and policy makers, and generating innovative thinking on how to tackle the major challenges of our times.

The European Union as a security actor: View from India
Jan 15, 2015

The European Union as a security actor: View from India

What is a security actor and how is it different from being a great or major power? In many ways, this question is central to understanding the lack of appreciation of the European Union as an actor in the security arena in India and certainly in some other parts of Asia.

The evidence on Syria is thin
Sep 03, 2013

The evidence on Syria is thin

Like about the Loch Ness Monster, we have only heard that the West has proof of the Assad regime using chemical weapons. But we've seen no credible testimony. For all one knows, it may have been the rebels' doing to instigate a US military response.