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Despite being irresponsible and concealing information, Beijing is reaping the dividends of the global disorder

ASEAN presents a very bright instance of how to deal with the situation that holds within itself the potential of being a great example for BIMSTEC.

The race to develop a COVID-19 vaccine is gaining ground in many parts of the world. This brief examines the challenges that India must hurdle to successfully manufacture and distribute a vaccine. It argues for a fair and equitable distribution of vaccine with an aim to save the maximum number of lives. It suggests a multi-parameter model based on age, co-morbidity, income and profession to justify one’s claim for vaccine. The imperative is to

The outcome of the Third Plenary meeting of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China which ended on Wednesday in Beijing is like a typical iceberg -- you see some of it above the water, but most of it is below. The leadership knows well that if reforms of the financial sector and of creating a legal governance regime are delayed, the economic miracle could well turn into a nightmare.

Not only would CPEC run roughshod over the sacred Panchsheel principle of "mutual respect", it would also destroy any chance of a peaceful settlement of the Kashmir dispute.

If India wants strategic dividends from arms acquisitions, it must craft its acquisition policy in a prudent manner with the aim of bringing in knowledge that necessitates a higher degree of trust with the US. It should go beyond economics to factor in larger strategic considerations.

Modi must preserve the dignity of the ordinary Kashmiri. This is what he will be judged by.

The former Governor of Chhattisgarh, Lt Gen (Retd) K M Seth, called for a national strategy and national level coordinated action plan to successfully deal with Naxalites of the CPI (Maoist). He was making a presentation on Naxalism in India, at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi, on April 13, 2007.

If one looks at China's actions in the South China Sea over the past five years, the picture that emerges is of a rising China attempting to change the ground realities and destabilise the status quo. If the international community wait to see the end game of the Chinese strategy, it may be too late to de-escalate a military confrontation.

In January 2015, African states, at the 24th session of the African Union (AU) Summit, adopted Agenda 2063—a development plan for ‘The Africa We Want’ that aims to turn the continent into a powerhouse. For Africa to achieve the vision, it needs access to massive financial resources, as well as reforms that enhance its role in global economic governance systems. However, the institutions comprising the global financial architecture continue

The Special Envoy for the Fourth Cyberspace Conference in Netherlands, Dr. Uri Rosenthal, says global efforts are required to help create "an open and secure internet that is an engine for growth and innovation and for the benefit of the people."

Like Chinese do now, India needs to create 'constituencies' in the neighbourhood that are not only sound but are also continuing. This is not to influence their decisions but to create institutional mechanisms that will be able to constantly update its knowledge and understanding of the existing and emerging situations.

Considering that films and books, creator's freedom and that of the Press are not existential questions for which ready answers could still be found, whether enforceable or not, the answers too have to be in the realm of pragmatism.

The fault lies not with the game or its practitioners. It is a delightful sport, capable of arousing emotions even in the most die-hard cynic of the game. It has spawned legends, created folk tales out of ordinary mortals. And unlike football, it has never been a cause of war between two nations. This time it could.

Dr. Manmohan Singh's invitation to Pakistani President and the Prime Minister has a special relevance for a number of reasons. And Dr. Singh definitely deserves kudos for pushing the envelope for Indo-Pak peace, in spite of not being on the strongest political wicket himself.

There was space in Pakistan for open discourse upto the Zia period. It is from Zia's Pakistan that poets like Faiz Ahmad Faiz and Ahmad Faraz began to leave for other countries. From London, Farigh Bukhari wailed: "God, forgive me: these days it seems that Islam was only for tyrants and murderers like Yazid"

Safe countries bestow multiple social and economic benefits on the individual and larger community. Therefore, crime levels must be controlled. While India is a relatively peaceful country by global standards, there is significant scope for improvement in terms of policing, the national criminal justice system, and how data on crimes is collected and analysed. Amid India’s rapid urbanisation, it is crucial to study the various facets of crimina

Obama's warning to Putin that there would be costs for the invasion of Crimea was not only empty, but the real cost in all this was to American credibility, once again. One can, therefore, expect both the US and Russia to assert their rights regardless of international law.

The Observer Research Foundation, in partnership with the Center for Contemporary Conflict (CCC), Naval Post-graduate School, California, USA, and the Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI), Pakistan undertook a project, Crisis and Escalation in South Asia: The 2002 India-Pakistan Military Standoff....

The collapse of peace talks in the Democratic Republic of Congo is the latest blow for the mineral-rich east border zone with Rwanda and Uganda. The stalemate could re-ignite tensions not only with the rebels but also with Uganda which was trying to mediate an end to the conflict.

With Maldives again in the midst of political chaos, its former Foreign Minister Ahmed Naseem says India can play a crucial role in taking the country out of the crisis by keeping a close watch on it and helping reform the judiciary to ensure that the Yameen administration does not kill off democracy.

The Mali crisis has attained added significance in view of the fact that many other African countries like Nigeria and Somalia are also facing the problem of terrorism. The weakness of the armed forces in most African nations encourages such rebel forces. This re-emphasises the urgent need for an efficient African Rapid Deployment Force.

The unprecedented scale of the Hamas attack has shaken Israel and the consequences are likely to shake the Middle East.

In Nepal, the President is now in a better position to call for a national consensus government. He could give the parties one last chance but if the situation continues, he will be compelled to take drastic measures.

The issue of migrant workers was one of the important topics for discussion when the Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-Cha visited Myanmar on his first official visit on 9-10 October.

Speaking at an interaction with visiting former diplomats from Pakistan, at Observer Research Foundation (ORF), New Delhi, on April 7, 2005, Vice Admiral (Retired) K.K. Nayyar called for a complete "U-turn" in the policies of both India and Pakistan for normalising relations between the two neighbours.

The rise of China across a broad spectrum of power parameters is indisputable but the international community is concerned as to what kind of Beijing they will see in future. For one, given China's political culture and economic model, it is hard to see it emerging as the next US.

It has become fashionable to categorise Pakistan as a 'failed' state and paint a grim picture. The picture is far more complicated than this and there is more to the story than what we often hear.

Call it a discussion or debate or whatever, but the current European thinking on lending a religious identity to the emerging and expanded European Union may have a bearing on the evolving situation in India and the rest of the world. By referring to the ¿cultural, religious and humanist inheritance of Europe¿ in the Preamble to the draft, Europeans may have begun defining and

Much of the internal conflict in Pakistan has centered on the question of national identity - what does it mean to be a Pakistani? This was the underlying theme of the round-table discussion on Current Events in Pakistan: Impact on Sindh and Balochistan organised by Observer Research Foundation on January 29 in New Delhi.

There is a consensus among intelligence officials, current and erstwhile, that the future challenges cannot be foreseen as they will emanate from the cyber world, space, the ocean, failed states and fundamentalism. The current intelligence system is woefully inadequate to meet these threats.

Prime Minister Surya Bahadur Thapa¿s resignation on 7th May 2004 amidst mounting pressure from the agitating five political parties Nepali Congress (NC), Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist), Jan Morcha (JM), Nepal Mazdoor Kishan Party (NMKP) and Nepali Sadhavana Party (Ananadi Devi) supported by the members of civil society has left a political vaccum in the country.

In 2023, 3.55 million patent applications were filed worldwide. In India, 90,298 applications were recorded that year, marking an increase of 17.2 percent from 2022 and 25.2 percent from 2021. Over 50 percent of these applications originated from Indian residents, highlighting growing domestic innovation. Despite these year-on-year improvements, however, India continues to lag behind countries like China, the United States, and Japan both in term

The history of the Planning Commission suggests that it was always an extension of the government's attitude towards the economy. This is not in itself a bad thing, but has been twisted an unfair criticism of the PC. Therefore, plans for the Niti Aayog and its working should be gauged very carefully.

The mass arrival of refugees could well cause the international community to contemplate a model where European troops take care of different sectors to keep the peace in the Mediterranean. But since European intervention will smack of re-colonisation, the ball will be tossed upto the UN Secretary General to devise a muscular UN Force.

One of the questions that neither the Bush administration nor the Musharraf government has so far investigated is the involvement of Pakistan's military in the proliferation activities of nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan.

Experts warn that while governments are getting better at managing cyber and internet threats, adversaries may go after private sector systems, in the absence of active public-private cooperation.

India's reliance on outer space has become critical in its social and economic growth stories in addition to its transformative impact in the national security context. With growing reliance comes vulnerability to adversarial attempts to harm India's capabilities, particularly from the new threat of cyber warfare. Even as countries including India have debated the need to develop certain counter-space capabilities, such as demonstration of an ASA

Cyber attacks are not a security challenge that can easily be eliminated. No kind of infrastructure is absolutely impregnable and the adverse impacts can at best be minimised by emphasising on risk containments, according to experts.

India needs to effectively counter the menace of China-Pakistan cyber collaboration as it has not just national security implications, but indeed implications for India’s democracy as a whole

The India Conference on Cyber Governance and Cyber Security, organised recently by ORF and FICCI, is the beginning of a strong forum that can debate India's policies, help mould its strategy and simultaneously address global challenges.

The Ministry of External Affairs, backed by the Department of Electronics and Information Technology, will have to further streamline the efforts to address India's cyber concerns and also factor in India's impending interests in the global ICT trade.

This paper investigates, in the context of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue or Quad, the burgeoning threats posed by cyber mercenaries acting as proxies for revisionist states bent on destabilising the institutions and societies of adversary nations. The paper offers essential definitions of what comprises cybersecurity threats, including cyber mercenaries, and delineates current trends. Drawing on open-source intelligence and insights from cy

Digital adoption, hastened globally by the COVID-19 epidemic, brought along with it both benefits and threats, including concerns of safety and security of the cyberspace. Current geopolitical dynamics, ongoing strategic and economic disputes, as well as attempts by authoritarian regimes to preserve power have allowed companies with malicious intent—known as ‘cyber mercenaries’—to develop and deploy offensive cyber capabilities. The tools

With both the goods FTA and services FTA in place, India is well set on the path of a comprehensive economic partnership with ASEAN. India, whose services sector contributes about 55% to the country's GDP, has been keen to sign the services FTA with ASEAN as it will help the Indian companies tap the ASEAN markets easily.