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‘I Have Bigger Nuclear Button’: Trump’s Tweets Threaten to Derail Korean Talks – Analyst

January 3, 2018January 3, 2018 - by India Writes Network

Seoul is proposing to hold high-level talks on January 9 with Pyongyang at the demilitarized zone between the two countries, South Korea’s Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon said on Tuesday.The minister suggested holding talks at the Panmunjom village after Kim Jong Un expressed hopes that the country’s athletes would take part in the upcoming Winter Olympic Games set to take place in South Korea.

TRUMP CONNECT: A NEW INDIA-US CHEMISTRY

December 28, 2017December 28, 2017 - by India Writes Network

Initial anxieties about how President Donald Trump’s volatile policy postures and nationalist agenda will impact the India-US relations have now become muted. PM Modi’s visit to the US, followed by Washington’s greater receptivity towards New Delhi’s concerns on terrorism and Afghanistan, has infused a new dynamism in India-US relations, says Meera Shankar, India’s former ambassador to the US in an article written exclusively for India and World, a pioneering magazine focused on international relations
The election of Donald Trump as President of America brought new uncertainties in India-US relations. His “America First” approach and call for strong trade action to protect American jobs from being shipped overseas promised fresh trade frictions and the lack of clarity on the US’s role in the Asia-Pacific raised questions whether the Strategic Partnership would be diluted in favour of a more transactional approach. Today, eight months down the road and following Prime Minister Modi’s visit to the US in June, 2017, the India-US Partnership is on course, centred on shared interests in countering terrorism, managing a more assertive China and shaping a balance conducive to peace and stability in the broader Asia-Pacific region.

ISRAEL CAN LIBERATE INDIAN AGRICULTURE FROM CLIMATE DEPENDENCY: MASHAV CHIEF

December 28, 2017December 28, 2017 - by India Writes Network

:Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to India in January 2018, the first visit by an Israeli PM to New Delhi in over a decade, is expected to galvanise development and agricultural cooperation between the two countries.
In a defining step, India and Israel forged “Strategic Partnership in Water and Agriculture” during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s landmark visit to Israel in July this year. India and Israel also signed two pacts to enhance cooperation on water conservation and state water utility reform in India, and another agreement on agricultural cooperation. MASHAV, the Hebrew acronym for Israel’s Agency for International Development Cooperation, will shepherd this strategic partnership in years to come.
Manish Chand caught up with Ambassador Gil Haskel, the head of MASHAV, in Jerusalem to discuss the way ahead for India-Israel development partnership. In this interview, Amb. Haskel outlines plans for harnessing Israeli technology to make Indian agriculture less dependent on the vagaries of climate, and to stimulate a new green revolution in India.

More Embassy Relocations on Horizon as Israel in Contact With ’10 Countries’

December 26, 2017December 26, 2017 - by India Writes Network

The comment by Israel’s deputy foreign minister came after Guatemalan President Jimmy Morales announced the relocation of his country’s embassy to Jerusalem. Earlier, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution rejecting the US decision on the status of Jerusalem.The Israeli Foreign Ministry is in touch with “at least 10 countries” from different parts of the world that are mulling over moving their embassies to Jerusalem, following US President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize the city as the Israeli capital, Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely said.

“We are in contact with at least ten countries, some of them in Europe” to discuss the possible move, Hotovely told Reshet Bet radio on Monday, refusing, however, to name those countries.Hotovely also suggested that Trump’s decision on the status of Jerusalem would “trigger a wave” of similar moves. “So far we have only seen the beginning,” she said.

India Launches $8 Billion Program to Make Its Own Fighter Jet

December 21, 2017December 21, 2017 - by India Writes Network

New Delhi seeks to procure 83 combat aircraft produced by the state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics LTD (HAL) in an attempt to free its air force from dependence on imported technologies, Defense One reports.According to the report, the airplane, designated LCA (Light Combat Aircraft) Mark-1A, is going to be “truly a fourth-generation fighter,” equipped with service-specific Active Electronically Scanned Array radar, or AESA; air-to-air refueling pods; self-protection jammers; and improved avionics and core systems.

Modi’s package for Northeast a major push for connectivity & Act East

December 18, 2017December 18, 2017 - by India Writes Network

Advancing India’s Act East policy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced his government’s package of 90,000 crore for the Northeast that will be used to spur better connectivity and infrastructure in the region. The decision comes ahead of the India-ASEAN Summit that is scheduled for January 25, 2018 and the state elections in Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura and Mizoram next year.

Is it Jerusalem or Jerusalems?

December 16, 2017December 16, 2017 - by India Writes Network

For a gentile, kafir, infidel and pagan, Jerusalem might be another piece of territory as good or as bad as Alaska. This is, however, not true for the followers of the three Abrahamic faiths, and with valid reasons. Their genealogical trajectory is sequential and closely intertwined and some of their key historical moments are traced to the City of Jerusalem. Religion is an article of faith and hence one either accepts all beliefs and traditions or rejects them altogether; and modernity presupposes that no faith is inherently superior to or supersedes the other.According to Islamic traditions, between 610 and 623 CE, Jerusalem was the direction of prayer or Qibla until it was changed towards the Ka’aba in Mecca by Prophet Mohammed in February 624. The city is also associated with the Prophet’s ascendance to heaven or the Night-Journey and his Ascension on a winged horse traced to 620 CE. Thus, Jerusalem is the third holiest place in Islam after Mecca and Medina.

Pakistan, India at loggerheads over consular access to Khulbushan

December 16, 2017December 16, 2017 - by India Writes Network

Maintaining its stand that Khulbhushan Yadav, the former Indian Navy officer detained on charges of espionage, is an Indian “spy”, Pakistan has denied India consular access to the death row prisoner in its counter-memorial submitted to the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
India has called the death sentence a “farcical process”. “We also appealed to ICJ in May as we believe Vienna convention was being violated. We do reiterate our position that Jadhav remains in Pakistan and is facing death sentence given through a farcical process and on concocted charges,” Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said.

The Contours of a Negotiated Nuclear-Missile Deal with North Korea

December 13, 2017December 13, 2017 - by India Writes Network

North Korea’s Hwasong-15 missile test on November 28 has intensified international concerns about the developments in North East Asia. The missile, fired in an almost vertical trajectory, reached a height of nearly 4500 km before falling in the East China Sea, within Japan’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), after travelling 860 km downrange. The total flight time was reported to be 53 minutes. No additional details of the test, such as the weight of the payload for instance, were given. However, preliminary calculations suggest that if the Hwasong-15 launched on November 28 had been flown on a normal missile trajectory, it would have reached distances of up to 13,000 km with the same payload, enough to cover the whole of the continental United States from West Coast to East Coast. If, however, the test had been conducted with no payload, the range would have been 8500 km with a 500 kg payload.

People of the Pacific Pearl: Frames that capture the vibrant world of Lima

December 13, 2017December 13, 2017 - by India Writes Network

The Art Gallery of the Embassy of Peru in India recently came alive with frames capturing the happening life of 19th century Lima, the Peruvian capital. Organized jointly by the Embassy and the Delhi Photographic Club, the Photo exhibition titled “Retratos de Lima” (Portraits of Lima) showcases selections from the rich archives of Eugéne Courret, a French photographer who settled in the Latin American city in 1860 and documented the teeming life of a busy metropolis through his lens.