Author: India Writes Network

Hong Kong Protests: What it means for the Chinese leadership?

- by India Writes Network

hongkong-protestsong Kong is slated to have elections for the post of Chief Executive (CE) in 2017. However, there is a disagreement between sections of the Hong Kong civil society and Beijing on how these elections are to be conducted. In a nutshell, Hong Kong wants a free and fair democratic elections and not be told the list of candidates it can choose from. Beijing wants that it vets the final list of candidates, fearing probably a CE, who would be critical of government policies. Beijing’s desire to manage the political process in Hong Kong stems from the ‘one country two systems’ model whereby it continues to retain its influence.

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Pakistan’s Dangerous Game of Brinkmanship

- by India Writes Network

Insecure Pakistan in the backdrop of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan is faced with the twin dilemma of international marginalization as part of fast receding regional relevance and political and economic instability. These fears are heightened by India’s rapidly developing economy, political stability and fast paced modernization of its armed forces. For Pakistani fed on the belief, as Christian Fair puts it ‘accepting the status quo with India is a defeat’, such a scenario is an anathema that it is loathe to accept. This ideological perspective remains the driver that is forcing the Pakistani army in taking calculated military risks as a manifestation of its continued struggle which it must continue and persevere. According to Fair this behaviour of Pakistan is a result of it being fundamentally a dissatisfied state which seeks to increase its prestige through spread of its ideology and religion in pursuit of its revisionist policies.

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Oslo Calling: Why Norway matters to India

- by India Writes Network

The three-day state visit by President Pranab Mukherjee to Norway beginning October 12 is indicative of the growing importance New Delhi is now attaching to its ties with Oslo, described by a senior Indian diplomat as “problem-free” in all these many years. There are several reasons why India is seeking to push for even closer ties across a range of areas with Norway, not the least of which would be greater co-operation in the energy sector.
India is also eyeing a larger slice of the pie from the Norwegian Government Pension Fund, which is the largest sovereign wealth fund in Europe with $ 850 billion in its kitty. Keen to give the infrastructure and other sectors the necessary boost, India wants a substantial increase in the current investment that stands at a piffling $4 billion at present.

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India calls Pakistan aggressor, warns adventurism will be costly

- by India Writes Network

Calling Pakistan an aggressor, India has toughened its stance on what it sees as unprovoked ceasefire violations, with the country’s defence minister warning grimly that Indian forces will “make this adventurism costly and unaffordable.”
“Pakistan in these attacks has clearly been the aggressor but it must realise that our deterrence will be credible. If Pakistan persists with this adventurism, our forces will make the cost of this adventurism unaffordable,’’ Defence Minister Arun Jaitley said in a statement on border situation in Jammu and Kashmir.
The worst ceasefire violations in more than a decade, which has killed nine people and displaced several hundreds, has stressed India-Pakistan ties, with the two countries indulging in an endless game of mutual recrimination. It’s not clear what’s driving this frenzy of unprovoked aggression from the Pakistani side, but many analysts see this as a desperate assertion by Pakistan’s all-powerful military to re-assert control over Islamabad’s New Delhi policy.

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