Diplomacy

Post nuclear-deal Iran: The next emerging market?

April 25, 2015 - by India Writes Network

This day, 35 years ago, saw a failed top-secret attempt by the United States to free American hostages held in Iran’s capital, Tehran.

Leaving behind those war-mongering days, the United States and Iran have now reached an extremely interesting phase in their otherwise tempestuous relationship.

With the landmark nuclear deal expected to fructify on June 30, geo-political dynamics in the region are never going to be the same again. This will in turn have a ripple effect on the geo-economics of the region and the world. With gradual lifting of sanctions on Iran, the reopening of Middle East’s second largest economy will provide a market that has been out of reach to varying extents since the 1979 Islamic revolution, with sanctions becoming broader since 1995 and expanded further since 2005.

Proliferating North Korea causes alarm

April 24, 2015April 24, 2015 - by India Writes Network

Chinese nuclear experts suggest that North Korea currently possesses twenty nuclear warheads, and the nuclear enrichment capacity to double this number as early as 2016.
The figure suggested by the Chinese experts is considerably higher than any other previous assessment. Earlier, the US had estimated that the communist state’s nuclear arsenal could be anywhere between ten to sixteen warheads.

Contextualising Ghani’s maiden visit to India

April 23, 2015 - by India Writes Network

Due for the first time in Delhi on April 27, may have to tend to a few ruffled feathers in the Indian diplomatic and military establishment. What makes India less …

Cartographic error forces Al Jazeera off air

April 23, 2015 - by India Writes Network

In a major embarrassment for Al Jazeera, the international news channel was forced to go off air in India for five days, as the government penalised the channel for showing an incorrect map of India on several occasions between 2013 and 2014.

Al Jazeera transmitted a blank screen with a message displaying that it is unable to air regular content“as instructed by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, this channel will not be available from 00.01 hours on 22nd April till 00.01 hours on 27th April 2015.”

When questioned why, the I&B Ministry said that it had been informed that the news channel had been using an incorrect map of India in some of its shows during the last two years, following which the matter was forwarded to the Surveyor General of India (SGI).

The SGI observed that in some of the maps displayed by Al Jazeera, “a portion of Indian territory Pakistan occupied Kashmir and Chinese occupied Aksai Chin has not been shown as a part of Indian territory.” The channel also did not show Lakshadweep and the Andaman Islands in some of the maps, the SGI said.