India-Russia defence ties: rebound or decline?
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit to Moscow that saw the inking of sixteen pacts in diverse areas, including a pact on the joint manufacturing of 200 Kamov helicopters, has …
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World wants India to play a bigger extrovert global role: John Chipman
The proactive and out-of-the-box foreign policy pursued by the Modi government has put the global spotlight on India’s growing role in the international arena and the kind of power India …
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The tyranny of technology: Time to change old systems to align with new realities
In September this year, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were agreed upon by world leaders in New York and this month, countries will attempt to agree on a global deal …
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Lahore bonhomie: What next? Will Sharif tame Hafiz Saeed?
The guessing game goes on. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dramatic journey to Lahore on December 25 has sparked a wave of speculation about possible motives behind this out-of-the-box initiative, but whatever …
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Abe’s comfort women apology recharges Japan-Korea ties
In a historic move that is set to usher in a new chapter in Tokyo-Seoul relations, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has finally offered a blanket apology to South Korea for the abuse of the so-called comfort women forced into Japanese military brothels during World War II. Mr Abe announced a package of 1 billion yen ($8.3 million) to a fund for compensating victims, marking the closure of an emotive issue that has clouded relations between Japan and South Korea all these years.
The apology has been accepted and welcomed by South Korean President Park Geun Hye.
Ms Park struck an upbeat note on the future trajectory of Japan-South Korea relations, saying the agreement could be a new starting point for relations with Japan, according to the president’s office.
Maldives 2016: At multiple cross-roads
As an unprecedented eventful year gives way to one with full of hopes, expectations and anticipation, all at once, the Maldives is at a cross-roads. Not just a single ‘T’ or ‘Y’ crossing on the highway. There is one too many roads meeting at this point in the nation’s destiny, with lanes and by-lanes, hidden from sight and otherwise. Call it options or challenges, at every turn, the Indian Ocean archipelago has one too many choices too to make, not knowing the right one to take at the moment and also for years and generations to come!
The Yameen government seems wanting to have New Delhi trust him on his ‘India First’ security policy viz China. But he does not seem to be wanting to look at the alternate IMF option of development funding, prescribed by the West for nations in Maldives’ place – as was available to Nasheed in power. This has meant that he is ready to take the political plunge more than already viz the West on the domestic political front (read: freedom for Nasheed).
Modi’s Pakistan Mantra: Speed, Secrecy and Sensitivity
Speed, Secrecy and Sensitivity. In the dying embers of an eventful year of action-packed diplomacy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has staged a spectacular diplomatic blockbuster, kindling a new fire in perennially cold India-Pakistan relations and birthing a new template and vocabulary for this crucial relationship. The triple-S mantra was the net takeaway from PM Modi’s much-dissected surprise trip to Lahore on a Christmas day (a time of renewal and togetherness) to meet birthday boy Nawaz Sharif, and to usher in a new period of hope in the tortured and tortuous saga of India-Pakistan relations.
The Not-Talking is no longer the option, but Not Acting is also not an option in the long run! “That’s like a statesman. Padosi se aise hi rishte hone chahiyen (This is how it should be with neighbours),”as Sushma Swaraj said in a pithy one-liner. Expect surprises to cease surprising you in 2016! Welcome to the new normal future of India-Pakistan relations!
Nawaz Sharif’s surprise birthday gift: Modi in Lahore
It’s the mother of all surprises – Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to do what his predecessor could only dream about – breakfast in Kabul, lunch in Lahore and dinner in Delhi. In an intriguing tweet, Mr Modi announced that he will be stopping over in Lahore and meet Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on his way back from Kabul.
Mr Modi’s sudden announcement of his trip to Lahore is in keeping with secretive out-of-the-box diplomacy that’s becoming his signature style vis-à-vis relations with Pakistan.
Modi intones hymn to democracy in Kabul, warns against mentors of terror
It’s a hymn to democracy and an ode to the timeless India-Afghanistan friendship. A dream that was born more than a decade ago has turned real, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi formally inaugurating the India-built Afghan Parliament building in Kabul on December 25.
The parliament building, constructed by India at a cost of $90 million, epitomises the aspirations of Afghanistan for a democratic inclusive future and India’s faith in scripting afresh a narrative of opportunity in the violence-beset country.
In a veiled swipe at Pakistan’s propaganda blitz about Indian consulates being used as listening posts, Mr Modi warned against rivalries and Afghanistan being used as a theatre of completion.
Russia boosts Make in India with nuclear, defence deals
Amid the deepening Moscow chill, India and Russia reignited their time-tested partnership, and the warmth between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Vladimir Putin was all too visible, with Moscow giving a big push to Make in India project of national renewal.
Dispelling any notion of a drift in this special relationship, India and Russia signed 16 pacts across the spectrum, with Moscow emerging as New Delhi’s prime partner in indigenising civil nuclear and defence sectors. The two landmark agreements on Russia assisting in building 12 nuclear reactors in India and joint manufacture of 200 Kamov 226 helicopters under the Make in India programme have laid down a solid basis for transforming special and privileged partnership in years to come. The significance of these pacts is clear from the fact that Russia will be the first country to be involved in major Make in India projects in nuclear and defence sectors.