India and the World

Terror strikes Africa again, West African countries forge coalition

- by India Writes Network

In a series of suicide attacks in Nigeria and Cameroon, more than 50 people were estimated to have been killed, signaling a spurt in increasing extremism across a wide swathe of the continent.
Boko Haram is suspected to be behind these attacks. The terror canrage comes in the backdrop of Boko Haram releasing videos on the social networking site Twitter, where it claimed that they were not defeated and said, “We will be coming from where you never expected, stronger than before.”
Boko Haram is among prime drivers of terrorism in the region, which also include outfits like Al-Qaeda in the Maghreb and al-Shabaab. Boko Haram deploys Wahabbi Islam for radical proselytization and is waging a war against what it calls “the evil secular government in Nigeria.” In an hour-long video released on August 24, Boko Haram’s emir, Abubakar Shekau, declared his intention to establish the world’s second Islamic “caliphate.”

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10 years after nuclear deal: How estranged democracies became ‘natural & best partners’

- by Manish Chand

t’s been a transformative decade in the India-US relations, birthed and nurtured by the path-breaking nuclear deal that morphed the once estranged democracies into engaged democracies. The 10th anniversary of the transformational India-US nuclear deal, conceived on a warm summer day in July 2005, deserved a joint op-ed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Barack Obama, with a soaring vision statement of the brave new future of this crucial relationship. Or better still, the two principal protagonists in catalyzing the deal – then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and then US President George Bush – would have found time to pen their reflections, and a thousand visions and revisions that framed the grand bargain. They may still do that, but for now we may have to do with the joint op-ed by the ambassadors of India and the US, published in the Huffington Post.

The two grown-up democracies can’t be expected to agree on every issue, and there are still many imponderables that can challenge this defining partnership, but the horizons for the multi-hued India-US relations remain relatively unclouded. The establishments in New Delhi and beltway Washington may cavil, but the sheer strength of people-to-people relations will ensure that the intricate machinery of India-US partnership will keep humming with new ideas, energy and drive to transform the lives of people not just in the two countries, but around the world. This is the true legacy of the India-US nuclear deal, provided this transformative impulse will endure in the decades ahead.

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Where is conflict? Both US and China can aid India’s transformation

- by India Writes Network

In so far as larger international politics is concerned, India welcomes the growing reality of a multi-polar world, as it does, of a multi-polar Asia. We, therefore, want to build our bilateral relationships with all major players, confident that progress in one account opens up possibilities in others.

An aspect of our current approach, while having implications for the entire world, has a special relevance for its two largest economies – the US and China. India is endeavouring to modernize in the fullest sense of that term. This is expressed in a variety of programmes, ranging from “Make in India”, “Digital India” and “100 Smart Cities” to “Skill India” and “Clean India”. It seeks resources, technology and best practices from international partners. That is very much at the heart of our diplomatic engagement. Both the US and China – and indeed the ASEAN, Japan, RoK and Europe – can contribute to this transformation.

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Arabs hold the key to defeating the Islamic State

- by Aditi Bhaduri

June 29 marked the first anniversary of the Islamic state. It is an indictment of the international community that an entity so monstrous should move into its second year without showing any significant signs of recession. Instead, its recruitment drive is increasingly sophisticated and successful, the envy of other terror groups. While the ISIS prompts many conspiracy theories, it has not yet sufficiently unsettled Arabs to launch an assault on it as decisive as in the case of impoverished Yemen, for instance. No joint Arab force was mooted to battle the Islamic state. Differences between Saudi Arabia and Iran take precedence over joint efforts against it.

Whatever air power has been used has been done sporadically, more as revenge, and sometimes to deflect attention away from internal deficiencies. This is how Jordan, the UAE, Qatar, Morocco have launched attacks. Western military initiatives led by the US have also been limited and also resented in the region. More resources have been poured into Syrian rebels battling the Assad government, which looks almost angelic compared to the IS. Shiite militias, Kurdish peshmerga, the weak Iraqi army are fighting the ISIS in what are more localised knee-jerk reactions.
Arab commentators and analysts continue to see Assad and Iran as bigger threats.

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India-US joint strategic vision: Implications for the Indo-Pacific

- by India Writes Network

The Indo-Pacific’s blurred geographical outreach with the larger Asia-Pacific region has overshadowed the former’s contribution to emerging trade facilitations and connectivity lines from and through the region. The emergence of the Indo-Pacific as a region which is distinct from the Asia-Pacific in terms of geostrategic significance, as opposed to it being a sub-region of the Asia-Pacific, is yet to happen. The cooperation between the US and India in this region has the potential to effect this much needed transformation. The due recognition of the Indo-Pacific as a credible maritime domain with its unique ability to provide access to both the Indian Ocean and the Asia-Pacific countries is likely to happen once India and the US will come together to cooperate through the waters of the Indo-Pacific, giving mutual access to each other in the Indian Ocean and the Asia-Pacific regions.

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It’s time for India’s diplomacy to raise its ambitions: Fashioning a new narrative

- by India Writes Network

Let’s focus on foreign policy underway today. How much of it is continuity; how much change? What do the changes signify? How much is substance; how much is optics? Some opinions have been offered already, not all of them without bias. I am sure that if we subject the diplomacy of the last year to a smell test, we can arrive at a reasonably clear conclusion.

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Ufa U-turn? India, Pakistan trade blame over ceasefire violations, ‘spy drone’

- by India Writes Network

Days after the leaders of India and Pakistan held an ice-breaking meeting in Russia resulting in “actionable propositions” to improve strained ties, the two countries are getting back to the depressingly familiar pattern of blame game. Senior ministers in India met on July 16 to discuss ceasefire violations by Pakistani troops and an out-of-the-blue controversy arising out of Islamabad’s claim of having shot down an allegedly Indian spy drone.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, with NSA Ajit Doval, discussed the latest developments that could undermine the much-hyped breakthrough meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif in the Russia city of Ufa on July 10.

Meanwhile, India has lodged a strong protest against Pakistan after its Rangers targeted five border outposts in Akhnoor sector and civilians in R.S. Pura and Tawi belts, in Jammu. This was the seventh ceasefire violation in July month alone.

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Historic Iran deal: What it means for India and the world

- by India Writes Network

The first thing to understand about the 109- page long document, known as Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action(JCPA), signed in Vienna on July 14, 2015 is that it marks the end of a long spell of hostility and suspicion between the US and Iran. Though it was Federica Mogherini, the foreign policy chief of European Commission, who stood next to Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif at the centre in the official photo, the real negotiation was between Zarif and US Secretary of State John Kerry who was standing almost at the edge.
It will be useful to understand how the US and Iran, close allies for decades till Mohammed Reza Shah was toppled by Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979, got estranged.
In short, despite referring to the US as Satan in public, Iranians love and admire the US. Their reconciliation is a good development for themselves and the rest of the world. Israel lacks the military capability to carry out strikes against Iran though empty threats might not stop.
For India, this is indeed a positive development. The UPA government had unwisely assessed that the US might not agree to the 123 nuclear agreement then under negotiation, and voted against Iran. Now is the time to rectify the mistake. The Modi government is going ahead with the stalled Chabahar Port project. A visit by Prime Minister Modi to Iran is indicated.

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