Part 3 – The Innate Stalemate Also Read – Part 1: Many Barrels of a Gun Part 2: Mood on the Ground Amid a general socio-political churning brought about by rising expectations of people in many South Asian nations, the 17th SAARC Summit in Maldives in November culminated with the ‘Addu Declaration’ (named after Addu […]
Part 2 – Mood on the Ground Also Read: Part 1: Many Barrels of a Gun “There’s this contagion of protest,” Richard Stengel, managing editor of TIME, told NBC television as he discussed the naming of “The protester” as Time magazine’s person of the year, 2011. “These are folks who are changing history already and […]
In the early 1960s, policymakers in Washington expressed fear that the Vietnam War would spill over into neighboring countries. In Laos, a country that had been declared neutral, the CIA’s Special Activities Division was tasked with subverting the rise of communist elements like Pathet Lao which were backed by the North Vietnamese Army (NVA). This […]
Part 1 – Many Barrels of a Gun South Asia is often described as the most dangerous place on earth and the most promising emerging market – both in the same breath. The year 2011 illustrated in ample measure the implausible irony. The biggest international story of the year, according to The Associated Press’ annual […]
The Hindu Cartoonscope and Amul butter cartoons continue to be a great way to capture news in India with humor and satire. This Year in Review presents a montage of cartoons from the two sources to present highlights of what happened in India in 2011. Reports of political scams and corruption continued to surface throughout 2011. 2G allocation, hoarding […]
The year was filled with missed opportunities but also promising developments in U.S.-India relations. 2012 is shaping up to be the same. President Obama’s state visit to India in early November 2010 appeared to impart new dynamism to a bilateral relationship that had been listless since his inauguration. The trip offered an effective tonic for […]
Long live His Majesty King Bhumibol! I felt that this post is going to need such a qualifier. I previously lived in Thailand in 2008 as a volunteer worker with an NGO. I love Thailand: the people, the culture, the food. I hope to return there one day, and it would not do me any […]
Japan is using 2.28 billion yen ($29.4 million) from its 12.1 trillion yen ($156 billion) extra budget passed last month to beef up security for its whaling fleet. This comes after Australia refused to deploy its own ships to protect Japan’s fleet as it does “scientific research” by killing whales in the South Ocean Whale […]
Events last week illustrated that the true fault line in India-China relations remains the 60 year-old acrimony over the Tibetan frontier. From India’s increasing presence in the disputed waters of the South China Sea to the duel over diplomatic influence in Myanmar, developments in recent months amply illustrate how India and China will bump into […]
A committee of lawyers and an accountant appointed by Japanese precision technology maker Olympus said, “The management (at Olympus) was rotten to the core and contaminated what was around it, creating in the worst sense a group mentality of the typical salarymen,” in reference to the company’s practice of “tobashi,” making losses “fly off” the […]
There are two types of power evident in the study of international relations: hard power and soft power. The former is coercive, and is associated with a state’s use of military force or economic pressure in order to maximize its interests. Hard power is advocated by those who believe that relative gains are the most […]
On December 1st, 1961, the Dutch flag, which had flown over the peninsula of West Papua for more than 130 years, was taken down, replaced by the “Morning Star” flag, which signified the new nation’s break from colonialism. By the end of the decade, Indonesia had forcefully annexed West Papua (also known as West Irian […]
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