Premier Wen Jiabao is visiting India with a 400 strong business delegation from 15 to 17 December soon after the Nobel Peace  Prize diplomatic difference between the two countries. The list of issues at the geo strategic levels between the two Asian Giants has been adequately covered in earlier posts. There are issues ranging from Dalai Lama, Border Disputes, stapled...

Redefining Threats NATO leaders recently adopted a new Strategic Concept that will serve as the alliance’s roadmap for the next 10 years and that reconfirms the commitment to defend one another against attack as the bedrock of Euro-Atlantic security. The document lays out NATO’s vision for an evolving alliance that will remain able to defend its members against...

Here’s one thing US congressional election wasn’t about: foreign policy. The campaign was long, loud and polarized, but somehow the fact that the United States is at war in Afghanistan and Iraq — and carrying out bombings in Pakistan and Yemen — went almost unmentioned. That’s because voters were preoccupied by the economy, of course. But it’s also because...

Enough has been articulated in these pages about the sham elections held in Burma on Nov 7. The Junta marginalised Suu Kyi and muzzled the media while banning elections in border areas to ensure a clean sweep. Initially we thought that Than Shwe would maintain some modicum of decency but that was not to be. In the days leading up to the first elections held in Burma...

Singh is King There has been much song and dance about the visit of Obama and Michelle to India. Both endeared the youth and the nation alike in India and back home in US dancing their way through the storm of the showdown in the mid term elections. The US got to sign $10 Billion worth of deals with the MMCRA deal also in the pipeline, restored 50,000 US jobs and...

Dr Uddipan Mukherjee Yeah, Mr Obama has left the Indian capital last morning. That is not the news. We all know it. Quite interestingly, he appeared to be satisfied with the business he could generate here. Ten billion US dollars, after all and along with it, according to his ‘own’ estimates, around fifty thousand jobs for the hapless Americans. I had written in...

Editorial Comments The readers would have noted the resource management philosophy of the South Asian Idea reportage and analysis change to cover daily events aroud the world impacting South Asia. The aim is to provide a cogent and multidimensional analysis in a readable format. The month end summary enables readers to gather the threads cohesively to form their opinions...

The mid term elections in US have ominous portents for Obama ranging from the domestic to foreign policy issues. This post attempts at unraveling some of the the thoughts being proposed and debated by think tanks across the globe. The domestic issues are for US to take a call on. With less than a month left, it’s beginning to look as this midterm election will have...

The people of Kashmir have been caught up in the multidimensional battle amongst various interest groups for their very existence. The peaceful valley suffered at the hands of Zia ul Haq‘s aspirations translated through Op Topac in 1989. A mayhem and religious frenzy ensued which massacred innocent Kashmiri Pandits, marginalised the valley and left deep scars on the...

The situation in Afghanistan, despite increased Kinetic activity by US, Karzai‘s initiatives for talks with Taliban and an intransigent Pakistan fighting as the “frienemy” in the Af Pak war, is sending mixed signals to India. Imperatives for USA For the US  the war seems to have intensified from Afghanistan to a public diplomacy initiative in a West vs Islamdebate....