After the skirmish along the Indian-Chinese border that killed 20 Indian soldiers, many Indian commentators are presently concerned that China is increasingly trying to push New Delhi’s allies away from India and towards them. For example, the Hindu reported that these commentators described the zero-tariff agreement for 97% of the exports between Bangladesh and China […]
A recent report in the Times of India claimed that up to 2,447 members of minority communities in Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan were recently granted Indian citizenship. One of the major reasons why India expedited the process of granting these refugees Indian citizenship is because the plight of minorities in these three countries is horrendous. […]
Bangladesh—a Muslim majority state—is planning to send refugee Rohingyas from Myanmar to a low-lying island in the Bay of Bengal that critics say is ‘unlivable’.
Trade blocs are often instruments of geopolitics. India’s cooperation with the South Asian nations east of Pakistan plays witness to this age-old truism.
The Indian subcontinent is chequered with a history of border disputes and issues regarding transnational ethnic and religious groups.
Sri Lanka is expanding its free trade agreement with India. Nationalism is acting against, as usual. But the state regulatory structure is the real issue.
Evicted from Bhutan at the age of 11, Vidhyapati Mishra spent two decades in U.N.-funded Bhutanese refugee camp in eastern Nepal before resettling in the United States. Just a week before his departure from Nepal to Charlotte of North Carolina, self-learned journalist Mishra also featured in the New York Times with his powerful narrative story […]
You might think most foreign policy wonks were looking forward to last night’s presidential debate but most I know were actually dreading it. It was well known that the difficult and pressing questions on foreign policy would not be asked, and to be honest, foreign policy requires far more nuance and complexity than can fit […]
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 […]
If we are able to recognize that US foreign policy in respect to instability in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India is irrational due to the absence of a ‘necessary but not sufficient’ condition – bolstering of Pakistan’s strategic advantages over India – then the easy part is done. Crafting a foreign policy that addresses this contingent […]
Nicholas Kristof’s recent op-ed in the New York Times highlighted Richard Holbrooke’s concern for the declining relationship between the US and Pakistan and, essentially, pronounced the need for America not to forsake Pakistan, as tumultuous as relations may be. Pakistan, without question, is grappling with a litany of issues: rampant poverty and natural disasters; protection of minorities […]
The game theory modeling world can be academically exclusive, full of rivalry, and especially abstract, but I believe it can provide a very real, significant push in moving from war and instability to peace and hope. To put my argument up front, if America wishes to take a real step towards furthering peace, writ large, it […]
In his budget proposal for 2012, President Obama has proposed $3.1 billion in aid to Pakistan. The aid is spread across various parts and will be provided partly under the five year Kerry-Lugar-Berman initiative and Oversees Contingency Operations (OCO). This proposal comes even as the two countries stand-off over the Raymond Davis affair and the […]
President Obama’s comment that “India is not simply emerging but has emerged” charmed his Indian audience. Was President Obama’s assessment rhetorical or was he making a valid appraisal? India’s record on indices of democratic governance, economic growth and socio-political stability are encouraging if not exquisite. Yet power implies a relational aspect which makes India’s foreign […]
It was like just another formality in the Sino-Indian relationship being fulfilled, as the Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao concluded his “significant” “trust-building” India visit on Friday. The Chinese Premier brought along a huge entourage of 400 business leaders to India, signaling the only purpose of his visit – more business. India and China signed […]