Comment & Briefs

India’s ministerial presence at the Shangri La Dialogue could have helped India to articulate the new government’s strategic thought and expand from the realm of military diplomacy to defence diplomacy. So, is India’s defence establishment blind to probable benefits of participating in the Dialogue or are they thinking differently?

In the true spirit of a democracy, Modi should reach out to leaders of all major political parties in Bangladesh and convince them of India’s intention to work as a partner in progress and development.

Stakeholder regional countries threatened by Islamic militancy need to get together under the umbrella of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and fight a joint war to end the menace.

While both Saudi Arabia and Iran vie for power and influence, Yemenis continue to suffer and the country seems to be slipping into further instability.

The 2015 NPT RevCon ended on an expected dismaying note. The only positive outcome was its endorsement of the recent initiatives to project the humanitarian consequences of nuclear weapons, though not adopting its underlying theme - a nuclear weapons prohibition treaty.

As the dust settles after the visit of Prime Minister Modi to China, it is time to take a calm and dispassionate look at where we stand in the context of Sino-Indian relations.

With the death sentence pronounced on Mohammed Morsi, the first democratically elected President in Egypt’s history, it is difficult not to conclude that Egypt is moving away from a democratic destination at an accelerated pace.

Bangladesh is slowly and surely moving towards a perilous future that threatens the foundational values on which the liberation war was fought and the state founded.

There is widespread commitment in India for Nepal’s reconstruction. India’s provision of reconstruction assistance to Nepal must be worked out as a long term strategy.

In today’s India, the narrow nationalism, if not paranoia, built on the burden of 1962 seems only artificial. But, can Modi and Xi move beyond this burden and change the bilateral discourse? Modi needs to be metaphysical not just pragmatic.