Comment & Briefs

The cultural linkages between India and Indonesia have to be leveraged, as a foreign policy tool, to take India-Indonesia relations to the next level.

Gates has steered Japan and South Korea towards aligning their shared threat perceptions about North Korea and China.

By concentrating only on the inequities of the blasphemy law, Pakistani ‘moderates’ and commentators elsewhere are missing the point that the real battle is against radical Islamic thought.

A shift in strategic thinking over the past two decades has now led to India being poised between the strategic doctrines of offensive and defensive realism.

North Korea’s offer of a dialogue is unlikely to elicit a positive response from South Korea which instead is militarily drawing closer to Japan to enhance deterrence.

After Lisbon, the next step for NATO and Russia should be addressing issues relating to deployments of arsenals and arms control.

Given the strategic importance of Sudan, it will be in India’s interest to push for a fair and just referendum and influence both the North and the South to respect the outcome of the vote.

The peace process was deadlocked, with extreme polarization within and among the political parties on various issues.

It is vital that the framework of the talks be informed by the element of inclusiveness based on a ‘problem solving’ approach.

The absence of a credible interlocutor in Pakistan who can exercise effective control over the Pakistan army leaves India with little choice except to open a parallel dialogue with the military establishment in Pakistan.