Comment & Briefs

With the possibility of ‘smart’ sanctions in the near future and muscular US military moves in the Persian Gulf, the grids for the end game on Iran’s nuclear intransigence are getting strengthened.

The Maldives is well on the road towards a genuine democracy and the years to come will show how it manages modernisation, liberal democracy and Islam all together.

The formal coronation of Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuk as the fifth King of Bhutan in November 2008 concluded the first wave of democratization in Bhutan.

The North East of India has been plagued by insurgencies since independence in 1947. Most violent amongst the armed movements had been the Naga National Council in the 1950s and today the NSCN (IM).

The defence minister is indeed correct that ‘sacrifices’ would have to be made but this time India should offer that privilege to the Pakistani Army.

If freedom of expression was the issue then other American internet service companies like Microsoft and Yahoo! should have also exited China along with Google.

India has to not only fight over-consumption of resources in metropolitan cities but also make sure that the resources saved percolate down to its rural areas.

Afghanistan was a test case for our foreign policy resolve, an arena where while leveraging other tools of foreign policy, use of instruments of force and military diplomacy/intelligence should have been predominant.

India needs to engage Singapore more robustly so as to enable the forging of deeper and more broad-based friendships in the Southeast Asian region through Singapore’s good offices.

Though the target date for completing the 73 envisaged roads is 2012, only nine have so far been completed.