More in United States
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A Matter of Law
Contrary to popular belief, restrictions on proselytisation placed by some state governments in India is neither in violation of the freedom of religion nor is it a departure from an international consensus. The phrase, “the road to Hell is paved with good intentions” is supposed to have originated with St....
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Fleet Street’s Foreign Policy
This week saw the third major fiasco India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) was led into by the Indian media during the United Progressive Alliance’s (UPA) second term alone (give or take a couple of months). The first blunder was regarding the allegedly racist attacks on Indians down under in...
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A Pivot without a Lever
My buddy Hans-Inge Langø over at the Hegemonic Obsessions blog recently posted what I thought was quite an interesting piece with deep perspective on the US pivot towards Asia in an era of growing Chinese power. As any good analysis would, it raised further questions regarding the shifting power dynamics in Asia,...
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Exorcising Non-Alignment
The term ‘non-alignment’ is a millstone around any strategic debate in India, and unjustifiably so. This is partly because of poor scholarship in India, even worse access to the official records of the government, and unbelievably sycophantic political leaders and media. As a result, the term is improperly understood at best,...
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Towards an Indian Grand Strategy
There is no clear definition of grand strategy that is fully satisfactory. The more one thinks about it, the more one realises how complex, uncertain, and even ephemeral its environment is to hazard embarking on such an endeavour. The Prussian military theorist, Carl Philipp Gottfried von Clausewitz, explained this experience of...
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A Persian Puzzle
In the past week, India announced two major policy decisions – the first was to continue trade (in rupees and gold instead of dollars) with the Islamic Republic of Iran despite European and American sanctions, and the second was ….
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Nuclear Genies
As the May 2010 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) review conference at the United Nations approaches, the Obama Administration will face a severe challenge. Obama has been a vocal proponent of nuclear disarmament, in April laying out an expansive arms control plan that called for U.S. ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and securing all loose nuclear …