News
Trump’s politics the new normal in US
While the Republican Party is becoming more firmly entrenched in the rural, mainly white parts of the country, the suburban areas are going in the Democratic direction.
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India’s African Focus Continues
It appears that the next Chief Guest for the Republic Day 2019 will be Cyril Ramaphosa, President of South Africa, after a reluctant US President expressed his inability. It was for the good in any case. We should have leaders who value and respect the gesture and dignity of the invitation and with whom we have a great relationship since it is a unique honour.
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The long arm of the state
Authoritarian states are brazenly challenging the liberal order.
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The collision of these 3 geographies is creating a new world order
For the past seven decades, the world has been moulded by a strong, transatlantic relationship with the US and EU underwriting the terms of peace, stability and economic prosperity.
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Chinese cooperation on countering terrorism
China’s ambivalence on Pakistan’s sponsorship of terror as state policy stands in the way of any umbrella agreement on cooperation
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Climate change is not all pain and is expected to improve precipitation in India
Heat will destroy genetic diversity and trigger migration to cooler climes, water scarcity will constrain food crops, warmer and more acidic seas will denude coral reefs and marine food resources and sea level rise will submerge low islands and coastal areas.
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Humanising the Rafale deal
Benjamin Franklin famously wrote, nearly 250 years ago, that “in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” We could just as easily add scandals in defence procurement to that short list. From the famous “Jeep Procurement” scandal of the Fifties, to Bofors in the Eighties, Coffingate in the Nineties, the Westland VIP Helicopter and Tatra allegations of this decade, and now Rafale, there has only been the odd purchase of defence equipment that has not been rocked by allegations of corruption. This is a competitive field, the deals are huge and profits humungous. Thus, the stench allegedly emanating from the Rafale deal should come as no surprise. In fact, if there had been none that would have been astonishing indeed.
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Why arms control is doomed to failure
By pulling the US out of the INF Treaty, US President Donald Trump is only hastening the inevitable
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Why US-China tussle could become more than just a trade war
On Thursday, US vice president Mike Pence accused China of using its military, intelligence agents, economic power and propaganda to undermine the US across the world and reiterated an unproven claim that China is seeking to influence US domestic politics. The speech at Hudson Institute, amounted to the US directly declaring China as a malign adversary.
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CPEC: Here comes the pushback
It was New Delhi which first pointed out the drawbacks of the Chinese model.
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