Does the absence of a culture of “settled rule” imply continued instability? At a time when political unrest is spreading from Tunisia and Egypt to Libya, Bahrain and other parts of the Middle East, here’s a passage from Deepak Lal’s In Praise of Empires. In his enthralling history of the fall of the Ottoman empire ...
The list of regional security issues where ASEAN is falling short is growing Excerpts from today’s Business Standard column: Yet, ASEAN, a regional grouping often celebrated for its pragmatism and competence, has been unable to keep two of its members from going to war with each other. It will now try to play peacemaker, but ...
Who can resist China? While researching for today’s Business Standard column I came across Ame Trandem’s article in Vietnam’s Than Nien newspaper on the controversy relating to the Xayaboury (Xayaburi) dam in Laos. Here’s an excerpt of my subsequent email interview with Ms Trandem: Nitin Pai: What is China’s position on the downstream dams that ...
India’s decision to resume dialogue with Pakistan is a triumph of faith over reason The following is the original draft of my op-ed that appeared in the pages of the Wall Street Journal Asia earlier this week: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh waited until public memory of the terrorist attacks on Mumbai on 26th November 2008 ...
Nationalism merely expresses the civilisational values of the nation Waldemar Hanasz’s “Toward Global Citizenship?”, one of the readings prescribed for next week’s Liberty Fund Colloquium at Neemrana, organised by Centre for Civil Society, says “contemporary republications realise that today the only form of passionate patriotism is nationalism, which is often incompatible with toleration and pluralism.” ...
Almost three out of four Americans have a positive impression of India Here’s a chart based on the findings of the recent Gallup survey of public opinion in the United States: The mutual love fest continues. As we noted a few months ago, it’s set to continue because India is popular among the young. We ...
A tribute to K Subrahmanyam on the occasion of his memorial at Chinmaya Mission Auditorium, New Delhi Cmde C Uday Bhaskar referred to my tribute at today’s memorial function. The following is the complete text: By inspiring thousands of Ekalavyas in India and around the world, K Subrahmanyam has created the strategic culture whose absence ...
Why India is talking to Pakistan again and why it won’t achieve anything Samanth Subramanian’s report in The National quotes my comments on New Delhi’s decision to resume the-composite-dialogue-but-we-won’t-call-it that with Pakistan: Not calling the new talks a resumption of “composite dialogue” is important for both countries, said Nitin Pai, a fellow at the Takshashila ...
Looks like the North Waziristan operation will be postponed again From the very beginning, it was hard to shake off the suspicion that the Raymond Davis affair involved covert operatives from both the United States and Pakistan. That Mr Davis was engaged in diplomacy by other means should have been clear to anyone with a ...
Betweeen Sheikh Hasina’s gift and the need to neutralise the recalcitrant faction in Myanmar by Bibhu Prasad Routray There is expected hype in Assam regarding the proposed 10 February round of talks between New Delhi and a faction of the militant outfit United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA). At the same time, however, there is ...