Paper No. 6773                  Dated 14-April-2021 By Dr Subhash Kapila Pakistan media in wake of Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov visit to Islamabad last week is exuberantly agog with headlines that Russian President Putin sought it to be conveyed that Russia is ready to offer a ‘Blank Cheque’ of any Russian assistance that Pakistan desires. Should this unnerve India? Not really so if geopolitically analysed. Pakistan officials who attended the discussions between the Russian and Pakistan Foreign Minister in Islamabad gushed that Russian President ..read more

Paper No 6772                Dated  9-April-2021 By Kazi Anwarul Masud Some recent articles have compared Indian Prime Minister’s style of governance as comparable to China. This is concerning to the neighbours who consider India as the largest practicing democracy and Chinese as style as dictatorial.  Such a conclusion is obvious to any layman who cares for the rights and privileges she/he enjoys in the country the person lives in. No one would like to live in fear of being whisked away at the dead of night for a “crime” he or she has not com ..read more

Paper No. 6771           dated 7-April-2021 By Dr Subhash Kapila Indian PM Modi would be well advised to steer clear of policy advisories suggesting Geopolitical Hedging or Geopolitically Balancing. Contextually in 2021, if PM Modi wishes to propel India on an ascendant power trajectory as a Major Global Power then unfolding geopolitical scenarios rule out such policy options. Power-play wisdom must dawn on India in that the global power system no geopolitical or strategic space exists for “Platonic Strategic Partnerships” as national strategies. ‘Strategic Ambig ..read more

Paper No. 6770                        Dated 26-Mar-2021 By Dr Subhash Kapila Pakistan’s extending an olive branch to India repeated twice since January 2021 by Pakistan Army Chief has analytically not arisen from some divine revelation but seems to be under China’s nudge. China seems to have concluded that emerging geopolitical geometries will impose heavy costs on its Pakistan Army’s strategic patronage. China would not have come to the above unexpected conclusion had India not audaciously and firmly confronted China militarily on t ..read more

Paper No. 6769                       Dated 26- Mar-2021 By Kazi Anwarul Masud: When one reads V. S. Naipaul or more recent ones one is surprised by the irrelevance we feel about the poverty and inequity we see in the Indian Sub-continent. We feel as if we are born to the discomfort and the inequity by dint of birth( privileges  which one gets through  an accident)  that can be ignored and the poor and hungry littered along the car we travel by is a matter of fact . Naipaul in his Million Mutunities Now writes: Independ ..read more

Paper No. 6768                  Dated 21-Mar-2021 By Kandaswami Subramanian Book Review -Akatiyin Tuyaram, V. Suryanarayan, Translated into Tamil by Bernard Chandra,  Kalachuvadu Publications Pvt Ltd., Nagercoil 629001, pp.133, Rs.160. This slender book on the troubled situation in our neighbouring country Sri Lanka is a treasure trove of scholarly information on the history, politics, and social dynamics of the country. Prof. Suryanarayan is one of the scholars of standing who has devoted a lifetime of research on Sri Lanka. In some ways, thi ..read more

Paper No. 6768                                    Dated 16-Mar-2021 By K.M. Seethi     “If you want to see the brave, look at those who can forgive. If you want to see the heroic, look at those who can love in return for hatred,” says Bhagavad Gita.    Pakistan’s Hindu community has apparently followed this sacred verse while forgiving the accused in the demolition of a 100-year-old holy shrine in the Teri village of the Karak district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) on 30 December 2 ..read more

Paper No. 6766                                   Dated 16-Mar-2021 By Dr Subhash Kapila “Geopolitical Suicide” would be the end-result of United States withdrawal of US Military Forces from Afghanistan by May01 2021, robbing United States of an irreplaceable vital “Strategic Perch’ which empowers United States to extend power and influence in turbulent Greater South West Asia expanse. The United Sates unilateral implementation of its ill-conceived and ill-advised Doha Accord with the Afghan Taliban---- m ..read more

Paper No. 6765                                Dated 14-Mar-2021 By Kazi Anwarul Masud   Decades back when the US reigned supreme in the aftermath of the Second World War, given both the political, moral and economic character that the world, many parts were yet under colonial rule, must follow, none had the courage including the European allies whose interests coincided with those of the US, to oppose the dictat. The Americans had an easy acceptance of their views because these were based on democratic princi ..read more

Paper No. 6764                       Dated 14-Mar-2021 by Dr. S.Chandrasekharan In the Nepalese media there is a very good article on Oli and his antics under the caption “Politics, Olitics and Ethics.”   The problem is, the term “ethics” is totally foreign to PM Oli.  When the Full Bench of the Supreme Court gave a clear verdict that Oli’s move to dissolve the Assembly without looking for alternatives as mandated by law as unconstitutional, any Prime Minister in his place, would have resigned immediately and let the politi ..read more