This daily column includes Gateway House’s Badi Soch – big thought – of the day’s foreign policy events. Today’s focus is on Platts which is under investigation by the EU for allegedly manipulating crude oil prices.
This daily column includes Gateway House’s Badi soch – big thought – of the day’s foreign policy events. Today’s focus is on the election process, viewed through the Karnataka election in India, and the general elections in Pakistan and Iceland.
For long, deterrence has been the backbone of the U.S. national security strategy. It has applied deterrence to Russia, failed to apply it to Iraq and Iran, and is confused about applying it to China. Does the U.S. need to relearn the basics of deterrence?
Earlier in April, representatives of the U.S., EU, China and Russia held discussions in Kazakhstan to break the deadlock over Iran’s nuclear program, but with little result. What are the complexities of the Iranian nuclear dispute, and what are the chances of progress in the negotiations?
Conventional political parties around the world seem to be on the decline, and there are common factors too – precarious economies and a leaching of ideology, for example. How can countries achieve grassroots empowerment in their village republics, and those of ordinary citizens the world over?
Subsequent to the global financial crises of 2007, while several countries were still struggling with economic problems, Latvia managed to dramatically decrease its public debt, and its GDP too grew at an impressive pace. How was this success achieved and at what cost to the people of the country?
The BRICS Bank, which was ratified at the 5th BRICS Summit at Durban, South Africa, must include the incubation of new public service delivery models in its mandate and simultaneously encourage the sharing of best practices across the developing world.
Bilateral relations between India and Italy grew increasingly tense following Italy’s refusal to return two of their Marines – who are accused of killing two Indian fishermen. Given how both countries otherwise enjoy warm relations, how should New Delhi address this diplomatic debacle?
The rejection of the bailout deal by Cyprus’s parliament has threatened the Eurozone households’ trust in the European Union’s banking system. This could result in significant damage, and unlike in previous crises, there is little the European Central Bank can do, alone.
The establishment of a BRICS Development Bank will be among the prime topics of discussion at the BRICS Summit on March 26. Gateway House’s Akshay Mathur interviews former Indian Ambassador and Foreign Secretary, Shyam Saran, on the prospects and viability of alternate financial architectures.
