Courtesy: TDB
Financial intermediaries are critical lubricants for business, growth and development. The Indo-Pacific countries are industrializing, but smaller nations lag behind economically. The Quad countries can aid the advancement of the financial architecture in the Indo-Pacific by helping to develop an ecosystem, modelled on the examples of Japan and India.
Courtesy: Shutterstock
The UN turned 75 this year but instead of grand celebrations, the world witnessed an empty UNGA with world leaders addressing it via video screening because of the pandemic. The UN is under unprecedented stress and being shown up for its inability to tackle the challenges of today like the pandemics, climate change, terrorism or global peace and security. The institution's key governing structures, especially the UN Security Council, are inadequate and demand reform. India must now use gritty resolve to ensure its place in these governing structures.
Courtesy: Gateway House
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's announcement on November 8 to demonetise notes of the denomination of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 has a precedent. This infographic traces some interesting demonetisation initiatives around the world. From discontinuation of high denomination notes due to lack of circulation, to the use of beer and water as 'real assets' in place of hyper-inflated currency.
Courtesy: U.S. Staff Sergeant Aaron Allmon
Obama’s strategy to target the IS in Syria within the framework of a U.S.-led international coalition has met with a tepid response. There are reports that the U.S may offer India a non-NATO ally status during Modi’s upcoming visit in a bid to seek greater support – a gesture that India will do well to disregard.
Courtesy: Shwkyn231/Flickr
The year 2012 has been a busy one for foreign policy: from escalating disputes in the South China Sea to alternate financial instruments from the emerging world. India’s foreign policy too has its shown strengths and weaknesses. We present our top foreign policy Hotspots, Sweet spots and Blind spots for 2012.
Courtesy: White House photo/WikimediaCommons
The Wahhabis, who now merit NATO backing, continue on their global mission of converting the Muslim Ummah to its relatively harsh and antediluvian ways of thinking and living. For NATO, this is a geopolitical miscalculation that will have tragic security consequences for the alliance within a decade.
Courtesy: UNPhoto/MarcoDormino
A new United Nations doctrine is revolutionising the manner in which Western powers achieve regime change. Under the pretext of “Responsibility to Protect” –as the doctrine is named –armed intervention does not depend on the aspirations of a populace but the facilitation of existing power equations
Courtesy: CrethiPlethi/Flickr
As the Arab world reinvents itself in real time, the rest of the world must begin to understand the region as something more than a source for oil and a market for armaments and consumer goods.