Courtesy: Steve Webel/Flickr
The Chinese army’s trespassing of the Sino-Indian Line of Actual Control near Ladakh has fuelled serious security concerns in India. This signals a sharper policy from Beijing towards India; it is also why its response must be firm, and the Chinese must be seen to back off.
Courtesy: Leoboudv/WikimediaCommons
Often, many vital inventions are left incomplete or do not reach the market as information is locked up by numerous patent holders. How does this hamper innovation, and why is it necessary to overcome the attitude of ‘anti-commons’ and foster cross-fertilization of knowledge?
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The ‘Lady Hughes incident’, as a confrontation between British and Chinese authorities in 1784 came to be called, perhaps holds lessons for the ongoing dispute between India and Italy. Aniruddha Bose blogs
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The hanging of Afzal Guru – convicted of the terror attacks on the Indian parliament complex in 2001 – has re-ignited the separatist fire in Kashmir. Can a sustained effort by the corporate sector reverse this pro-secession rhetoric in the Valley, where locals yearn for normalcy?
Courtesy: Somenametoforget/Flickr
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?
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Political disputes and popular passions in North East Asia argue for discreet diplomacy and the provision of mutual assurances to prevent conflict and escalation.
Courtesy: WikimediaCommons/Flickr
The road to reconciliation between India and Pakistan is likely to be a long and treacherous one. But perhaps economic compulsions can overtake political ones. That is the hope in Karachi, whose business community has started to make its journey across the border to India.
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The new provocations from Pyongyang heighten the risk of a military showdown with the U.S., South Korea and Japan. China, the only power with sway over the regime, is exercising limited options for peace on the peninsula.
Courtesy: The White House
During his visit to Israel, U.S. President Barack Obama spoke in favour of both the Israelis’ right to security and the Palestinians’ right to sovereignty. The issue of settlements, however, remains unresolved and it is unlikely that Israel will make concessions when its neighbours are in turmoil.
In 1990, the erstwhile South Commission recommended the creation of a 'South Bank' to aid the economic emancipation of the global South. Can the BRICS bank, which was discussed in length at the 5th BRICS Summit, provide a solution to the problems of the crisis-ridden African continent? Devaki Jain blogs