If only the Italians had accepted that it was a wrong judgement on the part of the crew of the ship, apologised and offered adequate compensation, the matter could have been resolved. But their whole approach has been defiant, says T P S Sreenivasan.
'The IAEA should be given the authority, resources and technical capability to intervene expeditiously in case of a nuclear emergency.'
An alliance of minds, which is essential to elevate the strategic partnership to a higher level, appears hard to accomplish. A new sense of realism, rather than undue optimism, will prevail in India-US relations in the future, says TP Sreenivasan
A number of younger diplomats have begun to search for the soul of the foreign service, to give its members a sense of belonging and pride, observes former ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
By speaking for all nations without going into details, India expressed its confidence that it cannot be excluded if the Council is expanded. This was more effective than the usual assertion of the Indian claim on every occasion, says T P Sreenivasan.
The actor plays a teacher in Mohanan's new Malayalam film.
T P Srinivasan outlines the importance of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's trip to New York for the United Nations General Assembly session
Neither the United States government nor its powerful business lobby is likely to embrace the Indian law, which imposes unprecedented liability on the suppliers for 80 years, says TP Sreenivasan
'The change of vocabulary in the India-US conversation was significant and refreshing.' 'It matched the styles of Trump and Modi.' 'The differences were not papered over, but there was determination to resolve them in the days ahead,' says Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
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'Fukushima should inject a sense of nuclear neutrality into the thinking of our policy makers and it leads to a full appraisal of our options for the future,' says T P Sreenivasan.
'The expectations on the two sides are so divergent that disappointment is inevitable for both.'
The world will welcome the lofty ideas that have figured in Obama's Arab Spring speech, but the credibility deficit will remain till the US conduct on the ground matches the President's golden vocabulary, says TP Sreenivasan.
Writer-director Ranjith Sankar talks about his second Malayalam film.
By a mix of deception, subterfuge, ingratitude and crocodile tears, Pakistan has begun to get sympathy rather than condemnation when it stands exposed as the haven for the most wanted terrorist in the world, says T P Sreenivasan.
God's Own Country is over-written -- characters explain everything in words when a mere change of expression would do.
'The US does not want Pakistan either to break up or fall into the hands of fundamentalists. The US has been saying for long that India should work with those in power in Pakistan, because those who came after them would have longer beards!'
'Tharoor has demonstrated that the public and private lives of politicians should remain separate and that personal happiness should take precedence over the exigencies of politics.'
India-US relations appear to be increasingly privatised, with little strategic content in it. The hopes raised during the Bush era and the momentum indicated during the Obama visit seem to fade away, at least for the time being.
The best they say about him is that he is a man who attends to details and carries out instructions from the Security Council and the General Assembly, 'a carpenter rather than an architect.'
T P Sreenivasan interacts with rediff.com readers on the significance and scope of US President Barack Obama's visit to India
The latest updates from the Tamil film industry.
'Those who criticise him for not identifying Pakistan as the source of terrorism appear to have missed the nuances in the speech. It was not the occasion for him to name any country even indirectly, particularly as he had stated earlier that Pakistan should punish the guilty urgently.'
'I was a very late child of my father. I was suddenly a little toy, who appeared from nowhere. Everybody experimented.' 'I don't know why I took up dancing. I think I wanted to find one more excuse to drop out from school.' Kamal Haasan gives us beautiful nuggets from his life.
KS recognised the absolute necessity of integrating defence policy with foreign policy and he was as adept in foreign policy formulations and advocacy as he was in spelling out defence and nuclear policy. TP Sreenivasan pays tribute to a strategic thinker like none other
Unless the ministry for external affairs and the ministry for overseas Indian affairs work together, many NRI problems cannot be ironed out, feel T P Sreenivasan.
Barack Obama and Hu Jintao tried to pretend that they did not have to take any notice of India's invisible presence, but there it was, as an unseen guest and an indispensable factor in their deliberations and decisions, says TP Sreenivasan
'As India's involvement in the growth of the US deepens, the search for the soul of India gains momentum. India's smart power gets projected in the US in very many ways.'
A delegation of Latin American ambassadors, which visited Thiruvananthapuram when Tharoor was the MoS, were all praise for him for the attention he gave them, particularly to facilitate their visit to his own constituency. Now, with only one MoS in the ministry, the ambassadors from Africa, Latin America and the Gulf have no chance of meeting the MoS. By his exit, Tharoor has left a wide gulf in the ministry
'Kunji Ramayanam was entertaining and had a likable plot. We thought that even if the film did not have a great initial, it would pick up. That's why we took the risk of releasing it along with the big names, during Onam,' director Basil Joseph tells Vijay George.
Though this Malayalam film tends to be melodramatic at times, it is credible in the final analysis.
Security is a science in the US, it is an art here. Former diplomat TP Sreenivasan offers his take on the controversy over the airport 'pat-down' of Ambassador Meera Shankar
'Rahul Gandhi has shown that he can field questions on the fly -- something the frontrunner in this election has failed to do in the last five years -- but does it mean he can survive another bout with a primed-up ArGo?' asks Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
The image of India demolished by the scams will take time to rebuild itself. No amount of spinning will get the glory back. Nor can spectacular show of Indian dances or glossy publications suffice to change our image, says TP Sreenivasan
India has handled the West Asia crisis with finesse so far and it should not be abandoned for a false sense of having to stand up to the West. We should strive for gradual and peaceful change with the necessary flexibility in our approach, says T P Sreenivasan.
'The Indian side -- S M Krishna, Nirupama Rao and Sharat Sabharwal -- was the picture of tranquillity, poise and perseverance. Krishna spoke in measured tones, but firmly and convincingly. Except for failing to defend the home secretary, Krishna's performance was faultless.'
'We should dream not about a permanent seat at the horse-shoe table in the United Nations, but of a mature balanced and beneficial relationship with the US.'
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'Those who know China would not be complacent enough to think that the Chinese threat is an illusion.'
