'China's action towards India really gives you a good insight into how the Communist Party of China is thinking these days'
Stephen Cohen interacted with rediff.com readers on November 6 about the political and security issues in the subcontinent, and much more.
The US on Friday issued orders to ban popular Chinese social media apps TikTok and WeChat from Sunday to safeguard national security, weeks after India banned them, saying they were prejudicial to sovereignty, integrity and security of the country.
'The expectations on the two sides are so divergent that disappointment is inevitable for both.'
"We are counting on India's rise not just as an economic partner but as a global power one that engages everywhere from Latin America to the Middle East to East Asia," Deputy Secretary of State William J Burns said in his remarks on 'Is there a future for the US-India partnership?', organised jointly by the FICCI and Brookings Institute, a Washington-based eminent American think tank.
'The inflow of FII or FDI has not distorted the market sentiments and therefore there is no question of putting any curbs.'
India ranks 73rd on a list of 123 of the world's freest economies, according to a study released in Washington.
'Pakistan has worsted India in the Afghan proxy war and the defeat becomes a template of regional politics,' points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Echoing India's concerns over Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai's move toward reconciliation and reintegration of segments of the Taliban into the Afghan government -- which has been endorsed by the Obama administration -- Dr Abdullah Abdullah, erstwhile Afghan foreign minister and Karzai's nemesis, who was a candidate in the controversial 2009 presidential elections, said pursuing such a policy would be a futile exercise.
Doubts about the Obama administration's commitment to a strategic partnership with India were raised by the likes of Lalit Mansingh, former Indian ambassador to the US and former Indian foreign secretary, and Kanwal Sibal, former Indian foreign secretary and former deputy chief of mission in Washington, DC, in two separate panels titled 'American and Indian Strategic Interests in Asia' and 'Where is the US-India Strategic Relationship Headed in the Coming Year?'
India's exponential economic prowess has made Boeing covet that country like never before, said Thomas Pickering, former under secretary of state and former ambassador to India, who after he retired was a vice president with Boeing and who remains a consultant with the aviation giant.
The International Institute of Finance, which has representatives from 360 major banks and financial institutions of 60 countries, has suggested the expansion of the G-7 to G-11 to include India, China, Russia and Brazil.
'Outside investors don't want to get tangled up in a religious war.'
India and Pakistan are not yet ready for a true settlement of disputes between them and the two countries would gain by pressing towards increased trade, commerce and shared approach to problems of terrorism, water shortage and environmental degradation, US experts have said.
Addressing the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in Washington, America's Special Envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke identified the Lashkar as the group, which planned and executed the 26/11 attacks.
'Yes, we engage when those issues come up and try to strike that balance between what is an internal domestic matter for the government to resolve, and what's an issue that actually should be raised on the bilateral level.'
'India will come increasingly in the US crosshairs if it insists on maintaining its strategic autonomy, warns Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The researchers said that the public school system in Pakistan is highly corrupt with positions handed out for political favours and teachers being paid even if they don't turn up for classes.
To build one's political and ideological arguments on the dead bodies piling up outside our crematoriums is despicable and breaches the basic tenet of human civility, argues Vivek Gumaste.
US President Donald Trump has slammed federal judge James Robart who lifted the travel ban he had imposed on citizens of seven mainly-Muslim countries, taking an unusual jab at an independent branch of the US government as he vowed to bring back the restrictions.
An allegation that the Congress party took money from the United States during the Indira Gandhi era has been made in a book to be released on Tuesday, but the party dismissed the charge as 'unsubstantiated and malicious.'
Announcing her appointment, IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde hailed the Mysore-born Gopinath as "one of the world's outstanding economists with impeccable academic credentials, a proven track record of intellectual leadership and extensive international experience".
Pakistan is going ahead with the construction of its third heavy nuclear reactor at the Khushab site at a much faster pace, a Washington-based think tank has said.
Informing the world leaders of measures taken by him, Modi said India will continue to accord a high national priority to nuclear security through strong institutional framework, independent regulatory agency and trained and specialised manpower.
It is difficult to recall an Indian minister in modern times pushing back at the US publicly, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Seven of the 30 largest U.S. corporations paid more money to their chief executive officers last year than they paid in U.S. federal income taxes, according to a study released on Tuesday that was disputed by at least one of the companies.
Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan today criticised multilateral institutions like the IMF and the World Bank saying "they are not immune to cognitive capture".
India, Taiwan and countries with large numbers of Tibetans, Uyghurs and overseas Chinese will be prominent among those that witness elevated United Front activity, notes Jayadeva Ranade, the distinguished China expert and retired RAW officer.
The elephant in the room will permeate the conversations, predicts Rup Narayan Das.
Former ambassador to India Frank Wisner is convinced that "the United States cannot pursue its interests in the world without cooperation with India, and India will not achieve her essential interests without cooperation with the US."
Jonah Blank, former journalist and now policy director for South Asia on the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, believes the Bush administration should have expended its political capital on strongly supporting India's bid for a permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council and being a catalyst in India securing this long-desired position in the world body, instead of the US-India civilian nuclear deal.
At some stage this fall in the quality of life will begin to hurt anybody's popularity, observes Shekhar Gupta.
'The Modi government would chaff at the very idea of holding talks with Pakistan, facilitated by Washington and under close US monitoring, when the 2019 poll is sailing into view.' 'But in politics and diplomacy, there may be moments when drinking from the chalice of poison is necessary,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Notwithstanding the huge monetary assistance that the United States is planning for Pakistan to help the troubled nation fight extremism and reduce anti-America sentiments, a majority of Pakistanis are still against the US being a partner in Islamabad's fight against terrorism.
In fact, given the current tensions and massed troops on both sides, there is a danger that the LAC will become more like the Line of Control with Pakistan, a heavily fortified and strongly defended border where weapon fire exchanges regularly occur. Indeed, Stratfor Worldview research has listed a sharp increase in new Chinese facilities along the LAC in 2019-20.
In the test, a space rocket boosted a hypersonic glide vehicle, one capable of carrying a nuclear device, which circled the globe before impacting.
Kerala top the list of state-wise break-up of repatriation requests with 25,246, followed by 6,617 from Tamil Nadu and 4,341 from Maharashtra. A total of 3,715 people from Uttar Pradesh requested for evacuation, 3,320 from Rajasthan, 2,796 from Telangana and, 2,786 from Karnataka.
Subbarao said in terms of the risk to growth inflation outlook, the first would depend on global recovery and if it fails, could have an impact for India.
Reserve bank of India governor Duvvuri Subbarao has said that India is not contemplating imposing Tobin Tax on capital inflows, but did not rule out introducing it later.
Educator, director, actor and activist Manjula Kumar has been awarded the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Foundation's Fellowship of Peace Award. At a ceremony on June 12 in uptown Washington, DC, she was described as someone who 'through her numerous productions, worked tirelessly to build bridges of cross-cultural understanding between diverse communities, and expresses the notion of the fellowship of peace through every artistic endeavour.'
