COMMENTARIES
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Sri Lanka After Elections: New President, Old Challenges
N Manoharan · 24 Nov, 2005 · #1893 · Commentary
Mahinda Rajapakse, the newly elected President of Sri Lanka followed Sri Lanka's political tradition of reining Prime Ministers becoming Presidents. Thanks to the poll boycott by the Tamil community in the North, 'Mahinda Chintana' w...
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Sabotaging Nuclear Power Plants
Ajay Lele · 24 Nov, 2005 · #1892 · Commentary
According to Australia's biggest-ever counter-terrorism investigation report that was released recently, an attack was probably planned on Australia's only nuclear reactor in December 2004. The report indicates that three men were stoppe...
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China's 'Observer' Status: Implications for SAARC
· 21 Nov, 2005 · #1891 · Commentary
The 53-point declaration adopted by the 13th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Summit in Dhaka on 13 November is significant for several important policy initiatives. But, one of the most important outcomes is the decision...
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Iran, IAEA and India: Looking through Security Interests
D Suba Chandran · 21 Nov, 2005 · #1890 · Commentary
November 24, 2005 would be a crucial day for India's foreign policy, if the EU-3/Russia initiative fails to reach a compromise solution before the IAEA meeting. What would India's position be - oppose, support or abstain? Its strategic i...
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Indo-Pak Peace Process: Beleaguered By 'Trust Deficit'
KS Manjunath · 21 Nov, 2005 · #1889 · Commentary
The recently concluded 13th SAARC Summit (November 12-13) was held in Dhaka after the 8 October earthquake causing the human misery in its wake, and the Delhi bombings on 29 October. These events cast a pall of gloom over this summit, which had ...
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India's Upcoming Vote on Iran in the IAEA
PR Chari · 21 Nov, 2005 · #1888 · Commentary
Dismissing the question how India would vote on the Iran question in the upcoming IAEA meeting on 24 November as hypothetical, the Government has said that it would be guided by the contents of the resolution, but assured that it would pursue th...
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Human Rights Commission in J&K
· 14 Nov, 2005 · #1887 · Commentary
Human rights in Jammu and Kashmir trace their antecedents to the Dogra rule when the National Conference (NC) presented the ''Naya Kashmir Charter'' in 1944 to establish a welfare state. An important feature of this plan was the ...
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Will China become a democracy?
Bhartendu Kumar Singh · 13 Nov, 2005 · #1886 · Commentary
Everyone knows China is an authoritarian country, but a recent White Paper published by China defending its socialist democracy has cheered Sinologists. Not because they accept China's democratic pretensions, but because they realize China...
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Oil Politics: India's Failure in Kazakhstan
Laxman Kumar Behera · 13 Nov, 2005 · #1885 · Commentary
India's recent failure to
bid for an oil company in Kazakhstan due to China
underlines the former's vulnerability in competing in the international energy
market. It also opens up a larger debate over Petroleum and Nat...
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Expanding Indian Navy: The Scorpene Deal
Mallika Joseph · 07 Nov, 2005 · #1884 · Commentary
After nearly four years of negotiations, on 6 October 2005, India and France signed a deal to manufacture six Scorpene submarines at a cost of over $3.5 billion. The state-of-the-art stealth submarine with greater levels of automation ensures be...