Politics, economics, regional dynamics of South Asia
The most important result of the India-U.S. strategic dialogue is the expansion of serious bilateral conversations about problems outside the immediate South Asian neighborhood. The two countries need to extend this strategic conversation, especially to difficult issues like Iran and Pakistan.
Read our op-ed article, published in The Hindu June 26, 2012.
Indian Foreign Minister Krishna’s visit to Beijing is showcasing the positive in India-China relations. A recent visit to Beijing and Shanghai after a long absence gave us a more complicated picture of how the rise of India and China, so central to U.S. strategic thinking, looks from the east. India is taken more seriously in China than ten years ago, but is still not seen as an equal. The United States accepts India’s global ambitions; China dismisses them as “dreams.” China works best with India on global issues, the reverse of the U.S. experience, where bilateral ties are best and global collaboration weak.
Read our article published in The Hindu June 7, 2012.
June 1, 2012: In the summer of 2010, riots of youth throwing stones and calling for “azadi” – freedom from Indian rule – convulsed the Valley of Kashmir. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh pleaded eloquently to “give peace a chance,” and appointed a panel of three “Interlocutors” to assess public opinion in the state and make recommendations to resolve its seemingly intractable problems. On May 24, the Indian government finally released the report the panel had submitted to it seven months earlier. The long delay suggests that the report, despite the good sense in many of its recommendations, will join a long list of missed opportunities to transform political relations between New Delhi and Srinagar.
Continue reading “The Kashmir Interlocutors Report – But Who Will Listen?”