June 24, 2011
The Arab Spring is not quite shading into our Indian monsoon, but it has claimed some impressive results already.
The long-serving Presidents of Tunisia, Egypt and Yemen, in that order, have fled their palaces for refuge elsewhere (or in the case of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, for a jail
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May 30, 2011
Throughout history, men have waged war for power, wealth, land and occasionally over women. But rarely, except in the past two or three centuries have they gone to war to bring peace. Is peace really the raison d’etre for the wars being fought in different parts of the world? Or
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May 22, 2011
By Shashi Tharoor and Keerthik Sasidharan
May 22nd, 2011
In the 1920s, a young Tamil girl sang and starred in her school musical. It was, ostensibly, a private event with few outsiders. Yet so exceptional was her singing that Swadesamitran ran her photograph and wrote about the event. Seeing that photo in
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May 12, 2011
May 13th, 2011
If there is one assumption taken for granted by all of us familiar with Chinese sensitivities, it is that of “One China” — the inflexible policy adhered to by Beijing that requires the world to accept the unity and indivisibility of the Chinese nation, including not only Tibet
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May 3, 2011
ndia’s recent decision not to purchase American warplanes for its $10 billion-plus fighter aircraft program – the largest single military tender in the country’s history – has stirred debate in defense circles worldwide. India’s defense ministry deemed the two American contenders, Boeing’s F/A-18 Superhornet and Lockheed’s F-16 Superviper, not to
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April 29, 2011
The role of social media websites — such as Twitter, Facebook, Google, YouTube and Skype — in the unfolding revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, with ripples elsewhere in North Africa and West Asia, has given new impetus to the discussion of their impact on world politics. The eminent American
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April 17, 2011
India-Pakistan relations —a challenge at the best of times, and in the doldrums since 26/11 —received an unexpected boost last month from an unlikely source: cricket. When the two countries became semi-finalists in the game's quadrennial World Cup, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh invited his Pakistani counterpart, Yousaf Raza Gilani, to
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April 4, 2011
India-Pakistan relations – a challenge at the best of times, and in the doldrums since the terrorist attacks on Mumbai of November 2008 – received an unexpected boost last month from an unlikely source: cricket. When the two countries became semi-finalists in the game’s quadrennial World Cup, Indian Prime Minister
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March 29, 2011
India's 21st century economic story has begun to resemble an ODI. If the era of economic growth began in 1991, with the great adventure of liberalisation (Manmohan Singh's economic "idea whose time has come"), then by 2011, we as a country are headed well into our "middle overs". Successful ODI
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March 18, 2011
Today, this column appears in one more city —Deccan Chronicle makes its first appearance in Kochi. Inspired by the city’s famous Chinese fishing nets and Kerala’s renowned prowess in athletics, I thought this might be the occasion for looking anew at India’s ties with China — not through the prism
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