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PUBLISHER’S NOTE/EDITORIAL |
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We bring out this
August edition of Diplomatist when we
stand confused between the choices of
wishing everyone best wishes for India’s
sixty-fifth Independence Day
celebrations, or wishing every one a
good luck in our fight against the
impending onslaught of the now seemingly
repetitive ‘financial slowdown’.
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News |
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> International Notes
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Focus |
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India-Bangladesh
Relations: Making the People Core |
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Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh’s visit to Dhaka that was
scheduled for a long time has finally
been announced. It is going to be a
significant bilateral visit by Indian
Prime Minister in recent history. The
earlier visits were in connection with
the SAARC Summits and hence were of
little bilateral significance. It is
expected that the Prime Minister will be
signing a border agreement to settle 6.5
kilometre of disputed border, and sign
the Teesta agreement, and will announce
significant steps in reduce trade gap –
a longstanding grievance of Bangladesh.
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Blame thy
Neighbour: Perspectives on
Indo-Bangladeshi Relations |
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Ever since the 1975
military takeover in Bangladesh, the
government and people in India have
serious misgivings about their
Muslim-majority neighbour to the east.
India not only considers the country a
source of illegal immigrants but also as
one in league with Pakistan, a promoter
of Islamist terror and a sanctuary for
ethno-national separatists in the
Northeast. Then again, contrary to what
Manmohan Singh believes that around 25
percent of Bangladeshis who are
anti-Indian belongs to the Islamist
Jamaati- Islami party, thanks to Indian
hegemonic behaviour towards Bangladesh
(and other smaller neighbours), much
more than 25 percent of the Muslim
population in the country are avowedly
anti-Indian and they do not necessarily
belong to any Islamist party as Islamist
parties do not command more than five
percent popular support in Bangladesh. |
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Great Leap Forward in Indo-Korean
Relations |
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The remarkable upturn
in India-Korea bilateral relations has
created a new model for intra-Asian
cooperation. In the wake of rising power
of China, the traditional Asian
strategic order effectively presided
over by the United States through the
San Francisco System – a security
triangle consists of US-Japan- Korea –
is increasingly losing its relevance.
The faint hints of coming new Asian
order from organizations, such as
Shanghai Cooperation Organization
founded in 2001 with six members,
including China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, and
ASEAN+3 (China, Korea and Japan), are
rather confusing and contradictory,
causing general uncertainty and
unwarranted policy suspicion in the
region. The talk of ‘peaceful rise of
China’ is losing its credibility on the
face of assertive policy actions with
nationalist overtones. According to some
Asia observers, ‘forces of cooperation
in the economically dominant Asian
region are losing ground in the face of
competitive resolve by countries and
their leaders’. |
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Spotlight |
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Indo US
Relations: Strategic or
Transactional? |
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The rain deprived
month of July in New Delhi witnessed the
arrival of two foreign ladies –
different in style and mandate – which
kept busy both – the media and Indian
diplomatic community – In interpreting
the impact of two ladies on their
visits. Hina Khar Rabbani – the newly
appointed young Foreign Minister of
neighbouring Pakistan – on a mission to
rejuvenate the otherwise moribund
relations between two estranged
neighbours, was more successful in
making a fashion statement. The other
lady – globetrotting US Secretary of
State Hillary Rodham Clinton – on a
mission to redefine the relations
between the reigning superpower, and the
fast emerging global player, which is
often reluctant to assume the
responsibility that comes with being a
global power – was more successful in
establishing a ‘meaning’ to the
bilateral relations. |
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Interview:
Michael Pelletier, Minister Counselor US
Embassy in Conversation with Editor
Diplomatist, Sandeep Singh |
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Michael Pelletier is
currently the Minister-Counselor for
Public Affairs and Public Diplomacy at
the American Embassy in New Delhi. He
oversees the U.S. government’s public
diplomacy mission in India, including
operations at the Embassy, the American
Center in New Delhi, and the U.S.
Consulates General in Kolkata, Mumbai,
Hyderabad, and Chennai. Previously,
Michael served as the U.S. government’s
Arabic language spokesman and founding
director of the Arabic Regional Public
Diplomacy Hub in Dubai. Michael is a
member of the Senior Foreign Service,
and has worked for the Department of
State and the U.S. Information Agency in
various public affairs positions
including Counselor for Public Affairs
in Amman, Jordan; Dakar, Senegal; and
Bamako, Mali. He has also served in
Kaduna, Nigeria; Cairo, Egypt; and
Chennai, India. Michael has a Bachelors
degree from Georgetown University’s
School of Foreign Service and a Masters
from Columbia University’s School of
International and Public Affairs. He is
fluent in French and Arabic, and
continues to study Tamil. |
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Interview |
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Cover Story |
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The Sovereign Debt Crisis in Greece
and the Future of European Integration
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Europe is in dire
straits these days. While Asia, and to a
lesser extent, the United States have
gradually emerged from the global
economic crisis which gripped the world
from the later half of 2008, Europe
still finds itself in doldrums. At the
root of the malaise that afflicts Europe
is the sovereign debt crisis that
started in Greece and now threatens to
engulf Portugal, Ireland, and even Spain
and Italy. These countries have tumbled
into a debt crisis as a result of
excessive spending and risky policies
which have resulted in deep budget
deficits. The most notable among these
countries, which has come to the
limelight is Greece, whose debt runs
into €327 billion ($464 billion). Faced
with the prospect of a complete collapse
of its economy Greece was forced to
accept a bailout package last year from
the European Union and the International
Monetary Fund (IMF). However the EU and
the IMF imposed very stringent
conditions under which Greece agreed to
undertake massive spending cuts so that
its budget deficit of 12.7 percent of
the GDP in 2009 could be brought down to
3 percent of GDP by 2012. |
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Economy |
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Energy
Security: A Challenge for
Economic Sustainability |
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Energy is a necessary
input into production processes and thus
its availability and price play a key
role in economic growth. The recent
offshoot in the crude oil prices has
therefore drawn attention of all spheres
to review the challenge of economic
sustainability and world prosperity.
Energy security is an accepted
prerequisite for economic
sustainability. It can be defined as
‘the long term ability to provide energy
at a cost which supports the ongoing
pace of economic growth leading to
improved quality of life for the people
in general and citizens of a country in
particular’. |
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Perspective |
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India and Shanghai Cooperation
Organisation Regional Group; Global Role |
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The 10th anniversary
summit of the Shanghai Cooperation
Organisation (SCO) was held in Astana,
Kazakhstan, on Jun 14-15, 2011. The
summit was expected to be a historic one
in terms of the organizations’ evolution
and expansion and its impact on regional
security. A decade after its
establishment, it becomes imperative to
trace the rise of this regional grouping
of six Central Asian and Eurasian
nations led by China and Russia, often
regarded as the most powerful
geopolitical bloc after NATO, and
highlight the import of full membership
for India. |
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India-ASEAN FTA Challenges and
Prospects |
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The ASEAN-India Trade
in Goods Agreement came into force on 01
January 2010. Under the Agreement
tariffs on 4,000 items will be
eliminated by 2016 and goods in the
sensitive list get a longer time frame.
Trade is growing ($55.21 billion in
financial year 2010-2011) and is
targeted at $70 billion by 2012. When
India hosts the India-ASEAN
Commemorative Summit in December 2012 it
is expected that all ten ASEAN States
will have ratified the Trade in Goods
Agreement by that time. |
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Global Center
Stage |
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Victory of Hope for a New Thailand |
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Five years on from
the military coup of 2006, a new
political landscape has emerged in
Thailand. The Pheu Thai party won the
election on 3 July, securing 265 seats
of the Parliament’s 500 seats. Turnout
was high – some 75 percent of Thai
voters, or 47 million people, took part
in the election – meaning that Thais of
all political persuasions had to accept
and respect the outcome, albeit with
happiness, sadness or stoicism. |
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Relevance of ARF in a Changing Time |
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The 18th Association
of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN)
Regional Forum (ARF) Foreign Ministers
Meeting was held on 23 July 2011 in
Bali, the Republic of Indonesia. The
ASEAN Regional Forum faces a critical
test of relevance and usefulness today
when Foreign Ministers of the member and
observer nations wrestled with the
increasingly hazardous South China Sea
territorial problem. The ARF is the
largest security forum in the region and
the prime agenda in the meeting attended
by the 27- nations included issues like,
the maritime disputes between China and
its smaller neighbours, the challenge of
bringing North Korea back into nuclear
disarmament talks, and human rights
concerns in the military-run Myanmar.
The dialogue partners China, Japan,
South Korea, US, EU, Russia and India
also registered their presence
represented by their respective foreign
ministers. It is interesting to note
that the US has restarted taking active
interest in the regional politics of
Asia-Pacific region. |
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an Article |
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South Sudan - Birth of a New Nation
Opportunities and Challenges |
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A new independent of
nation South Sudan emerged on the 9th of
July 2011 in the North-East Africa,
officially seceding from Sudan after
decades of civil war. After separation
from the north, South Sudan has become a
landlocked country bordered by Ethiopia
to the east; Kenya to the southeast;
Uganda to the south; the Democratic
Republic of the Congo to the southeast;
the Central African Republic to the
west; and Sudan to the north. |
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an Article |
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Indian States
on A Platter |
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Complexities of Transition in the
Hills: A Story of Uttarakhand |
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Uttarakhand, earlier
know as Uttaranchal, a small hilly state
located along the Southern slopes of the
Himalayas, may be described as a gift of
nature. The high Himalayan ranges,
shrines, the banks of Holy rivers,
caves, dense forests, fast flowing
rivers, big lakes and the rich
bio-diversity has given name and fame to
this region since ancient times. Two
major regions of Uttarakhand, Kumoun and
Garhwal, were described in Puranas as
Manaskhand and Kedarkhand. It not only
speaks of the historical significance of
the region, but also defines its deep
rooted religious and cultural
traditions. The religious signification
of the region is clearly indicated by
the fact that the pious land of
Uttarakhand has been a home for saints
and sadhus for ages. The region has been
rightly described as Dev Bhumi – The
Land of Gods. |
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Special Report |
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India-Mongolia Relations Moving
towards a Strategic Partnership |
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On her visit to
Mongolia between 27 and 30 July 2011,
President of India, Ms. Pratibha Patil
said that a “new silk route” is needed
to be developed between the two
countries that share 2,700 years of
historical relationship and “weave
together a new destiny.” The statement
evidently speaks of a new dynamism
emerging between the two countries that
could well elevate the growing ties from
the level of Comprehensive Partnership,
achieved in 2009 to a level of strategic
relationship. Her visit, the first by a
President of India in 23 years, is
indeed significant in the context of
Mongolia’s mining boom that is widely
predicted to catapult the country to be
the fastest growing economy in the world
by 2013. |
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The Eternal Value of India-Mongolia
Cultural Relations |
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Much before the
advent of modern statecraft and tools of
international diplomacy where individual
relations between nation states are
propelled by the visits of state
leaders, India and Mongolia shared a
3000 year old cultural bond that was
more people centric and involved a
spread of cultural linkages. The recent
presidential visit to Ulan Bator
generated media interest around the
proposed defence and media cooperation,
but another important dimension of this
visit that was chronicled by the media
was the eagerness displayed by both
nations to build on the mutually
beneficial ties which already exist
between the two countries. The
President’s visit to the revered “Gandan
Tegchinleng Monastery”, one of the
oldest Buddhist monasteries, and
probably the only one to survive the
erstwhile Communist onslaught in
Mongolia, and the mystical performance
by the country’s folk artists at a
Mongolian Village were important facets
of the long and vibrant historical links
that Mongolia shares with its spiritual
neighbour – India. |
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Food Processing Industry |
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The comprehensive
partnership treaty signed between India
and Mongolia will provide all inclusive
cooperation suiting national interests
of both nations. Through this
partnership, the countries will
complement each other’s strengths. H.E.
Mr. Ts Elbegdorj has on several
occasions appreciated the advances made
by India across different sectors and
expressed desire to deepen ties between
the two countries. He highlighted the
development that is taking place in
Mongolia and its promising trade in the
mining, agriculture, pharmaceutical,
health, education, defense and
information and technology sectors. |
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Engagement through Education India’s
Rising Role in Mongolia’s Education
Sector |
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India and Mongolia
have interacted through the medium of
Buddhism over a period of 2700 years.
The cultural and spiritual interaction
has enriched the two civilizations
through a process of give and take.
Following the emergence of Mongolia as a
modern nation state in the 20th century,
the two countries have continued to
build relations based on shared
historical and cultural legacy. |
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Progress of the Women’s World
2011-2012 Justice and Equality for All |
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Laws and the justice
system have a fundamental responsibility
of shaping society. They provide
accountability, prevent the abuse of
power and create new rules and
regulations for acceptance. However, the
singular focus of women’s activism
around the globe has been the current
failings of laws and the justice system.
In the event of missing or
discriminatory laws or a break-down in
the justice infrastructure, access to
justice is certainly more than just
enabling women gain access to the
existing judicial system. |
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Cultural
Diplomacy |
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Sacred City of Caral, Peru (3,000 B):
Cradle of Civilization in the Americas |
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Five thousand years
ago the civilizations of Harappa and
Mohenjo Daro flourished in the Indus
Valley as the first step of the
wonderful evolution that today forms the
country that hosts us, India. |
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Hastinapur – The City of Wisdom – in
Argentina |
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Hastinapur has a
total area of twelve acres. Its
population consists of a dozen Indian
Gods and an equal number of Argentine
human beings. Some of the Indian Gods
reside in authentic temples filled with
the scent of Indian agarbatties, while
others stay outdoors enjoying the
fragrance of the flowers from the
garden. Some are sitting or standing on
the pedestals and others hang on the
sides of walls and pillars. The Gods who
have their own temples include Ganesh,
Krishna, Surya, Narayana and Siva. Since
it is Hastinapur, there is also a temple
for Pandavas. Hastinapur is clearly a
place fit for the Gods ... |
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Book Review |
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Does the Elephant Dance?
Contemporary Indian
Foreign Policy (Author:
David M. Malone) |
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David M. Malone is
President of the International
Development Research Centre. He was
Canada’s High Commissioner to India and
non-resident Ambassador to Bhutan and
Nepal from 2006 to 2008. He has
published extensively on peace and
security issues, in book form and in
journals. His books include The Law and
Practice of the United Nations (OUP
2008) and The International Struggle
Over Iraq (OUP 2006). |
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