IDR Blog
Was Modi-Xi Chennai meet a ‘civilisational’ encounter?
Indian commentators have always been fond of the word ‘civilisational’, it was already so during the Nehruvian days, it continues today; it must be something anchored in Indian genes. As I never really understood the meaning of the term, I finally looked it up in the dictionary: it is “the act or process of civilizing, as by bringing out...
Japan's 2019 Defence White Paper and the Contest for Southeast Asia
In Japan’s annual Defence White Paper released on 26 September, China’s growing military might has been given priority over North Korea’s belligerence as the country’s main security threat. This is the first time Japan has so explicitly identified China as a security threat greater than North Korea. This article looks at how this document...
Will Turkey be Able to Establish a ‘Safe Zone’ in Syria?
On October 09, Turkey launched Operation ‘Springs of Peace’, a military excursion into north eastern Syria to establish a ‘safe zone’ with the objective of preventing the Syrian Democratic Forces (Quwwāt Sūriyā al-Dīmuqrāṭīya or SDF) from controlling areas along the Turkish-Syrian border. This is part of Turkey’s longstanding...
China celebrates its Republic day in Minsar, the Indian village in Tibet
China celebrated the 70th Anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China in the Indian village/town of Minsar in Western Tibet. An article inChina Tibet Newsmentioned the performance held to welcome upcoming National Day on September 29. A picture showed a dance composed and performed by teachers and students of the Primary...
Pragmatism is Watchword of India's Foreign Policy: Enemy’s Friend is My Enemy
There is a pragmatism bordering on the Machiavellian that permeates the ‘enlightened self-interest’ that is guiding Indian foreign policy, by which, if an enemy’s enemy is a friend, then an enemy’s friend is an enemy. On the margins of the UN General Assembly, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam...