IDR Blog
India-Indonesia Relations after President Jokowido’s Visit
Indonesian President Joko Widodo, popularly known as “Jokowi,” was on a two-day state visit to India on 12-13 December 2016. This was the first visit by an Indonesian President in the last six years and also the first bilateral talks since Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Jokowi assumed the office in 2014. While Vice-President...
Decommissioned Military Hardware – A Potential Diplomatic Asset for India
India’s efforts to increase its arms exports have, to date, met with limited success. This is not entirely surprising as India is an unknown quantity in arms manufacturing on the global scene, despite its robust domestic industry and the substantial production undertaken to date. It is noteworthy that the Republic of Korea (South Korea) has...
Arrogance and Deterrence
Several years ago, during an interview with a senior Tibetan Lama on the future of China, the venerable monk started quoting the Mahabharata; he said, “look at Ravana, he had become so arrogant that this triggered his own end.” He conclusion was that China today (it was several years ago), was becoming far too arrogant and it was not a sign...
Despite Ceasefire, no end to Syria's Sorrows in Sight
What began as the Arab Spring, with the fall of the dictator Ben Ali of Tunisia (24 years in power) in January 2011 and of the dictator Hosni Mubarak of Egypt (30 years in power) in the very next month, has taken the worst possible transmogrification in Syria. Half of the 22 million population has been rendered homeless; almost 5 million...
Security Council Resolution 2322: Will it Strengthen Multilateral cooperation in Counter-terrorism?
On Monday, 12 December, 2016 the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a landmark resolution on strengthening international judicial cooperation in countering terrorism. Resolution 2322 aims to enhance the efficacy of international legal and judicial systems in their fight against terrorism through operational collaboration. This is the first...