As is customary, official circles in India have hailed External Affairs S M Krishna's four-day visit to Sri Lanka from January 16th to 19th 2012 as 'successful.' Whether or not it was indeed 'successful' demands an examination of what transpired during the visit and the extent to which India's interests were promoted.

During the visit, besides detailed discussions with his Sri Lankan counterpart, Professor G L Peiris, Krishna called on President Mahinda Rajapaksa and met with leaders of the Tamil National Alliance.

Is the current institutional conflict in Pakistan an indication that it is increasingly becoming a dysfunctional state, or is it a sign that the political system is now becoming more democratic? The Zardari government is at loggerheads with the judiciary as well as the army.

The Government of India has announced that it had decided to provide 4.5 percent reservations for Muslims, to form part of the 27 percent reservation quota for other backward classes. Salman Kurshid, the Law Minister, has stated that this reservation would be of the order of 9 percent. The timing of these announcements coincides with the elections to be held in U.P. and this has created an absolute uproar.

How Nine Governments Betrayed the Nation

The crassly cynical political developments in Pakistan, epitomized by the Memogate scandal, befit a banana republic. The Army is accusing the Head of State of acting against national security by seeking to conspire with the US to curb its power. In a move without parallel anywhere the Army Chief has approached the Pakistani Supreme Court to investigate the matter. The former Pakistani Ambassador to Washington is lodged in the Prime Minsiter’s Residence for fear that he may either be physically eliminated by the military or coerced into signing some statement under duress.

China has been regularly coming out with white papers in many areas of its endeavour including defence and space activities. Promoting transparency is claimed to be one of the main goals of such an exercise. But largely such papers hide more and reveal less. Further transparency, at times can be a double edged sword especially in the military arena where one would like to both show off own competence so as to deter one’s likely adversaries as also be secretive about any exceptional progress made so as to not reveal too much; in addition at the same time one would like to hide own weaknesses.

In India at least since the British came to rule us it is the State which took upon itself the responsibility for providing health care. In 1925 in the undivided province of the Punjab Sir Fazl-i-Husain scheme for health care was initiated. The broad aim of the scheme was that there should be a civil dispensary for every hundred square miles of territory and no villagers need have to go more than five miles to find state provided medical help.

The announcement that the Taliban will be opening an office in Qatar should be a cause for some reflection. The US and its allies are politically exhausted and economically drained by the war in Afghanistan. They no longer seek a clear victory; they want to avoid the impression of defeat. The policy of “reconciliation” obfuscates the reality of their political and military failure in Afghanistan.

The Russian Constitution allows a president only two consecutive terms in power. Vladimir Putin was President from 2000 to 2008. Highly popular for having restored the political and economic authority of the state as well as national self-respect after the disarray of the Yeltsin years, he could have obtained another term through a constitutional amendment with wide public support.