Vivekananda International Foundation | Seeking Harmony in Diversity

July 25, 2019 Amb K P Fabian Commentary

We are witnessing a rapidly aggravating crisis that can result in the outbreak of hostilities with consequences, unintended, uncontrollable and possibly frightful for the region and the rest of the world. We have not seen any serious effort on the p....

Keywords : International Relations and Diplomacy , Central Asia , Commentary , US-Iran-UK confrontation , shipping in Strait of Hormuz , Gulf crisis

US Sanctions, Hormuz Strait and Security in the Gulf

July 22, 2019 Amb D P Srivastava, Distinguished Fellow, VIF Commentary

The seizure of Stena Impero by Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on 19th July in the Hormuz Strait follows arrest of Grace 1 off Gibraltar by Royal Marines earlier. This represents an escalation. Incidents of attacks on tankers on 12th May an....

Keywords : International Relations and Diplomacy , West Asia , Commentary , US-Iran spat , shipping in Persian Gulf , oil tanker seizure

Chabahar Port - A Rethink is Needed

July 19, 2019 Rajesh Soami Commentary

Russian, Chinese, American and Pakistani representatives met in Beijing on the 10th and 11th of July to discuss the situation in Afghanistan. This was the third such consultation between Russia, China and the US, and the first in which Pakistan parti....

Keywords : International Relations and Diplomacy , Central Asia , Commentary , Chabahar Port , US Sanctions , Iran’s changed priorities

Fortnightly Notes from the South Asian Sub-Continent

July 15, 2019 Mayuri Mukherjee Commentary

Bangladesh: No justice in extrajudicial killing

After a murder accused was killed in an encounter with the police earlier this month, Bangladesh’s apex court made clear that it did not approve of such ‘extrajudicial’ killings. The j....

Keywords : Neighbourhood Studies , Commentary , Bangladesh killings , Pakistan’s debt , Death penalty in Sri Lanka

New Breed of Kashmiri Terrorists

July 12, 2019 Bashir Assad Commentary

The current phase of militancy in Kashmir has a very strong ideological basis. It is completely different from what it was in the early 1990s. Islamist theology originating from Wahabism and Maududism provides the requisite ideological input to the c....

Keywords : Jammu & Kashmir , National Security and Strategic Studies , Commentary , Kashmir militancy , Kashmiri radicalization , money and propaganda in radicalization

Pakistan Federal Budget 2019-20 - Unrealistic Ambitions

July 11, 2019 Prateek Joshi Commentary

Pakistan’s Federal Budget was unveiled on June 11, 2019, under the looming shadow of International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) conditionalities seeking to curb the consistently misused fiscal space as well as the gloomy growth projection of 2.4 percent....

Keywords : Neighbourhood Studies , Pakistan , Commentary , Pakistan budget , Pakistan’s fiscal distress

Trump’s visit to the DMZ: More Than Just Photo Optics?

July 11, 2019 Dr Gunjan Singh Commentary

Trump, in his impromptu diplomatic style, surprised the whole world when he tweeted an invitation to Kim to meet him at the Korean De-Militarized Zone (DMZ). The fact that Trump and Kim met on North Korean soil is a historic development. They met at ....

Keywords : International Relations and Diplomacy , Indo-Pacific , Commentary , Korean peace , North Korea sanctions , Trump-Kim talks

More Needs to be Done to Revitalise Chabahar Project

July 10, 2019 Gautam Sen Commentary

The latest Govt. of India`s regular budget of 2019-20, has a meagre allocation of Rs. 45 crore for the development and operationalising of Chahbahar Port infrastructure under the Ministry of External Affairs line of credit to finance this programme, ....

Keywords : International Relations and Diplomacy , Central Asia , Commentary , Chabahar Port , India-Iran relations , India’s access to Central Asia

ASEAN Adopts Outlook for Indo-Pacific 2019: Balances Aspirations and Affirms Indonesia’s Leadership

July 01, 2019 Commodore Somen Banerjee Commentary

ASEAN took a landmark decision to adopt the ASEAN Outlook on Indo-Pacific on June 22, 2019 after more than a year of deliberations. Located centrally, in one of the most dynamic regions of the world today, ASEAN sees Southeast Asia as the conduit and....

Keywords : International Relations and Diplomacy , Indo-Pacific , Commentary , ASEAN manoeuvres , complexities of Indo-Pacific , managing the Indo-Pacific

An India-US Trade War Now?

June 28, 2019 Rajesh Soami Commentary

The United States, under President Trump, has been at loggerheads with a long list of countries on trade related issues. This includes China, Canada, Mexico and India. The European Union has also suffered. In fact, the Trump administration has used t....

Keywords : Economic Studies , Commentary , US trade sanctions , US-India trade relations , American unilateralism on trade