Comments & Briefs

Like all its predecessors, the government that just completed its tenure miserably failed to promote what a democratic state is supposed to first and foremost, namely, foster the multi-faceted development of all its citizens.

Unless the leaders of varying political hue and institutional oligarchs, including the military and, above all, Su Kyi, show political wisdom, incidents such as those in Meikhtila, Yamethin, and state military action against the Karens and Kachins will continue to recur.

FY 2013-14 has transited into the annals of the MoD but picking up a few messages from it and carrying forward the unfinished agenda to the next year would be the greatest tribute to the year gone by.

The Tibetan issue is primarily a political one and less an economic one as China projects it to be. China should talk to the Tibetan diaspora and India for a final solution. That would be in the true interests of the peoples, bilateral relations and regional stability.

While it is too early to predict the outcome of the national dialogue process, at present it looks like that the national dialogue, which is endeavouring to bring all the political parties and other factions under one umbrella, is the last chance for peace in Yemen.

The US may have provided the support and platform for the apology, but it was something Israel had to do desperately as it was finding the developing regional situation difficult to handle with every passing day.

State Assembly Elections held in Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura in February 2013 threw up a clear mandate in favour of the ruling (coalition) parties in Tripura and Nagaland, although a fractured one in Meghalaya. Political analysts suggest that these results stand testimony to the people’s desire to maintain the status quo.

Now that NAM is defunct and very little wealth is left in the Commonwealth, and given that the G-20 has a set parameter and doesn’t encompass the aggregate of the hopes and aspirations of the developing world, India should use the BRICS forum to project its global profile.

Indian planners would be cautious about an open US embrace as India does not want to be drawn into a US containment policy, which is how China perceives US rebalancing.

An analysis of these exercises reveals some interesting insights into the People's Liberation Army (PLA) thinking, its priorities, areas of interest and countries of concern.