Four areas of conflict that threaten India-U.S. partnership
Democracies are supposed to get along, but that has not always been the case for the United States and India. Indeed, the relationship, though perhaps at a historical high point (Paywall) today, still suffers from New Delhi’s lingering distrust of Washington derived from raw Cold War geopolitics and India’s longstanding foreign policy of nonalignment. The most recent bilateral irritant pertains to the ongoing explosion of Coronavirus cases and deaths in India. |
What’s going wrong with India’s Act East policy?
Prime Minister Narendra Modi graduated Look East into an Act East policy. Three developments over the past five years are, however, testing Indian diplomacy in the region. First, the rising profile of China combined with growing China-India tensions; second, disappointment in the region with India’s economic under-performance; and, third, rising concern in the region with India’s approach towards its minorities, especially Muslims and Christians.
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India’s growing interest in Taiwan
In the past, though India and Taiwan had de facto diplomatic relations, (Paywall) most agencies in the Indian government barely recognized Taiwan as a separate country. Several years ago, India adhered so strictly to a “One China” policy that it did not recognize Taiwanese credit cards and banks. The most important determinant of how India would respond to a Taiwan crisis is how close it moves to the U.S. over the coming years. India has a testy relationship with China but has been wary of aligning too closely with Washington.
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What Explains America’s Antagonism Toward China?
In the last few years, the view of China as a strategic rival has taken over the American political mainstream, with leaders largely choosing confrontation over cooperation. Two features of this shift stand out: how quickly it occurred, and the extent to which Americans – and their leaders – have united behind it. |
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Preparing army of cyber professionals for Digital India
Over the past few years, the Government of India has come up with various new schemes to support Citizen services, welfare programmes, and upliftment of underserved communities. Such schemes have also been upgraded to various Digital Platforms and Applications. This has also presented additional opportunities to cybercriminals. While the Government has already taken up many initiatives to escalate and secure Cyberspace, with an accelerated pace of digital transformation in view of the pandemic, we must build a full-fledged Army of Cyber Professionals. |
U.S., China, Europe and India — all are mulling the possibility of a digital currency, but no one is ready to bite the bullet, yet
A lot has been said about cryptocurrency prices recently, especially with regulations in China stirring up prices over the past week. While governments around the world have been resistant to accepting cryptocurrencies as legitimate payment systems, they aren’t opposed to the underlying blockchain technologies that run all of these currencies. Enter Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs). |
Digital Sovereignty In An Era Of Global Surveillance, Disinformation, And Info-Demics
Concerns over the management of that growth and related apprehensions over the velocity, variety, veracity, and value of data are growing in tandem. Private and public sectors of the economy are increasingly engaged not only in the proliferation of information but also in its effective and responsible management, analysis, and knowledge extraction; elements essential in giving them a competitive advantage in a densely interconnected and highly networked global economy.
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India, UK agree on co-production of military hardware; technology collaboration for combat aircraft
In a major move, India and the UK on Tuesday, May 04, vowed to expand bilateral defence cooperation, including through technology collaboration in developing combat aircraft and complex weapons, during a virtual summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his British counterpart Boris Johnson. A 10-year roadmap unveiled at the summit for boosting overall India-UK ties mentioned that the two countries will strengthen cooperation to take "decisive and concerted actions" against globally proscribed terrorists and terror entities. |
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Biden calls for new U.S. report on Covid-19 origins in 90 days
U.S. President Biden asked U.S. intelligence agencies to “redouble their efforts” to determine the origins of the coronavirus, saying that he was calling for a broad government report that incorporated findings from American labs and other federal agencies on whether the virus was accidentally leaked from a lab or transmitted by an animal to humans. He asked intelligence officials to report back to him in 90 days on the results. |
U.S. soft power inextricably linked to global recovery
President Joe Biden’s plans to ship 80 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine to the developing world, coupled with U.S. support for waiving vaccine intellectual property protections, are much-needed humanitarian initiatives. They will save lives and, in the short run, boost U.S. soft power which suffered greatly during the Donald Trump era. |
India’s infrastructure investments get a boost from Europe’s EIB
India’s push to develop world-class infrastructure got a further boost last week when the Indian government and the European Investment Bank (EIB) signed the finance contract for the second tranche of 150 million euros for the Pune Metro Rail project.
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Return of the West
That the West is deeply divided, that it is in terminal decline, are ideas that gained ground in recent years. But U.S. President Joe Biden and his colleagues in the club of the world’s richest democracies are saying “not so fast”. This week’s ministerial meeting in London of the Group of Seven — the political directorate of the West constituted by the seven leading industrial nations anchored by the U.S. — signalled that the West is rebuilding its unity and strength. |
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