After the tragic downing of flight MH17, the US along with some major European countries has called for “hard-hitting sanctions” on Russia. The UK is pushing for the tough “Tier 3” sanctions against Russia that could cover areas such as financial services, trade and energy exports. However, there are growing concerns that the strongest-possible sanctions will be blocked by EU member states because of French arms sales as well as German dependence on fossil fuels from Russia.

A recent New York Times editorial (India’s Role in the Nuclear Race), has recommended that the issue of India’s entry into the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group (NSG) be restricted till India “proves itself willing to take a leading role in halting the spread of the world’s most lethal weapons.” The editorial has premised India’s NSG membership upon fulfillment of three conditions: Signing the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), halting

Twitter, an online social networking and microblogging service was born in 2006. Interestingly, in a short span of time it has emerged as one of the most popular mediums of influence. This service at times also gets described as ‘SMS of Internet’.  Like any other internet based services this amenity too has both positives and negatives. To judge the relevance of any such service it is also important to check the category of users using such services and their approach behind using it.

In a remarkable display of faith in regional cooperation, the new Prime Minister in Delhi invited all the heads of governments and their representatives of SAARC and Mauritius to his swearing-in. Interestingly, except for a common dinner hosted by the President of India, the SAARC leaders never met as a group. Are we looking forward to a robust, frequent, effective, and efficient regional dialogue on a myriad of issues regarding South Asia, especially on the environment front? Too early to predict, but we shall be hopeful.

The existing bilateral ties between Myanmar and India have the capacity to grow much deeper provided they are calibrated in a manner that is beneficial to both countries. Energy and infrastructure could be the bedrock for such a strong relationship. The new government in India now has an opportunity to shape its relationship with Myanmar based on pragmatic projects’ implementation and strong linkages as this neighbour could act as a marker for geo-economic alliances.

The news of the Indonesian presidential elections have hit the headlines lately as the country prepares for ballots in the world’s third largest democracy. The elections, scheduled for 9 July, will see a host of presidential candidates contest elections to the prestigious post. The present incumbent Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has been in power for two consecutive terms but is now constitutionally prohibited from contesting for the third five-year term.

At a time when irregularities in defence procurement deals have hit headlines in the media and thereby raised issues of probity and transparency in recent times, one can not help but wonder as to how the political parties and their leaders look at larger issues of probity in and concepts of national defence and security.

The Year of Friendly Exchanges between India and the People’s Republic of China kicked off with the 17^th Special Representatives’ Meeting on the Boundary Question in New Delhi on 10-11 February, 2014, to forge closer and stronger ties between the two neighbours. India’s National Security Adviser Shiv Shankar Menon discussed the issue with the Chinese State Councillor Yang Jiechi to come up with viable means to settle face-offs in the disputed border territories of India and China.

For the third year running, Maoists also known as Naxalites (Indian version of left-wing-extremism) related fatalities and incidents have come down in the affected provinces of India. The Maoist conflict review reports indicated that in the year 2013 a total 1,129 incidents took place as compared to 1,415 incidents in 2012. Similarly, the number of fatalities across the country came down to 394 in the review period from 415 in previous year.

The political crisis in Bangladesh had deepened further with the BNP-led 18-party opposition alliance’s call for “March for Democracy” rally on December 29. More than seven hundred opposition party supporters were detained and many more were arrested at different entry points to Dhaka since December 26. One person died during a clash between opposition party activists and security forces in Dhaka on December 29.