Young Voices

The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), established in 1985 can be seen as an attempt to foster cooperation that never quite took off, in a region that has been marred by conflicts and animosity in spite of geographical and cultural similarities. The formation was initiated by Bangladesh's Ziaur Rahman and taken forward by India's Rajiv Gandhi and Pakistan's Benazir Bhutto, in an attempt to overturn the hostility that characterizes the region. Political will to necessitate cooperation still evades most of its members.

The final frontier of outer space is yet to be transformed into a battlefield. If the present shaping up of the geopolitics of the world is taken into perspective, the next two decades will witness a global arms race, culminating in a sophisticated weapon system being put into the orbit.

India’s Look East Policy, which was initiated in the early 1990s, has led to key changes in its foreign policy strategies towards East and Southeast Asia. Similarly even with China, India’s relations have witnessed remarkable advancements, particularly in the economic arenas.

The threat of external aggression no longer continues to be the only source of destabilisation, collapse or degradation of a state system. Rather, in the post-Cold War period, political instability, legitimacy crisis and violent conflicts within a state has given rise to the concept of internal security (IS).

Many intellectuals and scholars studying the Af-Pak region have talked about the multiple dimensions of this region. Numerous articles, books and monographs pertaining to this region are being published on a frequent basis across the globe. Also, a lot of aid in the form of money and weapons from many diplomatic missions has flooded Afghanistan and Northern Pakistan. However, rather than arriving at a possible solution to the problem being faced by this region, the complexity of the issues has increased further.

Within the canopy of a redefined “new great power relations”, primarily between the US and China, there appears to be a few obvious limitations to America’s strategic hedging against China in Asia. The limitations of America’s direct intervention in matters relating to China’s assertiveness in Asia came to the fore on two separate occasions in a matter of less than a month, towards the end of 2013.

It is no secret that the Chinese government has been involved in cyber spying and cyber attacks over the past many years. China’s capabilities are only growing exponentially as it sees cyber warfare as a potent weapon in its armor. In 2012, after elaborate efforts by the US computer security firm Mandiant, it was established that the majority of cyber attacks on US corporations and government agencies are emanating out of a specific building on the outskirts of Shanghai.

The Syrian conflict which began two years ago has taken many dramatic turns in recent months. The chemical attacks that claimed over a thousand deaths in the city of Ghouta, Syria in August 2013 shocked the world by horrific footages. President Obama decided to strike Syria even unilaterally after what was defined by White House as the Syrian regime crossing the ‘redline’, but decided to go ahead with the approval of the US  Congress. Russia, then came forward with a plan to bring Syria’s chemical weapons under international supervision and later to dismantle them.

India’s foreign policy has a unique frontier to cross for reaching optimum relations with South Asia – space diplomacy via launch capability. This foreign policy tool is significant, as the 21^st century will require increased reliance on space technology to keep up with the demands of globalization. In the present era, space capability is also a coveted symbol of a state’s national power and prestige. South Asian countries have a dependable big brother in India for propelling themselves into the space niche.

If you happen to be a member of the working class in the UK and are paying for utilities, then you will be well aware of the fact that your standard electricity bill comprises of 7 parts – transmission, distribution, energy, data collection, meter operation, VAT and finally one for climate change. The levy on climate change is essentially a part of UK’s strategy to meet the European Union’s (EU) 20% Renewable Energy Target by the year 2020.