Showing posts with label Russia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Russia. Show all posts

Monday, December 3, 2012

Next G8: Star Cruise

The summit will also include paragliding, water sports, bungee lessons

With passing time, experts now concur that French premier, and (hyper)active G8 member Nicholas Sarkozy has started looking – and behaving – eerily similar to Sylvester Stallone [Go ahead, give it a try; identify sweet Nick in the photograph]. Funnily, this behavioural similarity extends to the whole G8 belt [US, Japan, Germany, France, UK, Canada, Italy, Russia and Ethiopia... er, alright, if you caught us on this, read on, you seem to be interested], with almost every member contributing his Shylockian best to behaving like a spoilt celebrity during every summit, finally achieving nothing. So we did what we do best [no no, not that; Bush does that better] – we analysed the progress report of the past few summits to decipher what exactly has been achieved in terms of contribution to least developed nations!

G8 summit in Birmingham, England, 1998: Protesters for the first time were formally allowed to give a written letter, which requested G8 to work on the heavy debt burden of the third world. Letter accepted, case dismissed! Nothing much was discussed, leave of course the letter. Cologne, Germany, 1999: To prove that they were worried about poverty, an ‘officially’ undisclosed amount was sanctioned. According to World Bank, the ‘sanction’ was so small that it wasn’t enough to even provide five bread loaves per person per year per poor country. Okinawa, Japan, 2000: Aid amount invested in projects: Close to nil; evidently because of billions spent on militarisation of north-east Asia. Genoa, Italy, 2001: Progress on debt cancellation: Nil! Massive protests took the blame, rather than the G8 members.

Kananaskis, Canada, 2002: Among many important issues, NEPAD [New Partnership for Africa’s Development] was also on agenda. $64 billion was requested, but only $6 billion was sanctioned. The reason? Russia requested – and was presumably given – $20 billion for the upkeep of the Russian nuclear stockpiles.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.



 
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Wednesday, November 28, 2012

It pays to love George Bush!

Sans Bush, the nuclear pact would not have happened; it marks a paradigm shift in US's India policy

I will not term what has transpired as a Nuclear deal between India and US as a mere pact. It is, in fact, a process that has led to the end of international sanctions against nuclear commerce with India. These sanctions came into force when the US passed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Act in 1978 and thereafter norms were set up for the 45-member Nuclear Supplier Group (NSG). Apart from ending India’s nuclear isolation and clearing the way for easier exchanges of technology pertaining to nuclear energy and other dual use technology items; the NSG clearance has now given us the opportunity to cooperate with countries like France and Russia so that we can expedite our moves towards energy security and self–reliance in the development of our indigenous fast breeder reactors.

Now, it is not just something that moves us into close cooperation with the US. Readers should remember that the Americans have not built any new reactor since 1982. Secondly, US firms like Westinghouse are not all American. The other prominent firm General Electric is there, and has shown a readiness on part of the US to treat India and deal with India as a serious partner.

I would say that the shift is extremely significant, having negotiated with the US on nuclear issues for four years, both in Delhi and Washington, between 1976-1980, at the time when US sanctions were coming into place. I never thought I would see such a paradigm shift in our relationship with the US during my lifetime.

The deal went ahead despite the efforts of China to equate India with Pakistan with regard to the nuclear sanctions. It was part of the greater Chinese policy to contain India. Transfer not just of conventional weapons but also nuclear weapons designs and technology to Pakistan is a part of this policy.


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
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Monday, November 26, 2012

GEORGIA: SCO COMMUNIQUÉ

Post SCO's move on Georgia, it is a mere cakewalk for Russia to build support in other regional groups

The agenda to isolate Russia has fallen flat on its face. Russia has reclaimed its sphere of influence,” told Fyodor Lukyanov, an international affairs analyst based in St. Petersburg, while talking to B&E. According to the guidelines of SCO; decisions can only be taken by consensus, and each of the member nations can exercise their right of veto. Therefore, it can be safely said that all the member nations have toed the Russian line here.

The organisation has a strong geographical point of reference to Central Asia. China and Russia have taken its membership because the region holds key importance to them.

After conquering SCO, Russia is all set to convene the meeting of another Kremlin dominated regional grouping, the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), to make a joint communiqué on the issue. Its member nations include all of the four Central Asian nations and Belarus and Armenia. A victory there will be a cakewalk. Belarus, currently heading the presidency of the group, is the staunchest ally that Russia has, and Armenia has been won over through tactical and moral support by Russians in their conflict against Azerbaijan. One only wonders, what will be Russia’s next stop. Iran?


Source : IIPM Editorial, 2012.

For More IIPM Info, Visit below mentioned IIPM articles.
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