The French ‘yes’ to the Maastricht treaty on European Union amounts to a virtual ‘no’. As such, it can at best help mitigate an immediate and dramatic aggravation of the crisis that had overtaken the European Community’s exchange rate mechanism (ERM) in the previous week. It cannot help salvage the … Read More
The concept of national sovereignty implying non-interference in a country’s ‘internal’ affairs has for long been a convenient myth. So the less frequently we employ it the better. In a number of cases, it is counter-productive. The officially-sponsored Pakistan National Assembly’s resolution on the Ram Janambhoomi-Babri Masjid issue and references … Read More
Even if it is realised by some individuals that India is a nation-state by virtue of being a living civilisation, this realisation is seldom reflected in our public discourse. Inevitably this lacuna influences our general approach to the problems we face. As in the case of Europe and the Arab … Read More
It has long been a commonplace that behind the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute looms the question of interpretation of history. But by and large this issue has been discussed in the rather limited terms of whether or not there stood a Hindu temple on the site of the Babri Masjid … Read More
Iranian leaders must be smiling over the establishment of a ‘no-fly zone’ by the US, Britain and France over southern Iraq. Whatever the outcome of this, Iran cannot but benefit. There are two possibilities. First, this ‘first step’ will be followed by others for sustaining a rebellion in southern Iraq … Read More
