The Tirupati session of the Congress next week will be a ritualistic affair. It can only formally endorse Mr. P.V. Narasimha Rao’s leadership of the party which has been his since Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination last May. A challenge to him could possibly have risen then, if Mrs. Sonia Gandhi was … Read More
Since I cannot claim to know much about defence matters, I have little choice but to go by what some friends like General Jacob (retired) and K Subrahmanyam tell me. And I have it on their authority that General Rodrigues is a competent professional we can rely upon to look … Read More
Behind the screen of much talked about “structural” changes in the economy may be taking place an equally significant transformation of the country’s political life. Unlike the former, the latter is neither being “imposed” on us by an external agency, nor is it being engineered by a group of Indians … Read More
A fossilised approach to new realities spells doom for the United States, says Girilal Jain In the spurious atmosphere created by the talk of the ‘only superpower’ by friends and foes alike, it might sound odd to say that the US is in fact flailing around for a role in … Read More
Saudis need their infidel allies but it damages their Islamic credentials, says Girilal Jain King Fahd’s wholly unexpected decision to change the succession process in Saudi Arabia and link it with the proposed 60-member nominated Majlis as-Shura (consultative council) is still, in Winston Churchill’s famous phrase, a riddle wrapped in … Read More
While the debate continues whether America can fulfill the leadership role in the post-cold war era in view of its economic weaknesses and its tendency towards some form of isolationism, the alleged shipment of Scud-C missiles by North Korea to Syria and/or Iran poses a direct challenge to the US … Read More
While the Cold War is over, the habits and modes of thought produced by it persist. So we continue to project the past into the future even if in a circuitous manner. Surprising though it may appear, by far the most eloquent expression of this problem is the talk of … Read More
Political Islam cannot but be fundamentalist, asserts Girilal Jain The threat of a Muslim fundamentalist takeover in Algeria through the ballot box last December has put a damper on the enthusiasm of the West, euphoric after the victory over communism, for democracy. Old habits die hard. So we shall continue … Read More
The demonstration of the measure of support for Muslim fundamentalists in Algeria at the hustings last December and the virtual take-over by their counterparts in Sudan through the army should finally put an end to the theory that the Islamic revolution in Iran in 1979 was uniquely the product of … Read More
Recent developments in Algeria have sent shock waves throughout the Western world and given a new urgency to the problem of containing Islamic fundamentalism for would be architects of a new international order in the post-cold war era. This cannot but be a matter of considerable interest to us in … Read More
