August 2013

On 3 July 2013, General Abdul Fatah al-Sisi, the incumbent Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of Egypt removed President Mohamed Morsi and suspended the Egyptian constitution after ongoing public protests. Thus Egypt went again into the hands of army and the rise of the nascent democracy was curtailed. The Egyptian uprising of 2011 was about many things, but one …

Lambah and Khan now form a credible channel of communication between Singh and Sharif, thanks to their long experience in India-Pakistan negotiations. Lambah has been PM Singh’s back channel negotiator with General Pervez Musharraf and President Asif Ali Zardari since 2005. He was high commissioner to Pakistan and has known the Sharifs for more than a quarter of a century. …

The terrible floods in India’s tiny north Himalayan state of Uttarakhand, which killed more than 1,000 people, left 70,000 stranded for days and destroyed livelihoods, have been officially termed a natural calamity caused by cloudbursts and unprecedented heavy monsoon rainfall. However, the true causes of the epic tragedy lie in the grievous damage recently wrought on the region’s ecology by …

The Iranian President-elect, Dr Hassan Rowhani, himself went out of his way to signal his willingness for a new relationship with Riyadh. Even Saudis, who are usually sceptical about Iranian intentions, are encouraged by the new Iranian president. “Moderation in foreign policy means neither surrender nor confrontation but constructive and efficacious interaction with the world,” Mr Rowhani said in his …