The Londoner

India’s foreign policy ever since Independence stands distinguished by being consistently strategically-deficit in terms of safeguarding India’s national security interests. The idealistic and morally driven Non Alignment foreign policy devoid of a strategic vision during the Cold War years was a heavy millstone that robbed India of a vibrant foreign policy driven by a strategic vision and a securing of India’s strategic interests. Such a foreign policy formulation could have been rationalised on the plea that India was then not economically and militarily strong and to steer clear of Cold War confrontations, an Indian foreign policy based on a high moralistic content bordering on neutralism would shield India against the Cold War strategic buffetings Read the full story here. 

In one of the major foreign policy  speeches  that Barack Obama gave in 2008, he declared that "the central front in the war on terror is not Iraq, and it never was. That's why ... my new strategy will be taking the fight to al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan." In the paragraphs that followed he set forth several goals: bringing Osama bin Laden to justice, routing the Taliban, killing al Qaeda fighters in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and building a secure, stable Afghan democracy.  The United States achieved some of those goals and failed miserably at others. And the American people have rendered this judgment: the war wasn't worth it, we aren't going to win, and we ought to bring the troops home. That's the basic takeaway from the latest  New York Times   poll . Sixty-eight percent of Americans think the war is going somewhat or very badly, 69 percent say the U.S. should not be involved in the war, and 59 percent say that the endeavor hasn't been a suc

In keeping with their post-Soviet realpolitik, Russian officials consistently voice support for NATO’s Afghanistan mission. After all, they  do n’t want  NATO forces to withdraw from Afghanistan too soon for fear that the Afghan War burden will be dumped on them.  But should the alliance’s stabilization effort succeed, Russians will be the first to demand the departure of Western troops. And in the meantime, Russian officials are determined to constrain NATO’s military presence in Eurasia by making it dependent on Moscow’s goodwill. Until recently, most NATO non-lethal supplies bound for Afghanistan were routed through Karachi. But with  the  closure  of the Pakistani route since late November 2011, almost all NATO supplies now enter Afghanistan via the so-called Northern Distribution Network (NDN).  Read the full story here. 

Not only did the now-disgraced Bo Xilai revive Cultural Revolution songs in Chongqing, where he was the Communist Party committee chair, his dramatic political downfall seemed to have ignited a renewed interest in the cultural revolution, that ignominious decade in modern Chinese history. Much of this new interest came from Premier Wen Jiabao's surprising comments at the conclusion of China's National People's Congress, in which he  warned about  history repeating itself if reforms are not carried out. But it is more than just Wen's words. The new cohort of leaders -- Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, and Bo Xilai too -- are all children of that revolution, having watched their families and communities torn apart by brutish and senseless politics. Despite their pedigrees and "royal" backgrounds, both Xi and Bo's fathers were publicly humiliated in "struggle sessions" that sought to instill ideological purity, whatever that meant. Families and friends

NEW DELHI – Maoist rebels ambushed a patrol team in central India on Tuesday, killing at least 15 paramilitary policemen, a police official said. The policemen were traveling through a densely forested area of Maharashtra state when the rebels set off a land mine, blowing up their vehicle, the official said. Another 13 policemen were wounded in the powerful blast, he said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. Read the full story here.  

NEW DELHI—The chief executive of India's largest private oil producer slammed the government for proposing an 80% increase in the company's taxes, a measure that could stoke foreign investors' concerns about India's business environment. Rahul Dhir, CEO of Cairn India Ltd., which is majority-owned by the U.K.'s   Vedanta Resources   VED.LN   +0.23%   PLC, said the proposed increase in the "cess" the company pays on each ton of oil it produces would cost it $2.5 billion by 2020 and could discourage it from pursuing a $6 billion expansion plan. "This came out of nowhere," Mr. Dhir said in an interview Tuesday. "The government has been desperately trying to attract investment in the oil-and-gas sector and it hasn't worked. This will just create further disincentives to invest."  Read the full story here. 

QUETTA: Balochistan government is planning to purchase 1,000 megawatts (MW) electricity from Iran to overcome the power shortage in Balochistan besides ensuring uninterrupted power supply to tube-wells in agriculture sector of the province. Talking to the visiting under-training officers at Civil Service Academy Lahore here on Monday, Balochistan Chief Secretary Ahmed Baksh Lehri said work on solar energy project is also in progress, which on completion would generate additional power for the province. He said Gwadar deep-water port is also being made operational besides organising the mines and mineral sector of the province on modern lines. Referring to irrigation sector schemes, he said work on Kachi canal, small and medium dams projects is also in progress which on completion would bring over one million acres of barren land under cultivation across the province.  Read the full story here.