K.C. Singh

Aug 08, 2010

A Chinese lullaby

The visit of Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang from May 19-22 had to compete for space with the unfurling Indian Premier League scandal — an admixture of the sublime and the ridiculous.

A bout of Sinositis

The four-day Global Budhist Congress which commenced on November 26, with 900 attendees from 32 countries, instead of radiating Indian soft power, turned into an unseemly Sino-Indian

Mirages and oases

As 2011 ends, the world is different from what the US envisaged in 2001. Coincidently, former US President George W.

Was the visit of US secretary of state Hillary Clinton to India on July 19-20 for the second India-US strategic dialogue spelling a downward spiral in relations or merely a return to normalcy? Exactly three years ago on July 22, 2008 Parliament voted on a no-confidence motion, engendered by the India-US civil nuclear deal. The

Nation still needs a leader like Gandhi

Ironically as a controversial book questioned Mahatma Gandhi’s sexuality, Anna Hazare, a quintessential Gandhian, captured the national imagination by his fast over combating corruption, an issue dogging the United Progressive Alliance government.

Iran won’t forget

National Security adviser S.S. Menon was in Tehran on March 8, the eve of the Persian New Year. Attempted flattery went awry as President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s office let Mr Menon’s view be known that the President’s predictions of global economic and political developments were prescient. A contestable statement, ignoring the blatant power grab by the Revolutionary Guards and the right-wing after the dubious 2009 election.

Get colour makeover

On February 16, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh invited the leonine electronic media anchors and barons into his den. The result was mixed for both sides. Dr Singh retained his composure, bore light jabs on his chin, ignoring statesman Benjamin Disraeli’s dictum “never complain and never explain”.

Egyptian dilemma

The Egyptian passion play has cornered global attention for two weeks following the Tunisian drama. Authoritarian regimes are on notice; even the Chinese are unnerved.
On the death of Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein, the second President of Egypt, in 1970, his successor Muhammad Anwar El Sadat swung Egypt away from the

Pak in history’s trap

The assassination of governor Salman Taseer in Islamabad on January 4 roused the world not only because the assassin, Malik Mumtaz Qadri, was his own protector but that he was a Barelvi.

Buddha vs Confucius

The year 2011 marks two decades since the end of the Cold War and a decade since 9/11 Twin Tower attack and the UN Millennium Summit’s developmental goals. The Chinese Communist Party also turns 90. F. Fukuyama’s pronouncement that the Soviet Union’s disintegration ended history and was the triumph of Western values was

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