March 19, 2024

Current Affaires

Perhaps because these are not splashier, fundamental breakthroughs, the West tends to discount China’s high-tech achievements by ascribing them to copying or to protectionism. While these practices did give China’s economy traction early on, they are no longer the primary drivers of Chinese innovation, for the simple reason that such cruder types of opportunities have already been fully exhausted. Instead, China is replete finding new ways to monetise their services, attract customers, and encourage them to buy, which is a good thing for a country with the world’s highest saving rate and a global trade imbalance on the export side. What we’re seeing here is that when it comes to innovation, Chinese companies are remarkably clever at taking existing technologies and applying them in new ways, expanding them from one to N.

Although some may dismiss these adaptations and new implementations of existing technologies as mere tinkering, they are significant so long as they contribute to growth by increasing productivity and generating income, which is certainly the case in China. Electricity was a zero-to-one technology, for example, but its countless spin conditions our homes, have allowed us to be far more comfortable and more productive. Cheap smartphones loaded with features may…

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Had the 99 Indian fishermen incarcerated in Pakistani prisons been repatriated last month as agreed, Jagdish Mangal might still be alive.

Mangal, 35, was among the several Indian fishermen arrested by Pakistan’s Maritime Security Agency in February 2020 and detained in Malir prison, Karachi. He was a resident of Nana Vada, Gujarat.

Pakistan was supposed to repatriate 99 Indian fishermen on July 3, but never did. A month later, Mangal died on August 6 of “natural causes”, at least according to the medical certificate.

Earlier this year, another fisherman, 58-year-old Soma Baraiya who was supposed to be released with 198 other Indian fishermen in May, passed away days before his repatriation. Baraiya, who was from Kotda village in Gujarat, had been languishing in prison since 2020. After he fell ill, he was taken to a hospital where he died of lung and heart complications.

But the real tragedy is that neither Mangal nor Baraiya should have been in prison in the first place.

Hard positions

Mangal is the fifth foreign prisoner to die in captivity in Pakistan, says Dawn in an editorial, due to “the hard positions taken by the two states and the erasure of humanitarian concern”.

The impoverished families of incarcerated fisherfolk struggle to survive while the main breadwinners are jailed, treated like…

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In controversial remarks at a press conference on Thursday, United States’ Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti on Thursday said that his country is “ready to assist” Delhi if asked, in reference to the ongoing crisis in Manipur.

Garcetti’s suggestion raised eyebrows, with some observers arguing that it is unusual for a foreign diplomat to make such remarks about the internal matters of a host nation.

‘Ready to assist’

Gracetti made the remarks in Kolkata in response to a reporter’s question about whether the United States was concerned about the violence in Manipur. He said his country was praying for peace in the northeastern state. “I don’t think it’s a strategic concern,” he said. “I think it’s about human concern.”

He added, “We stand ready to assist in any ways if asked. We know it’s an Indian matter and we pray for peace and that it may come quickly. Because we can bring more collaboration, more projects, more investment if that peace is in place.”

Garcetti’s comments came amid over two months of ethnic tensions and violence between Meitei and Kuki-Zomi groups in Manipur. Nearly 120 people have died so far, an estimated 3,000 injured and tens of thousands displaced due to the violence.

‘Never heard

The comments prompted former Union minister and Congress leader Manish Tewari to point…

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Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda stirred a controversy saying that an Indian businessman had offered to help him get the country’s top post, PTI reported on Thursday.

Prachanda made the remarks on Monday at a launch event of the book Roads to the Valley: The Legacy of Sardar Pritam Singh in Nepal. He said that Singh, a Nepal-based trucking sector entrepreneur, had played an important role in enhancing relations between Kathmandu and Delhi.

“He had once made efforts to make me the prime minister,” Prachanda had said, according to PTI. “He travelled to Delhi several times and held multiple rounds of talks with political leaders in Kathmandu to make me the prime minister.”

Opposition parties have criticised the remarks saying that they showed political interference from India.

The main Opposition party Communist Party of Nepal-(Unified Marxist-Leninist) disrupted proceedings in the Upper House of the Nepali Parliament on Wednesday, demanding the prime minister’s resignation. KP Sharma Oli, the party’s chairperson, told reporters that they wanted Prachanda’s resignation, and not a clarification.

“His remarks have given a blow to national independence, dignity, the Constitution and the Parliament itself,” Oli added.

A meeting of the Lower House of Parliament, has also been postponed. Prachanda is slated to issue a clarification in Parliament on Friday afternoon,…

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Freedom of expression is being misused by anti-India elements in Canada and elsewhere, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Thursday amid a row over a controversial poster released by pro-Khalistani leaders in the North American country.

The poster is an invitation to a rally titled “Khalistan Freedom Rally” scheduled on July 8 in Toronto. Titled “Kill India”, the poster accuses Indian High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma and Consul General of India in Toronto, Apoorva Srivastava, of assassinating Khalistani leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

Similar invitations carrying photographs of Indian diplomats in the UK and Australia have also emerged.

On Tuesday, India had summoned Canadian High Commissioner Cameron MacKay over the poster. A day before, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had urged Western countries not to give space to pro-Khalistan supporters, arguing that it would be bad for the relationship between the nations.

Earlier on Thursday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had said that citizens in the country had the freedom of expression, but that the country would push back against violence and extremism in all its forms, the Hindustan Times.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday said that the Indian government has urged Western countries not to give space to Khalistani elements, PTI reported.

“We have requested our partner countries like Canada, the US, the UK and Australia, where sometimes Khalistani activities happen, to not to give space to the Khalistanis,” Jaishankar said. “Because their radical, extremist thinking is neither good for us nor them nor our relations.”

The foreign minister made the remarks in response to a question about a controversial poster released by pro-Khalistani leaders in Canada.

The poster is an invitation to a rally titled “Khalistan Freedom Rally” scheduled on July 8 in Toronto, according to The Indian Express.

Titled “Kill India”, the poster accused Indian High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma and Consul General of India in Toronto, Apoorva Srivastava, of assassinating Khalistani leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

Nijjar, the chief of Khalistan Tiger Force, was shot dead in the parking lot of a gurdwara in Canada’s Surrey on…

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इंटरनेट डेस्क। प्रधानमंत्री नरेंद्र मोदी तीन दिन के दौरे पर मंगलवार देर रात अमेरिका पहुंच गए। इस मौके पर न्यूयॉर्क के जॉन एफ कैनेडी एयरपोर्ट पर उनका स्वागत किया गया। इस मौके पर अमेरिका के चीफ प्रोटोकॉल ऑफिसर रूफस गिफर्ड, यूएन में भारत की राजदूत रुचिरा कंबोज और अमेरिका में भारत के राजदूत तरणजीत सिंह संधू इस मौके पर मौजूद रहे और पीएम को रिसीव किया।

इस मौके पर वहां पीएम मोदी के स्वागत करने के लिए भारतीय मूल के लोग भी मौजूद रहे। आपको बता दें की पीएम मोदी के साथ मंत्रियों का एक दल और ट्रेड डेलिगेशन भी अमेरिका पहुंचे है। आपको बता दें की राष्ट्रपति बाइडन के निमंत्रण पर अमेरिका पहुंचे प्रधानमंत्री मोदी 24 जून तक यहां रहेंगे।

प्रधानमंत्री नरेन्द्र मोदी अमेरिका की अपनी पहली राजकीय यात्रा पर न्यूयॉर्क पहुंचे है। अमेरिकी राष्ट्रपति जो बाइडन के साथ द्विपक्षीय वार्ता करेंगे। इसके साथ ही 22 जून को बाइडन पीएम मोदी को रात्रि भोज देंगे।

pc- india tv hindi

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will arrive in the United States on a state visit, signifying a major strengthening of ties between Delhi and Washington.

Ahead of Modi’s visit, Western media and commentators have argued that India and the United States’ interests are clearly converging when it comes to cooperation on defence as well as on the economic front, especially amid China’s rise as the only global competitor to Washington.

However, most of them have also argued that India’s “democratic backsliding” under Modi has created a tricky situation for Washington, which has projected the two nations’ shared democratic values as the basis for their bilateral relationship.

A state visit

Washington will host Modi for a state visit for three days. A state visit is considered the United States’ highest expression of bilateral ties with another country. This will be the first state visit by an Indian leader since former prime minister Manmohan Singh, 14 years ago. Modi will also address the United States Congress, the country’s federal legislature, becoming the first Indian prime minister to do so twice.

As part of the visit, Modi and United States President Joe Biden are expected to sign agreements to improve cooperation on critical technology as well as defence procurement deals including Predator drones. Biden’s…

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United States President Joe Biden and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi must address “grave human rights concerns” in both countries when they meet later this week, non-governmental organisation Amnesty International said on Tuesday.

Modi on Tuesday morning left New Delhi for a three-day visit to the United States. He is slated to meet Biden on June 22.

Aakar Patel, the chair of board at Amnesty International India, said that the two leaders “must hold each other to account for their human rights commitments, rather than sweep human rights issues in their respective countries under the rug”.

Patel added: “While the red carpet has been rolled out for Prime Minister Modi, people in India continue to experience grave human rights abuses.”

Amanda Klasing, national director of government relations and advocacy at Amnesty International USA, said that Modi has presided over a period of rapid deterioration of human rights protections in India, including increasing violence against religious minorities, shrinking civil society space and the criminalisation of dissent.

The organisation said that many state governments in India “have passed laws to criminalise consensual inter-faith marriages and undertaken punitive demolitions targeting Muslim-owned properties”.

Amnesty International noted that the targeting of religious minorities in India has been well-documented, including by the US Department of State. The organisation referred to…

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It was at the end of April that ethnic clashes began in Manipur. By now, more than 50,000 people have been displaced and have found shelter in 349 relief camps without basic amenities. In the language of the United Nations, they are “internally displaced persons”.

What is happening in Manipur is a civil war and it will not end anytime soon.

There are many causes for the violence, but one of the major ones is the refugee crisis with thousands of Myanmar citizens fleeing the brutal military regime and taking shelter in the North East, mainly in Manipur and Mizoram that have shared borders.

The events unfolding in Manipur are not very different from the events that have led to people fleeing their villages and ultimately their country. The latest data on Forced Displacement by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees states that the number of people displaced around the world is at a record 108 million.

This figure includes people seeking safety within their own countries as well as those who have crossed borders. Refugees and asylum seekers make up about 37.5% of the total, according to the report.

Manipur shares a 398-km-long border with Myanmar to its south and east. The Chin state, one of the most affected…

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इंटरनेट डेस्क। प्रधानमंत्री नरेंद्र मोदी मंगलवार को दो देशों की यात्रा के लिए रवाना हो चुके है। उनकी ये यात्रा अमेरिका और मिस्त्र की होगी। दोनों देशों की यात्रा में वो वहां राष्ट्रपतियों के साथ मुलाकात करेंगे और व्यापारिक नेताओं से मिलेंगे। साथ ही पीएम मोदी न्यूयॉर्क में संयुक्त राष्ट्र मुख्यालय में योग दिवस समारोह में भाग लेंगे और अमेरिकी राष्ट्रपति जो बाइडन के साथ बातचीत करेंगे।

इसके बाद प्रधानमंत्री मोदी वाशिंगटन डीसी में अमेरिकी कांग्रेस के संयुक्त सत्र को संबोधित करेंगे। पीएम मोदी व्यापारिक नेताओं से भी मिलेंगे, साथ ही भारतीय समुदाय के साथ बातचीत करेंगे। मीडिया रिपोर्ट की माने तो अमेरिका के दौरे में अहम एजेंडा द्विपक्षीय रक्षा सहयोग रहेगा।

वहीं मोदी की यात्रा से पूर्व विदेश मंत्रालय ने पीएम के दौरे को दोनों देशों के संबंधों के लिए मील का पत्थर करार दिया है। साथ ही इसे बहुत ही महत्पपूर्ण यात्रा बताया है। 21 से 23 जून तक मोदी अमेरिका की यात्रा करेंगे और उसके बाद 24 और 25 को वो मिस्त्र की यात्रा करेंगे।

pc- hindustan

The Chinese military is “firmly ensconced” in the Aksai Chin region and looks set to remain there, British think tank Chatham House has said.

The statement was part of a study titled “Are India and China Bound for Another Border Clash”. The study, published on June 2, was written by John Pollock and Damien Symon.

India considers Aksai Chin as part of the Union Territory of Ladakh, while China considers the plateau a part of its Xinjiang province and Tibet. Beijing currently controls 38,000 square kilometres of land in Aksai Chin that is claimed by India.

India and China have been locked in a border standoff since their troops clashed in Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh in June 2020. Twenty Indian soldiers were killed in the clash. China had put the number of casualties on its side at four.

Chatham House said in its study that satellite images taken in the six months from October 2022 show a region increasingly in flux.

“Where once there were scattered [China’s People’s Liberation Army] checkpoints and rudimentary positions on the Chinese side of the poorly demarcated Line of Actual Control, now there is an established Chinese presence,” it said. “…The images show expanded roads, outposts and modern weatherproof camps equipped with parking areas, solar panels and even…

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On a crisp September day in 2005 at the Wagah-Attari border, the flags of Pakistan and India were flying high, while the drums rolled on both sides to announce one of the largest prisoner exchanges between the two countries. On the ground standing in a neat line were prisoners from both countries, some with no shoes on their feet, waiting anxiously to reunite with their families.

The drummers on either side competed with one another to be louder, but the festive mood was not reflected in the eyes of the prisoners. They glared at the big gates dividing the two rival nations with disillusionment; most of them had spent a longer time in prison than their sentences required. Some had even developed mental illnesses as a result of their incarceration.

This prisoner exchange took place as part of the “confidence-building measures” between India’s then prime minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan’s General Pervez Musharraf.

Later in May 2008, a consular access agreement was signed, under which both countries are required to exchange lists of prisoners in each other’s custody, to provide timely consular access and prompt repatriation after the prisoners had completed their sentence. However, after the Mumbai attacks, the process suffered and prisoners continued to be…

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इंटरनेट डेस्क। तुर्किए में राष्ट्रपति चुनाव संपन्न हो चुके है और इन चुनावों में रेसेप तैयप एर्दोगन ने लगातार तीसरी बार जीत हासिल की। इस जीत के बाद एर्दोगन ने तुर्किए के 12वें राष्ट्रपति के तौर पर शपथ ली। बताया जा रहा है की उनके शपथ ग्रहण समारोह में कई देश के नेताओं को आमंत्रित किया गया था।

जिसके बाद इस समारोह में पाकिस्तान के पीएम शहबाज शरीफ भी पहुंच गए। लेकिन देखने बाली बात यह रही है की पाकिस्तान के पीएम शहबाज शरीफ ने भारत के पीएम नरेंद्र मोदी की नकल करने की कोशिश की और वो उसमें सफल नहीं हो पाए। पाकिस्तानी पीएम ने रेसेप तैयप एर्दोगन को गले लगाने की कोशिश की, लेकिन एर्दोगन ने शरीफ के तरीके को नजरअंदाज कर दिया और सिर्फ कंधे को सटाकर छोड़ दिया।

ये सबकुछ वीडियों में केद हो गया और अब ये वीडियो भी सोशल मीडिया पर वायरल हो रहा है। इस वीडियो पर कई लोगों शहबाज शरीफ के हरकत का मजाक भी उड़ा रहे है। लोगों कमेंट कर कह रहे है की तुर्किए के राष्ट्रपति एर्दोगन को पता है कि शहबाज जबरदस्ती उनके गले पड़ने की कोशिश कर रहे हैं।

pc-upkiran.org

इंटरनेट डेस्क। नेपाल के प्रधानमंत्री पुष्प कमल दहल प्रचंड इस समय चार दिवसीय भारत के दौरे पर हैं। अपनी इस यात्रा के दौरान वो तीसरे दिन मध्य प्रदेश के उज्जैन पहुंचे। जहां उन्होंने महाकालेश्वर मंदिर में भगवान शिव का रुद्राभिषेक किया है। वहीं नेपाल में कुछ लोगों को साम्यवादी नेता का मंदिर जाना रास नहीं आ रहा है।

नेपाल में उनकी आलोचना करते हुए कहा जा रहा है की मंदिर जाना उनकी कम्युनिस्ट नेता की छवि के अनुकूल नहीं है। डेनमार्क में नेपाल के पूर्व राजदूत विजय कांत का कहना है कि प्रचंड का अपने आधिकारिक दौरे में मंदिर जाना उनकी कम्युनिस्ट नेती की छवि को सूट नहीं करता है।

वहीं नेपली प्रधानमंत्री ने महाकाल मंदिर में दर्शन और पूजन के साथ भगवान का जलाभिषेक किया। इस दौरान नेपाल से विशेष रूप से लाए 100 रुद्राक्ष प्रधानमंत्री प्रचंड ने भगवान को अर्पित किए। 51 हजार रुपए की नकद राशि भी भेंट की। उन्होंने ई-कार्ट से महाकाल लोक का भ्रमण किया। इस दौरान राज्यपाल मंगुभाई पटेल ने उन्हें महाकाल लोक की विशेषताओं के संबंध में जानकारियां भी दी।

pc-punjabkesari.in

The Ministry of External Affairs on Friday said it hoped that Beijing would allow Indian journalists to work in China amid a diplomatic row between the two countries over visas for foreign reporters.

The development comes a day after Beijing said that it had expelled two Indian journalists in April as a “counter measure” against New Delhi’s “unfair” treatment of Chinese journalists.

State-run Prasar Bharati’s reporter Anshuman Mishra and The Hindu correspondent Ananth Krishnan were barred from returning to China. Both of them were based in Beijing but were in India when their visas had been “frozen”.

At a press conference on Friday, Indian foreign ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said that New Delhi allows all foreign journalists to operate in India without any difficulties. “Meanwhile, Indian journalists in China have been operating with certain difficulties, such as not being permitted to hire locals as correspondents or as journalists,” he said.

Bagchi said that the Indian government allows foreign journalists to hire locals to run their bureaus. Drawing a comparison with the neighbouring country, he said that Indian journalists face several restrictions while travelling within China.

“The Indian side supports and facilitates foreign journalists in India, I am sure you can attest to it,” Bagchi told reporters. “At the same time there should be no deviations…

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Two guards stand on a dock in front of a large gray ship.
The missile cruiser Peter the Great, part of the Russian Navy’s northern fleet, at its Arctic base in Severomorsk in 2021. Russia, China and the West are all seeking to expand their military presence in the Arctic. Credit…Emile Ducke for The New York Times

As polar ice melts, Russia, already a major Arctic power, wants to make the region its own. China has ambitions for a “Polar Silk Road.” And NATO is embracing Finland — and Sweden too, Washington hopes — giving the alliance new reach in the Far North.

Climate change is accelerating and amplifying competition in the Arctic as never before, opening the region to greater commercial and strategic jostling just at a moment when Russia, China and the West are all seeking to expand their military presence there.

The rising importance of the region is underscored by the travels of Antony J. Blinken, the U.S. secretary of state, who will attend an informal meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Norway on Thursday.

Mr. Blinken is making a point of visiting Sweden and Finland as well, meeting the leaders of all three countries as they press Turkey to ratify Sweden’s quick entry into NATO. He is scheduled to deliver a major speech on Russia, Ukraine and NATO on Friday in Helsinki, the capital of NATO’s newest member.

For a long time, countries were reluctant to discuss the Arctic as a possible military zone. But that is quickly changing.

Russian aggression plus climate change make “a perfect storm,” said Matti Pesu, an analyst at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs. There is a new Cold War atmosphere, mixed with melting ice, which affects military planning and opens up new economic possibilities and access to natural resources.

Two men shake hands at the bottom of the stairs to an airplane.
Tobias Billstrom, the foreign minister of Sweden, welcoming Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday. Credit…TT News Agency/via Reuters

“So all these are connected and are magnifying each other,” Mr. Pesu said. “It makes the region intriguing.”

While NATO has been cheered by Russia’s difficulties in Ukraine, the alliance in fact has significant vulnerabilities in the north.

Russia remains a vast Arctic power, with naval bases and nuclear missiles stationed in the Far North but also along Russia’s western edge: in the Kola Peninsula, near Norway, where Russia keeps most of its nuclear-armed submarines, and in Kaliningrad, bordered by Poland and Lithuania.

change, shipping routes are becoming less icebound and easier to navigate, making the Arctic more accessible and attractive for competitive commercial exploitation, as well as military adventurism.

Russia has said it wants to make the Arctic its own — a fifth military district, on a par with its other four — said Robert Dalsjo, research director at the Swedish Defense Research Agency.

China has also been busy trying to establish itself in the region and use new unfrozen routes, one reason the NATO considers China a significant security challenge.

In its most recent strategy paper, adopted last summer in Madrid, NATO declared Russia to be “the most significant and direct threat to allies’ security and to peace and stability,” but for the first time addressed China, saying that its “stated ambitions and coercive policies challenge our interests, security and values.”

How to create a “northern bubble” to deter Russia and monitor China is one of NATO’s newest and biggest challenges.

In response to NATO’s enlargement, “Russia is putting increasing emphasis on the Arctic, where they’re stronger and less surrounded by NATO,” said Mr. Pesu of the Finnish Institute. Russia may have drawn down its troops to fight in Ukraine, but retains its air power, northern fleet, nuclear submarines and nuclear-armed missiles in the northern realms.

Image

Rows of colorful houses in a snowy coastal landscape.
Longyearbyen, Norway, in 2022. Fearing the Russian threat, Sweden, Finland, Norway and Denmark are merging their air forces, creating one with more planes than either Britain or France.Credit…Erin Schaff/The New York Times

“So it remains a pretty urgent concern,” he said. Finland, Sweden and Norway “see this most urgently,” even if some in NATO do not, he said. As a consequence, Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark have decided to merge their air forces, creating one with more planes than either Britain or France.

Until now, competition in the region was largely mediated through the Arctic Council, founded in 1996, which includes Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the United States, and promotes research and cooperation.

But it does not have a security component, and soon all members but Russia will be NATO members. The council has been “paused” since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. When Russia’s chairmanship ended in May, Norway took over, so activity may pick up again.

Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 caused rethinking throughout NATO, and there was new anxiety about the Baltic States — Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania — combined with submarine hunts in Sweden and more serious war gaming, said Anna Wieslander, the director for Northern Europe at the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based research institution.

Gen. Philip M. Breedlove, then the supreme allied commander Europe, called for “an anti-access area denial” — to deny Russia entry to the Baltic Sea from Kaliningrad, the isolated Russian toehold with access to the sea.

Image

Camouflaged soldiers conduct a training exercise in front of two tanks.
Swedish Army conscripts during a training exercise on the island of Gotland, Sweden, last year. A NATO command created in 2018 defends the Atlantic sea routes, Scandinavia and the Arctic.Credit…Sergey Ponomarev for The New York Times
Washington started reinvesting militarily in the Arctic then with more ships, planes and military exercises, as did other NATO countries in the region. In 2018 NATO went so far as to set up a new operational command — a kind of regional headquarters that plans and conducts military operations to defend specific areas of NATO. The new command, based in Norfolk, Va., is navy-focused and defends the Atlantic sea routes, Scandinavia and the Arctic.

There remains a concern that China, which now has even closer ties to Russia, remains active in the Far North, building big icebreakers. “China will reach Europe through the Arctic,” Ms. Wieslander said.

One main question is whether the real Russian threat to Scandinavia will come from the sea, as Norway fears, or from the land, with a possible Russian invasion of the Baltic States or Finland, then a move westward.

Both Finland and Sweden, when it joins, want to be part of the same NATO operational command, given their long history of defense cooperation.

Norway belongs to the Norfolk command, and there is a logic to making both Finland and Sweden part of that command, since reinforcements would likely come from the West, across the Atlantic.

But there is perhaps more logic, given the current threat from Russia, for them to join the land-oriented command based in Brunssum, the Netherlands, which is charged with defending Central and Eastern Europe, including Poland and the Baltic nations.

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Icebergs near Kulusuk, Greenland, in 2019. Climate change is opening new sea routes and economic possibilities in the Arctic.
Credit…Felipe Dana/Associated Press

“There is logic for both,” said Niklas Granholm, deputy director of studies at the Swedish Defense Research Agency. “It’s not yet resolved.”

According to the Helsingin Sanomat newspaper, NATO is recommending putting both countries in the Brunssum command, despite Finland’s early interest in being part of Norfolk, which Sauli Niinisto, Finland’s president, visited in March.

That’s because it is easier for Finland to be reinforced from Norway and Sweden, Mr. Pesu, the Finnish Institute analyst, noted.

The fear is that a modernized Russian Northern Fleet could swing down through the straits between Greenland, Iceland and Britain, a move known in NATO as a “red right hook,” to cut sea lanes and underwater cables and threaten the American East Coast with cruise missiles.

Mr. Dalsjo of the Swedish Defense Research Agency, calling himself a heretic, cautions in a recent paper that this threat is real but may be overblown, especially after Russia’s losses in Ukraine.

Russia is predominantly a land power, and its northern fleet is considerably smaller than it was during the Cold War, when there were worries about the kind of major Soviet naval attack depicted in the Tom Clancy novel “Red Storm Rising.”

“If they didn’t do it then with 150 ships,” Mr. Dalsjo asked, “why would they do it now with 20?”

IOBNN Bureau । बहुत समय से पाकिस्तान के आर्थिक हालात खराब थे, अब धीरे धीरे अमेरिका को लेकर भी चर्चा शुरू हो गई और कहा जा रहा है की अमेरिका के पास कर्ज चुकाने का पैसा भी नहीं है। लेकिन इन सबके बीच दुनिया की चौथी सबसे बड़ी अर्थव्यवस्था अब गड़बड़ाने लगी है।

जानकारी के अनुसार दुनिया की चौथी सबसे बड़ी अर्थव्यवस्था में मंदी की शुरुआत हो गई है। मीडिया रिपोर्ट की माने तो यूरोप की सबसे बड़ी अर्थव्यवस्था जर्मनी के मंदी में होने की पुष्टि होने के बाद यूरो गुरुवार को तेजी से गिर गया, जबकि डॉलर दो महीने के शिखर पर पहुंच गया।

खबरों के अनुसार जर्मनी के सांख्यिकी कार्यालय से जारी हुए तिमाही आंकड़ों के मुताबिक, इस साल की पहली तिमाही में जर्मनी की जीडीपी 0.3 प्रतिशत कम हुई थी। वहीं, साल 2022 की चौथी तिमाही में जीडीपी 0.5 प्रतिशतघटी थी।

इंटरनेट डेस्क। महाशक्ति अमेरिका को भी अब डिफाल्ट होने का खतरा सताने लगा है। ऐसे में बाइडन प्रशासन ने सभी तरह के खर्चों पर रोक लगा दी है और सोच समझकर पैसा खर्च किया जा रहा है। ऐसे में अमेरिका की जो बाइडन सरकार किसी तरह कर्ज लेने की सीमा को बढ़ाने की कोशिशों में लगी हुई है।

मीडिया रिपोर्ट की माने तो अगर अगले 1 हफ्ते में ऐसा नहीं होता है तो सरकार और कर्ज नहीं ले पाएगी और वह अपने बिल भुगतान नहीं कर सकेगी। बताया जा रहा है की इसी मसले को लेकर राष्ट्रपति बाइडन ने सोमवार को हाउस स्पीकर कैविन मैक्कार्थी से लंबी बातचीत की।

जानकारी सामने आ रही है की उनकी यह बातचीत बेनतीजा रही। अमेरिकी सरकार बॉन्ड बेचकर कर्ज जुटाती है। देश की आर्थिक छवि बेहतरीन होने के कारण दुनियाभर के लोग अमेरिकी बॉन्ड में निवेश करते हैं। इसके बदले सरकार उन्हें हर साल ब्याज का पैसा देती है।

इंटरनेट डेस्क। भारत के प्रधानमंत्री नरेंद्र मोदी अपनी तीन देशों की यात्रा भारत लौट आए है। पीएम के दिल्ली लौटते ही एयरपोर्ट पर भाजपा कार्यकर्ताओं और मंत्रियों का उनके स्वागत के लिए मजमा लग जिसे देख पीएम मोदी भी खुश हो गए। दिल्ली के पालम एयरपोर्ट पहुंचने पर बीजेपी के राष्ट्रीय अध्यक्ष जेपी नड्डा ने पीएम मोदी का स्वागत किया।

इस दौरान प्रधानमंत्री ने कहा, मैं दुनिया के देशों में जाकर के, दुनिया के महापुरुषों और वहां के लोगों से मिलता हूं। हिंदुस्तान के सामर्थ्य और उसकी ताकत की बात करता हूं। मेरे देश की महान संस्कृति का गौरवगान करते हुए मैं आंखें नीची नहीं करता हूं। आंखें मिला कर बात करता हूं।

मोदी ने इस मौके पर बोलते हुए कहा की ये सामर्थ्य इसलिए है क्योंकि आपने पूर्ण बहुमत वाली सरकार बनाई है। पीएम मोदी ने कहा, मैं आप से भी यही कहूंगा कि हिंदुस्तान की संस्कृति, महान परंपरा के बारे में बोलते हुए कभी भी गुलामी वाली मानसिकता में डूब मत जाना।

Award-winning Indian journalist Barkha Dutt argued in a recent column that the West – both governments and civil society – should desist from bringing up India’s democratic backsliding.

“Yes, India’s democracy has to be strengthened and repaired. But this must be done by Indians – and Indians alone.

Let us have the argument. Let us make the noise.”

To be clear, Dutt is not arguing that everything is hunky-dory when it comes to Indian democracy. Indeed, there can be little doubt on this count. From blatant suppression of dissent to the utilisation of investigative agencies against political opponents to the introduction of deliberately opaque political funding instruments – if there were a democratic dashboard, a number of indicators would be flashing red.

Instead, she points out two things. One, that Western coverage of Indian issues is often shoddy and routinely regurgitates reflexively Orientalist tropes. Two, that lecturing by Western institutions, state and non-state, tends to backfire. [One might add a third – that the language of human rights and democracy has often been instrumentalised to promote parochial foreign policy goals, prompting general cynicism about these kinds of interventions.]

Dutt writes:

“These growing murmurs about the backsliding of democracy – polite rebukes from Western governments and strident editorials by Western media – are having the exact opposite from the intended effect….

The Ganges Water Treaty between Bangladesh and India will expire in 2026, as the year will complete the treaty’s 30-year lifespan. Bangladesh and India signed this treaty in 1996 to share water among themselves. Under the treaty, the upper riparian India and lower riparian Bangladesh agreed to share the water of this transboundary river. After 27 years, many new issues have arisen that need to be solved. Whether the treaty would be renewed or not is also another concern.

The futile hydro-negotiations of the last decade on 54 transboundary rivers are also a bleak picture with little success. Moreover, if the negotiations on renewal take place, it will be a tough negotiation, especially for lower riparian Bangladesh considering the importance of the Ganges for both countries, the growing climate vulnerability in South Asia, and the hydro-hegemonic approach of India. Therefore, Bangladesh must sit in the negotiations well-prepared. Perhaps, it is time for Bangladesh to start taking preparation in both field and diplomatic levels for the negotiation scheduled in 2026.

Existing issues

The Ganges is a transboundary river flowing between Bangladesh and India. Through the 1996 treaty, Bangladesh successfully established its claim on the Ganges water. In this sense, it was a successful negotiation for Bangladesh.

चेन्नई। तमिलनाडु के मुख्यमंत्री एम. के. स्टालिन मंगलवार को सिंगापुर तथा जापान की नौ-दिवसीय यात्रा पर रवाना हुए और कहा कि उनकी यात्रा का मकसद राज्य में अधिक निवेश आकर्षित करना है।

स्टालिन ने पिछले साल दुबई की अपनी ऐसी ही यात्रा के दौरान छह निवेशकों के साथ 6,100 करोड़ रुपये के समझौतों पर हस्ताक्षर किए थे, जिससे राज्य में 15,100 नौकरियां सृजित होंगी।उन्होंने विदेश रवाना होने से पहले हवाई अड्डे पर मीडियाकर्मियों से कहा, ;;सिंगापुर तथा जापान की यात्रा का अहम उद्देश्य 2024 के वैश्विक निवेशक सम्मेलन के लिए निवेशकों को निमंत्रण देना है।

उन्होंने बताया कि वह अपनी आधिकारिक यात्रा के दौरान सम्मेलनों के जरिये भावी निवेशकों के साथ बैठक करेंगे और कुछ समझौतों पर हस्ताक्षर भी करेंगे।बहरहाल, मुख्य विपक्षी दल ऑल इंडिया अन्नाद्रविड़ मुनेत्र कषगम (अन्नाद्रमुक) ने स्टालिन की विदेश यात्रा पर सवाल उठाया। अन्नाद्रमुक महासचिव और विधानसभा में विपक्ष के नेता के. पलानीस्वामी ने आरोप लगाया कि निवेश के नाम पर मुख्यमंत्री ;मौज मस्ती करने गए हैं।

इंटरनेट डेस्क। प्रधानमंत्री नरेंद्र मोदी अपनी तीन देशों की यात्रा के अंतिम चरण में ऑस्ट्रेलिया पहुंच गए है। यहां उन्होंने ऑस्ट्रेलियाई अखबार को इंटरव्यू भी दिया है। उन्होंने कहा कि वे भारत और ऑस्ट्रेलिया के संबंधों को अगले स्तर पर ले जाना चाहते हैं। जिसमें कई चीजे शामिल है।

उन्होंने कहा की इसमें डिफेंस और सुरक्षा संबंध शामिल हैं, ताकि इंडो-पैसेफिक क्षेत्र को बेहतर और मजबूत बनाया जा सके। मोदी ने अपने इंटरव्यू में कहा की मैं ऐसा इंसान नहीं हूं कि जो आसानी से संतुष्ट हो जाए। और में जानता हूं कि ऑस्ट्रेलियाई पीएम अल्बनीज भी ऐसे ही हैं।

जानकारी के अनुसार प्रधानमंत्री नरेंद्र मोदी आज सिडनी के ओलिंपिक पार्क में भारतीय मूल के 20 हजार से ज्यादा लोगों को संबोधित करेंगे। इस प्रोग्राम के लिए गाड़ियों और प्राइवेट चार्टर से लोगों को सिडनी लाया जा रहा है, मीडिया रिपोर्ट की माने तो ऑस्ट्रेलिया में मोदी की मौजूदगी में हैरिस पार्क के इलाके का नाम बदलकर लिटिल इंडिया कर दिया जाएगा।