India's World : essays on policy and security issues

When you think about it India's world is actually a very small place. For over fifty years our main international preoccupa tion has been Pakistan. Next has been the USA. We have little or no engagement with most of Africa and South America. Our connection with the Middle East is mostly because of the jobs and remittances relationship with the Gulf countries and Saudi Arabia. The Pakistan prism colors even this. We have generally looked away from our Southeast Asian neighbors. Even after the political map of the world changed after the collapse of the Soviet Union our engagement with Central Asia is still dormant. My essays reflect this pre-occupation.

We take notice of our other neighbors only when there is a crisis that the rest of the world gets alarmed about like in the case of Nepal or Burma. Then our relationships with the neighbors are generally beset by problems. Pakistan one can understand defies a solution under the present circumstances. But surely we can craft positions on other issues?

For six years, from 1999 to 2005 I wrote a weekly col umn where I focused on a current issue. This means over three hundred columns. Most of them related to domestic issues and concerns. But a small number related to foreign affairs and security issues. But every column I wrote was carefully researched and tried to present a perspective from a not very common position. For instance, my views on our border problems with China clash with widely held beliefs. But in each column I strove to give the reader a line of reason ing based on hard facts and solid research. I usually avoid arguments that flow out of the "I believe" or "I think" mind set that usually afflicts pundits.