Gulf looks East amid fears of European instability, hopes of Asian unity (Global Times)

By M.D. Nalapat

Global Times | 2012-10-17 21:10:03

The countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have traditionally "looked West" in their geopolitical preferences. Historically, the US, France and the UK have been very closely involved in the GCC.

However, since the dawn of the 21st century, certain events have shaken the trust between the GCC and the West.

The wars in Afghanistan from 2001 and Iraq since 2003 annoyed public opinion throughout Asia, especially in countries where Muslims are dominant.

In 2011, it was the way in which Washington, London and Paris washed their hands of Hosni Mubarak, after more than three decades when the Egyptian leader ensured that the policies of the US, Israel and the EU were implemented faithfully.

And although Muammar Gaddafi gave away his WMD programs and his intelligence secrets to NATO from 2003 to 2005, that did not save him from overthrow and eventual death in 2011.

It is not only in geopolitics that NATO has taken the GCC for granted, getting concessions without giving anything in return except goods for which cash has to be paid, such as Saudi Arabia's purchases of $50 billion worth of US and EU defense equipment during the past five years.

Investors in the GCC are estimated to have lost $1.3 trillion as a consequence of the greed and mismanagement of Western banks and investment vehicles.

It is clear that New York, Frankfurt, London and Paris are no longer safe destinations for putting money in.

Christine Lagarde, IMF Managing Director, appointed to promote and protect European interests, has publicly warned that for the next three years at least, Europe will continue to suffer economic slowdown.

In other words, Asia will need to take on the major responsibility for global economic recovery.

Over the decades, the GCC countries have become the home of several high-class universities and think tanks, and these are increasingly of the view that the alliance ought to "Look East" rather than only to the West, as they have traditionally done so far.

The Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD), hosted this week by Kuwait, is the first major organization begun within Asia that includes the key countries of both West Asia and East Asia.

Interestingly, while the Kuwait has invited journalists from several Asian countries to attend the ACD, they have not invited media from the NATO countries.

It should not be forgotten that the ACD was begun in 2002 by ASEAN as a forum that would work out Asian solutions to Asian problems.

For the first time, the GCC countries are spearheading a move to get Asian countries to unite behind a common economic, cultural and educational agenda.

The last is very important, as there is a growing realization among Asian countries that they have till now outsourced much of higher education to Western educational institutions, which naturally focus on their own welfare, often at the expense of Asian interests.

Syria is an important issue facing the region, and Egyptian President Mohammad Morsi is clear that Iran has to be part of the solution rather than be excluded from discussions as part of the problem, the way NATO wants.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad has also attended the Kuwait summit.

The Kuwait summit promises to usher in an era of Asian cooperation, in a world where the unity of Asian countries has become indispensable for world peace, economic progress and social stability.

The author is director and professor of the School of Geopolitics at Manipal University in India.

http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/738959.shtml

Interview: ACD 2012 eyes ‘workable roadmap’ for cooperation – Kuwait has become strong voice for Asia: Analyst (Kuwait Times)

By Sajeev K Peter, Staff Writer, 14 October 2012, Kuwait Times

KUWAIT: The Asia Cooperation Dialogue 2012 being hosted by Kuwait is expected to create a workable roadmap for cooperation in Asia, especially in the fields of economy, culture and education, said an Indian delegate and a geopolitical analyst here yesterday. “Kuwait has reasserted its crucial role in the region once again by becoming a strong voice for Asia.

His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al- Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah took a very crucial decision that ACD 2012 should be a summit of heads of government, paving the way for the current meeting to become the first summit of the Asia Cooperation Dialogue,” said Prof M D Nalapat, Honorary Director, Geopolitical & International Relations, Manipal University, New Delhi, in a brief interview with the Kuwait Times at the Media Centre, Courtyard Marriott. Prof Nalapat, who arrived here yesterday as a summit delegate, said the Kuwait government insisted that this meeting should be a summit involving heads of government rather than, as before, a meeting only of ambassadors and foreign ministers.

“The difficulty of the earlier meetings from 2002 onwards was that nothing tangible was accomplished. Therefore it was not a serious dialogue. Critical decisions are taken at the summits of G20 or G8, APEC or ASEAN because heads of government with authority attend such summits,” he pointed out. According to him, foreign ministers and ambassadors can only report back to their countries on the proposals being put forward at the meetings. “Even though the concept of the ACD began in 2001 and took off in 2002, it is in 2012, it has become a fullfledged summit due to the initiative by HH the Amir,” he said. Before the brutal invasion and occupation of Kuwait more than 20 years ago, the country had emerged as an important voice in Asia.

Its policy was quite independent and was friendly towards countries in the region which was not in the American sphere of influence at that point in time, Prof Nalapat, who is also the UNESCO Peace Chair, said. “In fact, Kuwait played a key role in developing an Asian Consciousness. But after the invasion, there was a two-decade-long gap as the country was occupied with many regional issues and post-invasion trauma, etc. He said the expectations are high about the outcome of the ACD 2012. “The delegates hope earnestly that the summit will create a workable roadmap for cooperation in Asia,” he added. ACD itself was set up after the Asian financial crisis in 1997-98, a crisis that was caused by Western financial institutions and banks creating havoc in Asia. Following the crisis, many Asian countries decided that they need an Asian solution to the Asian problem.

Hence the ACD, he said. Asia is still reeling from the impact of the financial crisis of 2008, again caused by Western financial institutions and banks. The GCC investors have lost around $1.3 trillion due to the crisis. “It is not because of the fault of GCC states. This underlines the urgency to find a mechanism offering protection to Asian investors from such crises stemming out of wrong policy decisions and erratic fiscal management in Western countries,” he added. Big countries in the West wanted to keep Asia divided such as East Asia or West Asia and organizations like APEC, ASEAN, SAARC, G20 etc are examples. “ACD is the only pan-Asian body of significance today as it brings together all the countries from all corners of Asia. The GCC was included in the ACD as it is an important source of global capital and a crucial source of global growth,” he elaborated.

“High-level delegations are coming from all the member countries represented by ministerial level. It is imperative now to have Asian institutions that can link together in the fields of economy, culture and education. ACD 2012 will seek to evolve a workable mechanism for cooperation in these areas,” he added. “It is heartening to note that Kuwait, after more than 20 years, is once again stepping forward to become an important diplomatic player in the region like Turkey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Iran. Kuwait is the Singapore of the Middle East; small, prosperous and forward-looking. Singapore in the East and Kuwait in the West are two examples of modernity in two corners of Asia,” Prof Nalapat concluded.

http://news.kuwaittimes.net/2012/10/14/acd-2012-eyes-workable-roadmap-for-cooperation-kuwait-has-become-strong-voice-for-asia-analyst/

India gets short end in NATO bargain (Global Times)

Global Times | 2012-10-15 19:20:07

By M.D. Nalapat

  

Illustration: Liu Rui

India's present policy on the China seas is clear. It is to be verbally different from that of the US, while in fact mirroring Washington's policy to encourage the other littoral states in the China seas to be more assertive vis-a-vis Beijing's claims.

While US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is somewhat open about siding with the other states against China, External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna is silent in words but loud in deeds.

Especially since 2008, the year when the India-US nuclear deal got ratified by the Nuclear Suppliers Group and the IAEA, the Singh administration has cozied up to Japan and Australia, the two main military partners of the US in the region.

It has also established strategic ties with Vietnam, a country seen by Washington as a prospective ally in forming a coalition of regional powers to check the influence of China. The other link is Myanmar, where New Delhi sees itself in competition with Beijing, and which has recently seen a blossoming of ties with the NATO bloc.

Both Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress Party President Sonia Gandhi favor a policy of alignment with the NATO bloc, despite their numerous statements reaffirming faith in the non-aligned movement.

Actions speak much more loudly than words, and since 1998, when the US-leaning Brajesh Mishra became India's first national security advisor, New Delhi has steadily moved toward the NATO bloc in practice.

Given the rise of China and the reality that prosperity in the region hinges on close cooperation with Beijing rather than confrontation, just as prosperity during 1960-99 hinged on close ties with the US, it no longer makes sense for India to join in a strategy of containing China.

Instead, what needs to be done is for New Delhi to work out a strategy of balance, which would deepen ties with both the US as well as China, while not going against the core interests of either.

India is big enough to make an independent foreign policy viable, and indeed, only such a policy would best serve the interests of its 1.2 billion people.

However, because of the pro-NATO tilt of the present dispensation in New Delhi, what is being implemented is a policy of "stealth alignment" with NATO, without India getting any significant concessions in return.

The latest example of such a shift in policy has been Syria. Instead of taking a neutral stand, New Delhi has cast its lot with NATO. It has done the same in Iran, where instead of expanding trade with that country, even normal financial links have been severely cut back to conform to the commands of NATO.

Because of the perception that "India is already in the NATO bag," New Delhi has got next to nothing in exchange for the many concessions that it has made to the alliance.

The EU is still adamantly opposed to lowering restrictions on brainpower from India migrating to its shores, even while it protects high-cost monopolies, notably in pharmaceuticals, from competition by Indian companies.

At home, the Sonia-Manmohan team gives concession after concession to NATO-based companies, while slapping regulation after regulation on domestic companies. Ministries block dozens of projects on the assumption that a desperately poor country such as India should use the same yardsticks as wealthy Europe.

As for the US, the Obama administration continues to deny India access to high-tech collaboration, notably in space.

Will the tilt toward NATO continue into the future? This seems unlikely. The 2014 elections will almost certainly bring change, enabling nationalists to once again take charge of policy.

This will result in a more balanced policy toward the two countries that are at the top of the international order, China and the US.

When there was a need for alignment, India was non-aligned. Today, when there is need for genuine non-alignment, India is aligned with NATO. But not for long. The national interest mandates a policy of conciliation and cooperation with all major players, a list that prominently includes China.

The author is director of the School of Geopolitics at Manipal University in India.

http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/738425.shtml

Why punish the victim, Mr Prime Minister? (Sunday Guardian)

ROOTS OF POWER MADHAV NALAPAT www.sunday-guardian.com/profile/m-d-nalapat

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde at the inauguration of the XIXth Conference of CBI and State Anti-Corruption Bureaux, 2012. PTI ncreasingly, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has shown that while his image may be that of a "right-winger", his heart still beats as leftwards as during his South-South Commission days. Scant years into his tenure, he lambasted corporate chieftains for drawing salaries that were a smidgen higher than the wages paid to him. Since then, both policies as well as their absence have been pushing economic growth in India downwards to the Nehru Rate of Growth (of under 3%). Manmohan Singh has been in the privileged position of a governmental office-holder for decades. Privileged because bureaucrats and their political masters acquired the same powers as were wielded by the British colonial administrators. In fact, since the time of Nehru, these powers have only been added on to. By retaining the criminal and other laws and practices of the British colonial period almost in their entirety, those who succeeded to the Raj made a mockery of the rights and privileges to citizens that got enumerated in the Constitution of India. There is a disconnect between the precept of the Constitution and the practices of the administration that have yet to be overturned by legislators elected to safeguard the rights of the people. Sadly, the perception that the people of India are not adult enough to be trusted with the same freedoms as counterparts in North America or Europe seems to have seeped into every pillar of governance. Witness the way in which books, movies and other manifestations of free speech have been proscribed and banned, to silence or even consent from the very institutions designed to secure the rights of the citizen vis-à-vis the state. If newspaper reports of the PM's speech at a gathering of police officers is correct, he appears to believe that businesspersons just love to pay bribes. That they would prefer that the system be twisted rather than straight. Such a surmise may apply to a few, but the overwhelming majority of businesspersons would be much happier were they to be spared the need to bribe their way to a decision. However, the identification of bribe-takers will be made much more difficult by the PM's desire to punish equally both the bribe giver as well as the bribe taker. Should such a law be imposed, few would come forward to give evidence of bribery, afraid as they would be of immediate arrest for such an action. Till Manmohan Singh's speech, it had been assumed that "the prevention of bribery" was the precise function of the very police officers whom the PM was addressing. However, Manmohan Singh would now like to outsource this work to the private sector, with the threat of jail should India's corporates fail to check the greed of the country's politicians and officials. For tackling graft, the present laws would more than suffice, were there the will to enforce them. However, it has become a habit for those in power to pass new laws, each more severe than the last. Even Manmohan Singh, sheltered as he has been from the vicissitudes of ordinary life, must know that the only consequence of the new law proposed by him would be to multiply the opportunities for corruption within both officialdom as well as their political masters. Those in Dr Singh's audience who have enriched themselves through graft must have salivated at the prospects of fresh loot that the new legislation would bring them. Instead of making it impossible for hapless individuals to expose those who have demanded illegal gratification from them (by threatening such complainants with prison), what Manmohan Singh needs to do is to get out of the cocoon in which he has lived for so long and breathe in the fetid atmosphere of the real world. He will then accept that instead of punishing them, those paying bribes need to be encouraged to report those who took them. Whistle-blowers should be rewarded rather than punished. Demanding a bribe is an act of extortion. By equating that with the action of being forced to fork out cash so as to get a service that in a more honest setup would have been available for free, the Prime Minister would be reinforcing the already considerable immunity of those to whom the taking of a bribe has become second nature. http://www.sunday-guardian.com/analysis/why-punish-the-victim-mr-prime-minister

India’s Julian Assange (PO)

By M D Nalapat

Arvind Kejriwal joined the Income-tax Department, which has the distinction of being one of the most corrupt departments in the Government of India, second only to the anti-corruption watchdog, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Although there are indeed honest officers within the Income-tax Department, few of those manage to reach the higher levels of the service. Instead, they watch helplessly as politicians manipulate the ascent of officers known to be pliable. The Indian political class, which to date has refused to surrender the vast legal powers of the British colonial state, uses Income-tax as a means of harassing opponents. Any officer has the legal right (under British-era law reinforced by fresh edicts enhancing the discretion given to the state and cutting to insignificance the rights of the citizen) to demand of a taxpayer that she or he come up with financial records that are many years old. Except for accountants - and crooks, who are usually meticulous in keeping (false) records - most normal individuals of moderate income spare themselves the bother of keeping records of their few transactions. Business, because these days, almost all leading politicians ensure that they and their families get heavily involved in trade and commerce. In times past, the Indian caste system created a firewall between those who governed a country and those who did business. Those who drew up the code many thousands of years ago understood that power was likely to be abused, if harnessed in the service of moneymaking. However, these days, across the world, money and power go hand in hand. Only a millionaire such as Mitt Romney could have won the Republican nomination for President of the US, succeeding another scion of a wealthy family, George W Bush. As for Bill Clinton, although he started off in life in a hardscrabble way, by now he has amassed about $100 billion in donations to his numerous foundations, a lot of the money coming from donors based in the GCC, who are traditionally generous with their money. As for President Obama, while in his (disastrous) debate with Mitt Romney he equated the two in wealth, the fact is that Obama is a pauper compared to Romney, although of course much richer since he became a Senator, with most of the money coming from royalties accruing from his many books.

Despite the coyness of Mitt Romney in revealing financial details, the reality is that US politicians are much more transparent about their assets than are their counterparts in India. The country’s most powerful politician. Sonia Gandhi, travels abroad frequently on corporate jets and stays in pricey hotels, often with several family members in tow. Yet for the record, Sonia does not have an automobile or even a decent television set! Of course, the Income-tax authorities dare not ask her or her family members any questions, for fear of the officers responsible getting subjected to vindictive action, despite her son-in-law (for instance) being worth at least $100 million despite having no obvious intellectual advantages. Each time there is an expose of the wealth of a politician (and these are few, given the reality of instant retaliation against the whistle-blower), the cry from politicians across the spectrum is that the individual making the revelations ought to have “gone through the system”. Of course, those giving such advice are not unaware that court processes in India take decades to complete, besides burning away so much time and money that a legal battle becomes a whole-time occupation that can send a person into penury faster than a major illness does.

The fact is that 99% of political wrongdoers in India escape legal accountability for their depredations. Their only punishment is bad publicity, which too is rare, given the fact that most media outlets shy away from exposing the foibles and the misdeameanours of the truly powerful. When excerpts from the telephone conversations of a well-connected lobbyist, Niraa Radia, surfaced some years ago (allegedly via a telecom company which sought to protect its monopoly against

newcomers), there was a hue and cry agains the “breach of privacy” involved. Even today, the full tapes have not been made public. Had India been as much of a democracy as the US, soon after the Radia tapes became known, a book would hsve been published giving the full trabscripts.In India,a country where courts routinely block publication of material found offensive to a few,this will not happen. Indeed,there are many Niraa Radias who in tapped conversations reveal the sleazy underside of policymaking in India. However,their conversations are kept secret by agencies eager to protect not the average citizen but their political and bureaucratic bosses.Sadly,rather than expand the boundaries of freedom of speech,even courts in India move in the opposite direction.Recently a Supreme Court bench under then Chief Justice Kapadia in effect gave liberty to influential individuals to (supposedly temporarily) stop publication of facts damaging to themseves by decreeing that there were sharp (though undefined) limits to press freedom.The fact is that in a country drowning in corruption such as India,freedom of speech and of the press needs to be expanded rather than curtailed.

Enter Arvind Kesjriwal.The youthful crusader has become an Indian version of Julian Assange,with anonymous officials giving him information on wrongdoing by the powerful. Because of the popularity of those involved in the anti-corruption crusade,media outlets are afraid to censor the Kejriwals. According to friends of his,the anti-corruption activist has detailed reports on the wrongdoing of several influential politicians, including (opposition) BJP President Nitin Gadkari and BJP Chief Ministers Arjun Munda and Raman Singh,besides several from the ruling coalition. Hopefully, Kejriwal will not lose his nerve and halt his exposes.Hopefully he will not cherry-pick his targets but release all the information that has come into his possession. The country needs to know the truth about the few who are running - or rather,ruining - the country in their name. 

http://pakobserver.net/detailnews.asp?id=177697

A 365-day code of conduct for political leaders needed (Sunday Guardian)

ROOTS OF POWER MADHAV NALAPAT www.sunday-guardian.com/profile/m-d-nalapat

Anna Hazare has made a mistake of believing that creation of Jan Lokpal would erase corruption. He needs to battle for a Code of Conduct for Political Leaders instead. here has been considerable comment about the way the economic reformer in Manmohan Singh has finally woken up after having gone to sleep for eight straight years. Should the Prime Minister gather up his reserves of courage and press ahead with implementing more of the measures that he ought to have introduced in 2004, and especially if he remembers domestic interests rather than focus exclusively on helping external players, the country would be the gainer. Whatever happens in the next general election, 2014 (or 2013) will be Manmohan Singh's final year in office. At present, his legacy is that of a failure. An economic wizard who has presided over higher inflation and lower growth. Who has watched in seeming helplessness as the level of graft in governmental decisions rose to a level exceeded only by the British takeaway of India's assets and gold during the previous two centuries. Who has allowed the Prime Minister's Office to become a joke, even as shadowy operators sans any official responsibility directly command ministers and bureaucrats to give decisions that favour favourites. Coal allocation is just a single example. It was hardly a secret that AICC treasurer Motilal Vora wore a sunny smile during the years when coal block after coal block got allocated to players who were personally close to the handful of individuals — none holding positions of state authority — who have called the shots in governance since mid-2004. For some reason, the Economic Intelligence Wing of the Income-Tax Department, which is so zealous against businesspersons who are regarded by their superiors as ripe for a shakedown, has ignored the raft of cell phone calls and meetings that took place between successful bidders of the coal blocks and these few operators Should a government come to office in 2014 that is genuine about cleaning up graft in the country, it would investigate each and every one of the foreign visits of top leaders of major political parties and their close relatives, i.e., children, sisters and brothers. Each week, corporate jets leave from cities across India to faraway (or nearby) destinations, carrying with them precious human cargo. Naturally, there is no security check done of the luggage of such travellers, whether on exit or entry. If they take away with them priceless antiques stolen from temples across India, or CDs containing information that would be useful to foreign governments, no agency in the country is in the know. Because of the feudal nature of the Indian state, where the successors of the British colonial cohorts have arrogated to themselves the pomp and privileges of India's former masters, this country's investigative agencies do not have the courage to question those at the top about activities that may have repercussions on national interests. Dubai and London are two cities to which the powerful in India and their families repair ever so often, usually in corporate jets. What do they do there? Whom do they meet? Who takes care of the huge bills for hotel, conveyance and incidentals? There is a fog of silence over all such queries, a fog that needs to get dispelled soonest. The propensity to take advantage of the generosity of wealthy friends and to shamelessly misuse their corporate jets (and other logistical advantages) while travelling is not confined to those high up in the parties now running the Central government. BJP president Nitin Gadkari seems addicted to corporate jets, using them even on sectors where commercial aircraft operate in plenty. Anna Hazare has made the mistake of believing that a single point plan — creation of a Jan Lokpal — would erase corruption. He needs to battle for a Code of Conduct for Political Leaders instead. They ought to travel only by train, preferably by the lowest available class. Within cities, they ought to use public transport at least once each day, while VVIP areas ought to be subject to the same power cuts and water shortages that the rest of us experience daily. And as for travel, Presidents, Vice-Presidents and general secretaries of all national parties ought to submit details of all their travels in the previous month, including the mode. They ought to give details of the foreign travel each month of children and close relatives. Thus far, leaders in India have insulted the people of India by behaving as though they are too ignorant to be trusted with such details. Over the decades, the people of this country have become the equals of counterparts anywhere else, despite the primitive level of internet coverage and the lack of genuine freedom of expression in a country where those drawing salaries from the exchequer believe that only they are qualified to speak on behalf of the rest, and to decide for the rest. It is time for a Code of Conduct, not simply during election time, but during the remaining period as well, that would expose national and state leaders to the hardships faced by people because of the former's mismanagement. For too long have the political elite and their friends savoured the gain, while the rest of the people endure the pain. http://www.sunday-guardian.com/analysis/a-365-day-code-of-conduct-for-political-leaders-needed