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The US wants India to persuade Iran to return to the negotiating table on its nuclear programme, the first time it has openly asked New Delhi to intercede with Tehran. Speaking to Times of India ahead of his meetings with National Security Advisor (NSA) Shivshankar Menon and foreign secretary Ranjan Mathai in the US-India strategic security dialogue in New Delhi on Friday, deputy secretary in the US State Department, William Burns, said, "We feel a great sense of urgency, an urgency widely shared in the international community. There is a great deal at stake here, given Iran’s failure thus far to comply with its international obligations — the danger of increased tension, nuclear arms race in a region that already has more than its share of instability and which plays a very important role in the health of the global economy." He said the US hopes India would reinforce this message to the Iranian leadership. Despite almost crippling sanctions against Iran’s energy and f...

As the European Union slapped further sanctions on Iran’s gas, oil and maritime sectors for its nuclear programme, Iran declared there was an “easy solution” to the nuclear question. Seyyed Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister, said all Iran wants is a western “recognition”.  “We want them (the west) to recognize our right to a peaceful nuclear programme under the NPT. If they just say this, we would agree to a settlement,” the Iranian functionary said. The longer “they” delay a settlement, he added, the closer Iran would get to acquiring a complete nuclear programme. Iran’s deputy foreign minister is in India for the tenth round of strategic dialogue with foreign secretary Ranjan Mathai. India now has rupees worth $1 billion in payments to Iran for oil in Iran’s bank accounts in India. India continues to source oil from Iran, though over 40 per cent less than earlier. The bulk of Indian payments are routed through Turkey, which might be stopped if a new set of...

India plans to create a workforce of 5 lakh cybersecurity professionals in the next five years cutting across public and private sectors. A group of experts reckon India will have a 4.7 lakh shortfall of such experts in the coming years. Even as National Security Advisor, Shivshankar Menon flagged off a set of recommendations for government-private sector collaboration on cybersecurity, it is painfully clear that India, as a late entrant to the party, will struggle to keep up with the constantly evolving challenges in the cyber world. Cyberwarfare has emerged as a top-of-the-mind threat to national security as India’s systems are battered daily by cyber attacks both from within and outside the country. Cyber experts say India faces the greatest attacks from the following countries __ US, China, Russia and some EU countries and Iran. Capacity building therefore is of paramount importance, and this was the core message of the cybersecurity recommendations unveiled on Monday. Releasing th...

The head table of global affairs is in for a makeover. In one month from now, Manmohan Singh’s top interlocutors could all be new faces, as US, China, and even Japan head for the hustings. On November 6, Barack Obama will be up for re-election, in a race that has thrown up unpleasant surprises close to the home stretch. From being a candidate who could barely control his own Republican party, Mitt Romney surged forward to be a surprisingly competent debator. A tired, “not there” Obama opened up the presidential sweepstakes, even giving Romney a 4-point lead, and turning what was until then an easy victory to a question. Despite the Romney surge, pundits would still put their money on Obama. But it is increasingly clear that the new presidency, with either Obama or Romney at the helm, will be different from the last four years. The job figures, which has been measured as closely as blood pressure, fell to a reassuring 7.8 per cent last month __ to the level it was when Obama took of...

Fifty years ago, India suffered its worst military defeat when China invaded and India buckled. The memory of that defeat __ along with embarrassing revelations of India’s misbegotten “forward policy”, strategic and tactical blunders __ still sends a humiliating chill down Indians’ spine. The unspoken thought always is __the war stopped when China carried out a unilateral ceasefire. What if it didn’t? The collective Indian trauma that surrounds the 1962 war has informed India’s strategic outlook since. India has never made public the Brooks-Henderson report which analysed the conflict. Neville Maxwell, whose book, India’s China War squarely blames India for the conflict was banned in India. We never looked at ourselves critically on that war. And perhaps left gaps in future strategic thought. K. Subrahmanyam, late guru of strategic thought once said, “India’s 1962 burden stems from the fact the defeat of Sela-Bomdilla was papered over and the nation never had th...

The Iranian currency was in free fall last week, a clear sign that US and EU sanctions on the country is hurting. While the rial has been a declining currency for some time, the Ahmedinejad government unwisely set up an “exchange center” for a fixed dollar-rial exchange rate for basic commodities. But the sentiment on the Iranian street was entirely different. The rial dropped like a stone, by over 40 per cent to about 37,000 to the dollar.Across the border in Afghanistan, the government, alarmed by the rial’s slide and fearing massive losses to Afghan traders, put a cap of $1000 that could be taken out of the country. Whatever the immediate causes of the rial’s fall, Iran’s economic woes are unlikely to end anytime soon. During a recent visit to the country we were told prices of consumer goods have been rising steadily. In August, the prices of chickens created a minor stir. This week, Iran’s politically sensitive bazaar stayed closed while security forces crack...

The US is becoming energy independent, which might mean a certain level of disengagement from the Middle East. Here are the energy , political and security implications for India and what India can do about it. The demise of oil and gas is greatly exaggerated. As more and more sources of oil and gas are unearthed, and new technologies are coaxing oil out of obscure places like tar sands, the world can relax where oil supplies are concerned. What should we be concerned about? Well, the less important worry is the immediate future of renewable  energy  is bleak. The game changer is that the US, long dependent on Middle East oil with a foreign policy to match, and the chief guarantor of security in this volatile region, is marching towards energy  self-reliance _ and that would change the world. US’ official projections say their oil imports will drop 20 per cent by 2025. Citigroup, in a much-talked about report earlier this year described America as the “new ...