Sonia Gandhi, UPA chairperson, and de-facto head of the government, while addressing her party workers on the occasion of the release of UPA-II’s score card to the people of India, said:
“Can anyone question the magnitude of changes we have been able to bring about?
Governance is now subject to strict transparency and accountability as a result of the laws we have put in place.”
Believe these unbelievable lines at your own risk.
Full Text of her speech: Here
Filed under Democracy, politics in india
I feel sorry for Kapil Sibal and company for their zero-loss theory, CAG Vinod Rai says.
None of the 30 Comptroller & Auditor Generals of India before him had created the kind of waves as he did. Vinod Rai threw up gigantic figures of money allegedly stolen from government coffers. In full public glare, he exposed corruption — first 2G and then Coalgate — which shook the government’s very foundation. He was attacked, his motives questioned. But Rai stood his ground. On May 22, his tenure as CAG comes to an end. But even as he departs, he has possibly fundamentally changed the character of the 153-year-old institution. Future CAGs are unlikely to be toothless auditors. Rai discusses his eventful tenure withTOI’s Pradeep Thakur in a free-wheeling interview. Excerpts:
Your tenure has been very eventful. You have redefined CAG by giving it the kind of teeth that TN Seshan gave to the Election Commission. Wouldn’t you agree?
The role of every institution is well defined. It’s only the question of how you operationalize that role, and for operationalizing it’s not the individual who matters. I wouldn’t say it is combination of stars but combination of team, time and the individual. So I was lucky to have a very good team. The other factor that worked in our favour was you – the media, the 24×7 channels. Media has become so alert and it knows what needs to be highlighted. From our report, the media picked up only substantial issues.
There’s a perception that the media did so because you played to the galleries, that CAG in your time has played an adversarial role to the government.
Look, audit by definition has an adversarial role. Whether it is government audit or that of a public sector undertaking, the role of audit is to find out lacuna, to try and ensure that things have been done properly. If the executive takes the suggestions positively, we are on the same side. It’s not ‘we’ and ‘they’; it’s ‘we’. I’m a government servant as much as the finance secretary is. We are all trying to improve the governance of the country, the delivery channels, public policies and how they function. I am giving you suggestions, but if you start stonewalling them, saying what does auditor know, then where do we go? Yes, we work in hindsight, no doubt about it. But, that is what audit is all about.
In hindsight, would it have been better presenting the suggestions in a more low-key manner instead of holding grand press conferences? For that created the impression that you are going for the government’s jugular rather than providing constructive criticism.
I fully agree with you. But you must understand our difficulty. In 1988, post Bofors, the then CAG T N Chaturvedi, the government and the PAC sat together and decided how best to deal with audit reports which are placed in Parliament since lot of misinformation (on Bofors) was doing the rounds. Then we came up with this media policy where it was decided to hold press conferences. The day my report is placed in Parliament, it is also my responsibility to inform the media accurately about what the report contains. This policy is being followed since 1988. The current media policy was framed in 2006 and I joined in 2008. No changes have been brought in. I enclosed this book (media policy) to the PM when he had said that you talk to print media. I wrote to him immediately on policy and asked him, “Sir, what do you expect me to do?”
You said it was a ‘combination of team, time and the individual’. What did you mean?
By time, I meant the churning going on in the society. Citizens have come centre stage. That is why I said time has come. Our report came at a time when Anna Hazare and company where doing something different. There was a general churning in society… so it is a combination of factors.
By churning are you referring to the growing resentment against corruption?
Exactly! And which I think is a very positive development. Our capacity to put up with corruption was going beyond bounds and somewhere the line has been drawn now. It is the younger generation which is making a difference. You and I may agree that if some chai paani has to be given, to get over it, but the younger generation will not tolerate it anymore. And they are the ones who came out on the streets.
Don’t you feel that a person’s worth in society is often measured by his wealth? Doesn’t that give rise to an easy get-rich urge, even if corners are cut, or morals compromised?
It’s weakness in our mind which makes us believe that society values the money you have, that you are respected by the size of your purse. I’ve seen lots of people, in government and outside, who get recognized otherwise. Yes, money in India is a great distinguishing factor. But there are of two types: one is the Mukesh Ambani type, the other is a person at a lower level, the one who gives Rs 100 for a ticket reservation or if I am in commerce ministry, tip my peon only because he opens the door… these are people who are not mature.
Filed under IAS, Inside India, politics
Ajmal Kasab was hanged today at 7.30 am at Yerawada jail in Pune. This was a secret execution – fearing opposition from some quarters government has resorted to this step.
On this week (November 26), four years ago, Kasab and his accomplices had killed hundreds of Indians in cold blood murder in Mumbai.
Ironically, yesterday India opposed the resolution at UN general assembly calling for the abolition of death penalty.
Tomorrow Pakistan’s interior minister Rahman Malik was about to visit India to finalize visa-agreement between two nations. Now this visit stands cancelled.
This execution has occurred two days after the death of Balasaheb Thackeray, who wanted to see this happen before his last breath.
Will Kasab’s death give solace to the victims? Is it the deliverance of final justice? Should we rejoice his death?
Only time will tell. It is confusing how the death of a perpetrator gives peace to the departed souls, or how it consoles near and dear ones of the victims.
Kasab was a foot soldier. Like him, thousands of misguided youth are being trained for many wars in many parts of the world. Real people behind Mumbai like carnages must be brought to justice. They are scot-free and will keep training many Kasabs.
According to news reports, Kasab didn’t express any last wish. On 5th November, President Pranab Mukherjee had rejected mercy plea of Kasab. His last wish.
Two girls were arrested yesterday for posting a message on their Facebook wall. The message is:
“With all respect, every day, thousands of people die, but still the world moves on, Just due to one politician died a natural death, everyone just goes bonkers. They should know, we are resilient by force, not by choice. When was the last time, did anyone showed some respect or even a two-minute silence for Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Azad, Sukhdev or any of the people because of whom we are free-living Indians? Respect is earned, given, and definitely not forced. Today, Mumbai shuts down due to fear, not due to respect.”
It is said that, 21-year old Shaheen Banu posted it on her wall copying it from somewhere else. Her friend, Renu Srinivasan ‘liked’ it. Mumbai cops arrested both of them and sent to jail.
Girls’ crime? – Hurting religious sentiments under section 295 of the Indian Penal Code and sending false information under section 66A of Information Technology Act. Later cops changes charges and booked these girls under section 505(2) of IPC which pertains to statements which create or promote enmity, hatred or ill-will between classes.
If one reads the message that was posted on Facebook and observes carefully the names of ‘GIRLS’; one can draw correlation between the two. They were arrested because they belonged to a religion and a region – hating whom Balasaheb Thackeray built his politics. One girl is Muslim, another is from South India. And they are GIRLS.
Police, whose brains are in the hand of brainless politicians, act impulsively on the command of their masters. Politicians lack common sense, hence, police lack them too.
The man who styled himself after Hitler is dead. His legacy is not. Ironical though, a day after his death, his style of politics was on display through the arrest of two innocent girls who did not belong to the classic definition of ‘marathi manoos‘ , and through ransacking of an hospital run by a girl’s uncle. Violence and hatred are the hallmarks of Thackeray’s party.
Neither the CM, nor PM, or for that matter any Bollywood celebrities, or liberal politicians raised their voices against this arbitrary arrest of two innocent girls – fear is in their heads too.
One exception is Justice Markandeya Katju – on the very day of funeral he boldly wrote an article despising Balasaheb Thackeray’s style of politics. Today he has again criticized harshly the Maharashtra government for its mindless action.
A government run by the Congress party arrests two girls because they hurt a dead man belonging to a far-rightist party! What more can I say?
Shiv Sena thrives on fear. May be the intention was good as far as securing rights of Marathi people of their livelihood, but the means adopted to secure this was through breeding hatred and propagating violence. Which is a short term solution and a dangerous one in the long-term.
Justice Katju has asked Maharashtra government to arrest police personnel who arrested these two girls. Along with this, around 2000 ‘Sainiks‘ who vandalized hospital belonging to a kin of one of the arrested girls must also be booked.
Isn’t it hypocritical that girls who innocently pasted some message are arrested so quickly, but goons who indulged in violence are still scot-free?
This is the legacy Balasaheb has left behind for us.
Ever since Salman Khurshid was made foreign minister of India to ruin any chances of it becoming a global superpower, I had slipped into almost chronic mental depression. Thanks to Obama’s victory last night, my mood is back to normal.
It is very Indian mindset – we feel happy about distant glories of distant people, but decry achievements of our own ilk. While beating and restricting movements of our women at our homes, we applaud Sunita Williams’ long walk in the space.
I am Indian, and I can’t explain why I am happy about Obama’s win. What if Mitt Romney had won? I am Indian, I am sure, I would have been happy anyway.
Now about Supine Power India. Not interested in the word Superpower, I coined this word – Supine Power, a lazy India that aspires to become global superpower in few days. But, when I searched the web for the same phrase, alas, someone had already coined this and taken due credit. Anyway, I am still happy that my grey cells are active, and mind is pure as to acknowledge defeat.
Salman Khurshid got promotion as soon as he plummeted to the lowest levels of public dignity. It is the way of Manmohanics – recognizing the contribution of crooks to promote them to highest offices, to make India a supine power for long time to come. Remember? when India faced worst electricity crisis, Sushilkumar Shinde was made Home Minister of India, promoting him from the power ministry. Recently A. Raja of 2G-spectrum scam, Kalmadi of Commonwealth games scam were nominated into various committees to deliberate and decide upon India’s future. For now India is in safe hands to meet the objective of supine power status.
Few days ago Congress held its biggest rally in Delhi. There every leader promised to bring FDI in retail into India at any cost. In that week, cyclone Neelam devastated Andhra Pradesh – killing 29, inundating lakhs of acres irrigated farm land, submerging hundred of villages, and wreaking havoc in coastal Andhra. Not a single leader at the rally called for action, or at least sympathy. FDI in retail will solve India’s problems, they think.
Rahul Gandhi remains silent on vital issues. I have started doubting if it is Manmohan Singh’s effect on him, or something else.
Meanwhile, Gadkari is wreaking havoc in BJP. He encouraged leaders across Indian states to indulge in corruption, later when matters went out of control, he asked some of them to resign. Now, he stands accused, and best thing is to resign rather than dividing the home he lives in. BJP has no time for nation at this moment. Thank god for that.
Arvind Kejriwal is absconding. Or did Congress finally silence him? I hope now he exposes sharks in bureaucracy, after spectacularly exposing corrupt guys in politics and businesses. As recently revealed, his party is funded mainly by industrialists and bankers.
For now, India will sleep and dream about superpower status. Obama’s victory will boost our morale for no apparent reason. We will continue to isolate black guys (lower castes, women, poor) within us, while we celebrate second victory of Barack Obama, the first black president of USA.
It is no secret that entering politics, especially getting elected as either member of Parliament or legislative assemblies is the quickest way to become a millionaire in first term, and billionaire in subsequent terms.
Now this secret is out in the open again. Journalists knew all along business secrets of many politicians, but many of them chose to be partners in crime rather than expose the truth.
Nitin Gadkari is finally in the dock now. Media is feasting on this easy target. Gadkari’s case is important because he is the president of BJP. He was corrupt when he encouraged Reddy brothers and Yeddyurappa in Karnataka in their business of buying and selling of MLA’s and mines (both of whom spent time in jails), but hardly anyone made much noise about it.
Unfortunately Gadkari is just a tip of the iceberg. Exposing him makes people famous. And there are many politicians who can finance such high profile expose’.
It was interesting to compare reactions of Congress ministers in Vadra’s case and Gadkari’s case. Every ministry wants to probe charges against Gadkari now. They issued clean chit to Vadra and closed the debate.
Barring few, almost every elected politician is a rich man in India. In fact they join politics to further their businesses.
Gadkari can ask for thorough investigation, because he has a friend in Sharad Pawar, NCP supremo and crucial ally of UPA – so clean chit is ensured. Political rivalry is for feeding ‘breaking news’ frenzy media. Business associations between rivals hardly makes news – because media are essentially run by these very politician-businessman nexus. Media makes noise only if it sees profit.
So, politics as a career is for already rich guys. Rahul Gandhi can invite us to join his bandwagon, but that is only an honest rhetoric. Either he doesn’t know ground realities, or he is mocking us. Getting elected to village Panchayat costs almost Rs 5 – 10 lakhs these days.
The use of phrase ‘civil society’ became quite popular during Anna Hazare led movement against corruption. Until then this phrase was non existent in public discourse.
Mainstream media then started assessing the nature of civil society institutions that were involved in this popular agitation. Many branded this movement as middle-class phenomena; urban centric; driven by internet and educated urban youth.
The whole movement led by Anna Hazare was branded as civil society movement. As agitations were limited to urban centres, the perception about civil societies was that of urban-centric and middle-class phenomena.
This perception created by mainstream media is a best example how public opinion can be moulded by TV debates.
Civil society is a group of people who organize themselves to protect common interests and demand certain rights from state whenever necessary. They are basically distinct from the state which wields power and controls almost every sphere of life of a common man.
These civil society groups can be any organization that is managed by common citizens and not funded by the state.
In India, at present civil society reminds us of either Anna Hazare and his erstwhile group, or NGOs headed by Aruna Roy or Medha Patkar. It is because they are frequently visible in the mainstream media.
But there are civil society groups in almost every village in India. If one visits rural area, they can see certain ‘sangh’ (organization) – for example, Ambedkar Youth organization (mostly of Dalits), certain caste affiliated groups, youth sports organizations, or cine/political fan associations. Their sphere of influence is limited to their villages or surrounding villages.
Apart from these regular groups, there are many NGOs working in tribal, backward, desert areas.
There is another argument – that civil society groups should be apolitical. Though most of the times, aim of these civil society groups is to achieve goals that fulfill needs of their own groups, the means adopted to achieve such goals vary. In villages members of above mentioned groups contest local elections and enter local bodies.
Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sanghatan fielded its candidates in local elections held in Rajasthan. This organization is led by Aruna Roy.
Now, we witnessed how Arvind Kejriwal metamorphosed into a politician from an ardent civil society activist. His contention is that state is very powerful and one needs to enter it to make difference in the society by cleaning politics which controls whole state machinery.
Urban regions in India have innumerable civil society groups. They are vocal because they are informed, educated and aware about state’s activities and machinations.
In India, state is all too powerful for any civil society group to stand against it and force it to do something against its wishes. State can use its institutions to intimidate, spy, control, suppress and demoralize civil society groups that go against its wishes.
Here state can be a democratic or an autocratic regime. This happens more in autocratic states where power is concentrated in few people and who are intolerant of any form of dissent. Democracies also try to control civil society groups when there exists no accountability and is too corrupt.
Urban civil society groups know the means to fight such interventions whereas those located in villages hardly have such means.
Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil,
Shri Hamid Ansari,
Smt. Meira Kumar,
Shri Justice S.H. Kapadia,
Members of Parliament,
Your Excellencies, Friends and fellow citizens,
I am deeply moved by the high honour you have accorded to me. Such honour exalts the occupant of this office, even as it demands that he rises above personal or partisan interests in the service of the national good.
The principal responsibility of this office is to function as the guardian of our Constitution. I will strive, as I said on oath, to preserve, protect and defend our Constitution not just in word but also in spirit. We are all, across the divide of party and region, partners at the altar of our motherland. Our federal Constitution embodies the idea of modern India: it defines not only India but also modernity. A modern nation is built on some basic fundamentals: democracy, or equal rights for every citizen; secularism, or equal freedom to every faith; equality of every region and language; gender equality and, perhaps most important of all, economic equity. For our development to be real the poorest of our land must feel that they are part of the narrative of rising India.
I have seen vast, perhaps unbelievable, changes during the journey that has brought me from the flicker of a lamp in a small Bengal village to the chandeliers of Delhi. I was a boy when Bengal was savaged by a famine that killed millions; the misery and sorrow is still not lost on me. We have achieved much in the field of agriculture, industry and social infrastructure; but that is nothing compared to what India, led by the coming generations, will create in the decades ahead.
Our national mission must continue to be what it was when the generation of Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Patel, Rajendra Prasad, Ambedkar andMaulana Azad offered us a tryst with destiny: to eliminate the curse of poverty, and create such opportunities for the young that they can take our India forward by quantum leaps. There is no humiliation more abusive than hunger. Trickle-down theories do not address the legitimate aspirations of the poor. We must lift those at the bottom so that poverty is erased from the dictionary of modern India.
What has brought us thus far, will take us further ahead. India`s true story is the partnership of the people. Our wealth has been created by farmers and workers, industrialists and service-providers, soldiers and civilians. Our social harmony is the sublime co-existence of temple, mosque, church, gurudwara and synagogue; they are symbols of our unity in diversity.
Peace is the first ingredient of prosperity. History has often been written in the red of blood; but development and progress are the luminous rewards of a peace dividend, not a war trophy. The two halves of the 20th Century tell their own story. Europe, and indeed the world, reinvented itself after the end of the Second World War and the collapse of colonization, leading to the rise of great institutions like the United Nations. Leaders who ordered great armies into the field, and then understood that war was more barbarism than glory, transformed the world by changing its mindset. Gandhiji taught by example, and gave us the supreme strength of non-violence. India`s philosophy is not an abstract in textbooks. It flourishes in the day-to-day life of our people, who value the humane above all else. Violence is external to our nature; when, as human beings, we do err, we exorcise our sins with penitence and accountability.
But the visible rewards of peace have also obscured the fact that the age of war is not over. We are in the midst of a fourth world war; the third was the Cold War, but it was very warm in Asia, Africa and Latin America till it ended in the early 1990s. The war against terrorism is the fourth; and it is a world war because it can raise its evil head anywhere in the world. India has been on the frontlines of this war long before many other recognized its vicious depth or poisonous consequences. I am proud of the valour and conviction and steely determination of our Armed Forces as they have fought this menace on our borders; of our brave police forces as they have met the enemy within; and of our people, who have defeated the terrorist trap by remaining calm in the face of extraordinary provocation. The people of India have been a beacon of maturity through the trauma of whiplash wounds. Those who instigate violence and perpetuate hatred need to understand one truth. Few minutes of peace will achieve far more than many years of war. India is content with itself, and driven by the will to sit on the high table of prosperity. It will not be deflected in its mission by noxious practitioners of terror.
As Indians, we must of course learn from the past; but we must remain focused on the future. In my view, education is the alchemy that can bring India its next golden age. Our oldest scriptures laid the framework of society around the pillars of knowledge; our challenge is to convert knowledge into a democratic force by taking it into every corner of our country. Our motto is unambiguous: All for knowledge, and knowledge for all.
The weight of office sometimes becomes a burden on dreams. The news is not always cheerful. Corruption is an evil that can depress the nation`s mood and sap its progress. We cannot allow our progress to be hijacked by the greed of a few.
I envisage an India where unity of purpose propels the common good; where Centre and State are driven by the single vision of good governance; where every revolution is green; where democracy is not merely the right to vote once in five years but to speak always in the citizen`s interest; where knowledge becomes wisdom; where the young pour their phenomenal energy and talent into the collective cause. As tyranny dwindles across the world; as democracy gets fresh life in regions once considered inhospitable; India becomes the model of modernity.
As Swami Vivekananda in his soaring metaphor said, India will be raised, not with the power of flesh but with the power of the spirit, not with the flag of destruction, but with the flag of peace and love. Bring all the forces of good together. Do not care what be your colour-green, blue or red, but mix all the colours up and produce that intense glow of white, the colour of love. Ours is to work, the results will take care of themselves.
There is no greater reward for a public servant than to be elected the first citizen of our Republic. Jai Hind.”
Filed under Democracy
The Law Commission of India in its 172nd Report on `Review of Rape Laws` as well the National Commission for Women have recommended for stringent punishment for the offence of rape.
Taking this into consideration, government had constituted a high powered committee headed by Union Home Secretary, which examined the recommendations of Law Commission, NCW and suggestions various quarters on the subject submitted its Report along with the draft Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2011 and recommended to the Government for its enactment.
Today (July 20, 2012), union cabinet approved the bill for introducing it in the Parliament, which if passed would become a law.
This new bill makes rape gender neutral. Instead of the word ‘rape’, a more encompassing phrase ‘sexual assault’ is substituted which includes sexual offence on both men and women.
This ‘gender neutral’ clause has been facing opposition from feminists, according to whom in India it is women who are predominantly the victims of rape and making it gender neutral will not make this law a deterrent for would be offenders.
It is true that more and more crimes are committed against women with each passing year.
According to to the Union ministry of home affairs’ compendium on crime statistics, compiled by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), the incidence of crime against women in India has shot up both numerically and as a proportion of total number of Indian Penal Code (IPC) crimes.
While the number of such crimes shot up to 2,28,650 in 2011 from 2,13,585 in 2010, marking a seven per cent spurt, West Bengal reported the highest number of such cases. (CNN-IBN)
Making it gender neutral enables the act to empower law enforcing agencies to register cases of sexual assault on men too, may be by women (!?), or by men – especially on boys. (boys and girls who are below 16 years of age are one of the worst victims of sexual assault in India – according to many studies it has come to light that people within family, or a known person is the common offender)
Highlights of the Bill
The highlights of the Bill include substituting sections 375, 376, 376A and 376B by replacing the existing sections 375, 376, 376A, 376B, 376C and 376D of the Indian Penal Code,1860, replacing the word `rape’ wherever it occurs by the words `sexual assault`, to make the offence of sexual assault gender neutral, and also widening the scope of the offence sexual assault.
The punishment for sexual assault will be for a minimum of seven years which may extend to imprisonment for life and also fine for aggravated sexual assault, i.e., by a police officer within his jurisdiction or a public servant / manager or person talking advantage of his position of authority etc. The punishment will be rigorous imprisonment which shall not be less than ten years which may extend to life imprisonment and also fine.
The age of consent has been raised from 16 years to 18 years in sexual assault. However, it is proposed that the sexual intercourse by a man with own wife being under sixteen years of age is not sexual assault.
Provision for enhancement of punishment under sections 354 and 509 of IPC and insertion of sections 326A and 326B in the IPC for making acid attack a specific offence have been made.
More than laws, it is action which is needed. Some police stations refuse to even register FIR, some show lack of interest, some buckle under pressure from influential people derailing the case, some cops even indulge themselves in ‘sexual assaults’, there are officers who blame girls for ‘inviting’ rape, and if not highlighted by media, many rape cases go even unnoticed and unregistered.
Police should be taught during their training to be sensitive and imbibe empathy. It is not tough laws which reduce crimes, but cultivation of civilized attitude by everybody.
Filed under Democracy, education, women empowerment
Last week 10 member ASEAN countries’ meet ended in debacle. China orchestrated it, Cambodia the host and indebted to China, ensured it.
China has become assertive in its claim to superiority in the Asia Pacific region, scaring neighbouring countries and pushing them, quite stupidly towards US pivot.
Resource rich South China Sea has become bone of contention between China and host of countries that use its waters. Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan all have claims in South China Sea; but China claims almost all of the sea, including territory of Taiwan.
Territorial claims in South China Sea – Economist
ASEAN members are known for their unity and have a treaty to help each other and resolve any matters concerning them collectively. But, last week, they failed, first time in 45 years to issue a communique’ at the end of their meeting. It is said that Cambodia which chaired it, and which receives huge amount of aid from China jeopardized it.
Philippines and Vietnam wanted to include in the communique’ their recent skirmishes with China in the South China Sea. But, Cambodia did not agree for this citing that the matter was bilateral and could not be a part of multilateral outcome document.
That is what China is doing – dividing the unity in Asia pacific. It is chosing one at a time to resolve its disputes. It knows well that collective strength of ASEAN is huge.
Unwittingly, this has led to rejigging in geopolitical alignments – Philippines and Vietnam are elevating their relationship with USA to strategic level. Both are fast growing countries, and to meet future energy needs, they are claiming parts of South China Sea that has vaguely defined territorial limits between each nations.
China claims Paracel and Spratly islands which are also claimed by Vietnam. China claims Scarborough islands which Philippines says belongs to its jurisdiction.
According to Law of the Sea treaty of UN, an inhabited territory can claim 200 km of Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) into the sea, and if they are uninhabited, they can claim only 20 km of ‘territorial waters’.
China says it owns all the islands fully or partially in the South China Sea. That allows it to claim part of this sea until the doorsteps of Malaysia, some 2500kms away from Hong kong.
China has grown greedy over the years. Its increasing economic prowess has enabled it to bribe some nations into its submission, and make it more assertive beyond its conventional territories.
For those who advocate ‘string of pearls’ theory, here is a counter argument. It is actually China which is being surrounded by hostile nations - from Japan to Vietnam – covering Pacific to Indian Oceans.
If it do not learn to keep its neighbors in good humor, China’s rise as ‘superpower’ will only prove perilous in the long term.
Filed under politics, world politics
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