In a time warp?

8226; As long as Mani Shankar Aiyar and his cronies in government were licking Russia8217;s feet for the bett...

8226; As long as Mani Shankar Aiyar and his cronies in government were licking Russia8217;s feet for the better part of the last five decades, we were happily non-aligned 8216;NDA8217;s foreign non policy8217;, IE, March 31. But with the change in geopolitics, if we are doing that to the US, we have suddenly stopped being a non-aligned. One thing we all forget is that the US does command influence in international politics, whether we like it or not. Today that we have no role to play in the world affairs is the result of the kind of policies that people of Aiyar8217;s ilk have given us over the last five decades or so. Indeed it8217;s a shame that people like Aiyar tend to belittle whatever little that India has achieved on the world stage since then. People like Aiyar only want to live in past and can never ever reconcile themselves with the idea that time always moves on.

8212; Sunil Kumar On e-mail

Good record

8226; In 57 years after independence, we have achieved a highly respected place in the comity of nations, thanks to our pragmatic foreign policy with matching strides on the economic front. However, the learned Mani Shankar Aiyar 8212; an acclaimed expert on foreign affairs 8212; has chosen to put on anti-NDA blinkers to negate what is so obvious even to a layman. His compulsions in the election season are understandable.
Every country has a right to do what is good for its own interests. Conferring the MNNA status on Pakistan is obviously to fight terrorism in the epicenter of terror. It is surely not a failure of our foreign policy. Pokhran II was continuation of Pokhran I and reflected our independence even in an uni-polar world. Has the late Murasoli Maran been spared Aiyar8217;s wrath because his party has now allied with the Congress?
Our views on world trade get lot of credence as a leader of the third world. By offering unconditional support to the US when 9/11 happened, India was only sharing the anguish of the civilised world.

8212; Raghubir Singh Pune

Go it alone

8226; Although I partly agree with Aiyar that India failed in its diplomatic efforts to woo the US, it is certainly due to the 50 years of misrule by Congress that India is not taken seriously by anyone. The time has now come for the Centre 8212; regardless of the party that comes to power 8212; to stop playing to America8217;s tunes. We have a huge market in every sphere and sense of the term, and can sustain ourselves without depending on America.

8212;K. Raghunathan On e-mail

Way out in Nepal

8226; Following the murder of the late king, Birendra, Nepal is now soaked with blood, flowing from all directions 8216;Fire on the mountain8217;, IE, March 29. What happened in Benibazar firmly suggests that a change of regime is the only alternative. It will be good for the people of Nepal if the king resigns and hands over power on a caretaking basis to an all-party committee, to hold a constituent assembly. There is no rational alternative.

8212; N.R. Mukherjee Jalpaiguri