Thoughts on Democratic Peace Theroy

The link below has an interesting post from the DuckofMinerva blog concerning India-Pakistan relationship in light of the proposed sale of F-16 fighters to these countries. I think that these assumptions seem to be slightly way off the mark considering the 'historical roots' of the conflict between these two countries.

http://duckofminerva.blogspot.com/2005/06/would-you-rather-have-big-macor-f-16.html

The fact that the confrontation between the two countries has been averted during the recent buildup of armed forces by India, can be explained in light of the 'nuclear shadow' hanging over the Indian subcontinet. Thus any assumptions like these sound way off the mark and the refernce to the Democratic Peace Theory, doesn't explain the potential causes of conflict between the two countries as Pakistan can't be considered a 'democracy' by any standards.

International Relations Blogs

This consists of the various interesting blogs that cover International Relations/Politics.

http://oxblog.blogspot.com/

http://duckofminerva.blogspot.com/

International law blog

http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/internationallaw/

this is the link of the blog on international law, wto law and EU-China relationship that can serve as a reference for the latest facts.....

Its time to take a new look at what happened during the Second World War

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4175045.stm

This needs a deeper look by historians as I feel that the responsibility of the First World towards the persecution of the Jews hasn't been looked at closely. It is a known fact that Britain and its allies were not willing to let the Jews escape to other countries and put stringent obstacles in place to prevent Jews escaping to Palestine, which was under their mandate. I feel a fresh look is necesssary, as all the big talk by the 'allied powers' about liberating the world was done as they faced a clear and present danger to their states rather than complete benevolence on their part.

Is Iran next in the sights?

Looking at the pressure that is being built up by the US against Iran, involving the issue of its “nuclear capabilities” one is reminded of the situation that they potrayed before “invading” Iraq. Hasn’t the present administration learnt the lesson from the experience? It seems to be going the same way it has trodden earlier and has all probability of being hurt more badly as the military abilities of Iran are far better than what they faced in Iraq. This administration needs to be voted out and some semblence of ordered behaviour by the US government be brought in.

http://www.isis-online.org/publications/iran/parchin.html

INTERESTING ARTICLE

here is an article abt the biggest nuclear bomb ever built......have a look at it and say what u think
http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Russia/TsarBomba.html

Guantanamo Bay Detainees, US Federal Court Decision

This link provides the details pertaining to the case taken up by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), in the Supreme Court of the US,and the resulting decision by the Federal Court. I think that this is a key judgement given by the Courts in the US at a time when the freedoms of the people are being curtaied , by exxagerating the threat posed by "terrorists". I personally think that the US could have had a dialogue with Saddam Hussein, rather than taking him down, in their distorted "War on Terror".

http://www.ccr-ny.org/v2/legal/september_11th/sept11Article.asp?ObjID=ytOOAV96a7&Content=91

http://www.ccr-ny.org/v2/legal/september_11th/sept11Article.asp?ObjID=3dRVtqS8iX&Content=92

India's Arms Purchases

India 4th biggest arms buyer in AsiaT V Parasuram in Washington September 01, 2004 18:15 IST

Global arms sales fell for third consecutive year by approximately 12 per cent in 2003 to US $25.6 billion compared with US $29.14 billion in 2002 as Asian countries, including China, India and Pakistan, overtook West Asia as the biggest customer, according to a US government report.
The report said arms sales had declined worldwide due to several factors such as an economic slowdown and consequent austerity measures adopted by leading arms buyers around the world and wealthy nations focussing more on upgrades and modernisations rather than replacement of arms.
"Nonetheless, the developing world continues to be the primary focus of foreign arms sales activity by conventional weapons suppliers," the Congressionl Reserch Service found.
The US and Russia continued to dominate the global arms market arms market with Washington maintaining its lead in weapons sales with deals valued at more than US $14.5 billion up from US 13.6 billion in 2002, the report said.
Russia ranked second with deals worth US $4.3 billion and Germany ranked third signing deals worth US $1.4 billion.
The Conventional Arms Transfers to Developing Nations 1996-2003 report said India was the fourth largest developing world arms buyer with purchases worth US $12.6 billion and Pakistan was tenth with US $3.8 billion.
The United Arab Emirates was the leading developing world arms buyer from 1996 to 2003 with purchases totaling US $15.7 billion followed by China with US $13.7 billion and Egypt with US $13.6 billion.

source: http://in.rediff.com/news/2004/sep/01arms.htm