Kanwal Sibal

14.3K posts

Kanwal Sibal

@KanwalSibal

Former Foreign Secretary. Ex-Ambassador to Turkey, Egypt, France & Russia. Chancellor, JNU. 700+ op-eds. The Sibal Brief: https://t.co/Thbsk97LGE

New Delhi, India Katılım August 2020

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Kanwal Sibal@KanwalSibal·Jul 9

For someone who started a war with Iran with destructive international consequences, who calls the Iranians scum and a cancer and wants to bomb them back to the Stone Age, supported Israel in its destruction of Gaza, still participates in a proxy war on Russia, kidnapped the serving head of state of a sovereign country and grabbed its oil, wants Greenland, the territory of an ally etc, to claim he is the most eligible candidate ever for receiving the Nobel Peace Prize is a parody. He implicitly endorses Pakistan’s threat to use nuclear weapons against India by repeating Shehbaz Sharif’s claim Trump saved 30 to 50 million lives in Pakistan’s conflict with India. This means Pakistan was ready to use nuclear weapons, had worked out targets in India and estimated the casualties. Sharif has now officially in a message to Trump on the 250th anniversary of the US applauded him for saving hundreds of millions of lives. The figure has ballooned. India has a No First Use doctrine which Pakistan rejects despite India proposing an agreement on this. India would not have used nuclear weapons first. Instead of deploring Pakistan’s nuclear threat inherent in Sharif’s statements, Trump is legitimising it politically. No concern about millions of Indian lives lost because of Pakistan’s nuclear madness. Instead, Trump capitalises on Sharif’s pandering to his vanity to lay claim to the Nobel Peace Prize.

Shashank Mattoo@MattooShashank

U.S. President Trump on India and Pakistan: I should have won the Nobel Peace Prize more than anyone who has ever won the award. The India-Pakistan war was raging. 11 planes were shot down. The Pakistan PM said President Trump saved 30 to 50 million lives.

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Kanwal Sibal@KanwalSibal·10h

This excerpt may not present the whole picture . But judging from this he sees himself as an equal and rival to the Prime Minister of India. Arrogance.

News Algebra@NewsAlgebraIND

DIPKE - "I am ready to show my scholarship documents. I also request Narendra Modi to show his degree"

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Gönül Tol@gonultol·12h

While researching Turkey’s role in Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program, I came across this document in the archives. It is one of dozens of US demarches sent to the Turkish government in the late 1970s and 1980s protesting shipments of electrical components from Turkish firms to Pakistan. Ankara’s response was that its export control laws were too weak to allow the government to block such trade. Turkey eventually adopted stronger export control legislation but enforcement remained lax. At the time, the US government avoided publicly acknowledging Turkey’s role because doing so would have triggered a legal requirement to cut off military assistance to a key NATO ally. Interesting stuff..nsarchive.gwu.edu/sites/default/…

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Nisarg Dalal@NisargSDalal·1d

Former FS @KanwalSibal argues that India brought discredit to its own diplomacy by bringing oral amendments to toughen the 2013 UNHRC resolution on the Sri Lankan Tamils after initially having worked on watering it down (2013):

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Kanwal Sibal@KanwalSibal·1d

You haven’t answered my question. Do you want women in your family exercising the same rights as men in using sexually explicit profanities. If not, why not ? Be honest and consistent intellectually.

Ameer Shahul@ameershahul

@KanwalSibal Not in my family, in every family including yours, as long as men can talk such things. I am sorry to see you clearly exposed here.

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Kanwal Sibal@KanwalSibal·1d

You evidently approve of women in your family mouthing such sexually loaded profanities to assert their equality with men and not be subject to different standards.

Ameer Shahul@ameershahul

What a revealing double standard. When men use graphic sexual abuse, it is apparently just “how men talk”; when women use the same language, it becomes a cultural crisis? And no, women do not need anyone’s permission to speak in public, speak in private, speak politely, or speak profanely. They may be criticised for their words, just as men may be, but not subjected to a special code of conduct simply because they are women.

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Kanwal Sibal@KanwalSibal·1d

Agree.

Come Carpentier@ComeCarpentier

@KanwalSibal Unfortunately most societies the world over have become vulgar and impertinent. Profanity has become pervasive, even among the youth. See how almost no sentence spoken by 'average' people today is free of some irrelevant 4 letter expletive,

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Kanwal Sibal@KanwalSibal·1d

Whoever this ex- UK Minister is he has no understanding of the political dynamics in India. Taking his wishful thinking as political analysis. Bangladesh has seen overthrow of elected governments, bouts of military rule , boycott of national elections, long rivalry between the two “begums”- Hasina and Khalida Zia, politically strong anti- democratic Islamist elements etc. Hasina’s overthrow was “ meticulously organised” as Yunus himself avowed publicly in the US while introducing his Islamist adviser. Hasina has publicly accused the US of seeking her ouster. Yunus was catapulted as Chief Adviser by the Americans. The role of the BD army chief is a matter of speculation. BD is not a federal entity like India. Who is this ignoramus?

Shashank Mattoo@MattooShashank

Ex-UK Minister hints at Bangladesh style revolution in India after Cockroach Janata Party protests "I think this might be the beginning of a Bangladesh-style moment. Remember Sheikh Hasina looked pretty invulnerable and then was toppled."

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Kanwal Sibal@KanwalSibal·2d

So, you approve of girls and women mouthing publicly the same graphic sexual abuses that males use. For many of an older generation this uninhibited use of sexual profanities by young girls comes as a cultural shock. Would you use these sexual cuss words yourself in public or even in private? If yes, then you are being intellectually honest.

Ruhi Tewari@RuhiTewari

“It’s a cultural shock that our daughters can speak such language…” Nobody should use abusive language in public life, that’s a given. But why this special emphasis on “daughters”? Why is it that “betiyan” are expected to maintain the highest standards of decency, and all the onus is on them? And them behaving in a certain way comes as a ‘culture shock’? And why are we all betiyan or behen? Women can have identities outside of relationships. Dear PM Modi, unfortunately this thinking is reflective of the same deeply patriarchal & gendered mindset that you claim to fight through your ‘Beti Bachao…’ & ‘Nari Shakti’ campaigns.

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Kanwal Sibal@KanwalSibal·2d

PM has announced that these errant youngsters who used culturally shocking language should not be prosecuted. He wants to close the matter and move on. However, wanting to kill the PM and sexually explicit abuses of the worst kind by young girls that only the most lumpen elements would use on camera, should not be dismissed as merely “ bad language”. Such odious language should not be normalised. If there isn’t even social stigma for such utterly crass behaviour and it is in fact defended, we are countenancing a moral decay of society.

Suhasini Haidar@suhasinih

It is a very insecure and weak state that needs to prosecute the youth for bad language.

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S Gurumurthy@sgurumurthy·2d

I wish to mention here that Dr Venkat Ramakrishnan didn't tell this for me to tweet it. I had to persuade him hard. Pl read this. In fact I didn't know for 4 days how to trace him as he had not left his phone no. I wasn't even sure of his full name. I approached my relative Mrs Radhika Santhanakrishnan who runs a cancer care hospital and is familiar with city's medical domain. With the scrappy details I gave she meandered for 2 days and traced Dr Venkat Ramakrishnan. I spoke to him got to know the details and wanted his permission to tweet my conversation with him as that would be an inspiration for many. He wasn't forthcoming. Then I quoted 21st sloka in chapter 3 in Bhagwat Geeta which said the society needs righteous people as models to follow, as wrong examples abound today. Only after lot of persuasion he agreed Now I will come to why I did it. Dr Venkat Ramakrishnan is not the text of my X. He is the context for it My study of Indian economy is that it rests on intergenerational dharmic duty as the core of its social security. I study since 1990s the US economy closely. State provided universal social security in US is today running at a deficit of over $ 70 trillion if the future obligations are reduced to today's value. It is a time bomb under US economy. Universal social security by state will work only if population keeps rising and the proportion of working population funding the system rises in proportion to the non working population which lives on that fund. It worked well in US when baby booming kept the population graph up. But once the population stabilized the social security account began witnessing more withdrawals than deposits from 2006 leading to the deficit I mentioned. Today's elder generation is living at the cost of future elders. The problem is graver in EU where the population is declining In India universal social security by state is unthinkable. The state can only provide targeted social security for those unprovided or less provoded by traditional model. Now the view among econmists is thst giving up traditional social security can lead to crisis. Even in US some economists inclusing Nobel econmics awardee Milton Friedman advised the US not to interfere with the intergenerational obligations by lateral state intervention. But politicians seeking votes promoted consumerism and nuclear families which promoted business. Can any Indian econmist say that universal social security be provided by state by law to supplant the traditional integenerational dharmic obligations. It is just impossible. If all Indians leave their dependent parents and others to the care of the state there will be no state or economy in India. There will be only anarchy. Unlike Americans who save for themselves to enjoy most Indians save for their children and grand children. Barry Bobsworth a Brooking economist said American savings are personal, Asian savings is dynastic. This is the larger picture Let us therefore not treat intergenerational moral duty as an individual virtue only. It has to be preserved as part of our collective life style. Ordinary people in India keep this great cultural social security net functional. It is the elite rich and modern who have reduced it into a financial issue to throw parents in elder homes That is why using the accidental meeting with Dr Venkat Ramakrishnan I wanted to draw the attention of the people that intergenerational moral duty is what sustains our social and economic order. It has resulted a debate in X which I have been carrying on since I became part of the Swadeshi movement in 1992. Thanks all those who expressed their views Once again I sought Dr Venkat Ramakrishnan's consent for a much larger purpose...which included besides culture, econmics social order, ultimately raising a question on what life ultimately means, if one doesn't stand for one's own parents, near and dear inclined wife husband and children. Why even neighbours and friends.....

S Gurumurthy@sgurumurthy

I want to share what I consider as an illustrative incident for today's Gen. Last Friday when I was about to disembark from the flight in Chennai from Delhi a passenger from the other side of isle introduced himself as Dr Venkat Ramakrishnan and as a follower of my comments and writings. When I asked about him he said he was a plastic surgeon in UK for 30 years and is back in Chennai to look after his nonagenarian parents. With that our conversation ended as we disembarked But what he said -- he came back to look after his aged parents -- made me reach out to him. Yesterday I could trace him with the scrappy details I had got and spoke to him today. He practices as a plastic surgeon in Chennai and is a consultant in Apollo. His father Dr Venkatrasami was a famous plastic surgeon who established a surgery set up in Stanley Hospital in Chennai which is near industrial area where workers lose limbs in accidents calling for surgeries. A block in Stanley is named after Dr Venkatrasami. Dr Venkat Ramakrishnan himself had a roaring pratice in UK. But the call of his duty to his aged parents made him give up that to come back to India two years back I thought it is my duty as a journalist to inform the public about illustrative sons like him who value their moral relational obligations more than their personal career It is those who like Dr Venkat Ramakrishnan sustain intergenerational dharmic responsibilities that keeps our relation based society functional. We are not and can never be a contract based society. According to SBI economic research 84% of parents live with their children in India. This culturally inherited social and emotional security is irreplaceable by state law or courts in our country. I feel proud of sons like Dr Venkat Ramakrishnan who stand by the basic dharma of Matru Devo Bhava Pitru Devo Bhava My salutes him and urge the young Indians to inbibe this irreplaceable cultural virtue exemplified by Dr Venkat Ramakrishnan

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Kanwal Sibal@KanwalSibal·3d

China and Russia have a two way trade of $ 200 billion. China imports oil and gas from Russia, which is vital cushion against US oil sanctions. Other than this, both have a shared interest in countering the US. United they stand, divided they fall, even if their national interests do not coincide on every issue. The larger strategic picture is more important for them. Russia claims it intervened in Kazakhstan at the request of its president to forestall a colour revolution there. Kazakhstan is part of CSTO. In any case, for China to threaten to break trade relations with Russia over Kazakhstan makes no sense. China has no bilateral security arrangement with Kazakhstan. The Polish Foreign Minister reduces his own credibility by such a geopolitical take, which seems more like self- comforting hearsay.

Tymofiy Mylovanov@Mylovanov

Sikorski: In January 2022, Russia made a brief military move into Kazakhstan to interfere in its succession. I believe China told Russia: get out right now, or we'll cut off trade. Russia obeyed. It can't prosecute this war without trade with China. 1/

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Kanwal Sibal@KanwalSibal·3d

Can you imagine the Indian PM yelling and screaming when he supposedly threatened 250% tariffs? Hallucination is not the right state of mind for understanding situations and framing policies. He is again endorsing Pakistani PM’s readiness to use nuclear weapons against India when he quotes him about having saved 45 million lives. India has a No First Use nuclear doctrine.

Clash Report@clashreport

Trump: We ended India-Pakistan. Eleven planes were shot down. I said, "If you are going to go to war, 250% tariffs to each of them." They yelled, screamed, and both were very angry. They later called and said they were not going to war.

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Kanwal Sibal@KanwalSibal·3d

Diplomats have a way to become plausibly unavailable!

Shyamala B. Cowsik@sashashyam

@KanwalSibal Agree completely. We shouldn't accept or endorse Sergio Gor's supra national role as US envoy to whole of South Asia. But if Gor had sought meeting through US Embassy in Dhaka, might have been difficult for our Ambassador to refuse, if he had no advance instructions from Delhi

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Kanwal Sibal@KanwalSibal·3d

I examine how the US approach in Iran has unravelled, and what it means for the region and for India, in a piece on The Sibal Brief. Read it here: kanwalsibal.substack.com/p/how-everythi… Comments would be welcome.

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Kanwal Sibal@KanwalSibal·3d

For India, the consequences are direct. Pressure on energy purchases, disruption of long-term connectivity projects, and the narrowing of strategic options all flow from a conflict in which Indian interests were never central.

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Kanwal Sibal@KanwalSibal·3d

Everything that could go wrong for the United States in Iran appears to have gone wrong. What began as an attempt to force a strategic outcome has instead strengthened Iran’s regional position and exposed the limits of American power.

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Kanwal Sibal@KanwalSibal·3d

Not clear why our HC has to meet again in Dhaka the US ambassador to India. In the context of Gor’s given role as US Special Envoy to South Asia, even a courtesy call has a diplomatic nuance. The US has an accredited ambassador to Bangladesh. Perfectly normal for our HC and the US ambassador to BD to meet and discuss issues of mutual interest. Gor’s role as Special US envoy to South Asia is an internal US arrangement. Why should we recognise and consolidate this role? On BD Gor is free to discuss issues with MEA and others as normal diplomacy. The channel of communication has to be in Delhi. Our HC in Dhaka has no role to play in this.

Rahul Shivshankar@RShivshankar

INTERESTING DIPLOMATIC DEVELOPMENT India-U.S envoys meet in Bangladesh U.S envoy Gor meets Indian HC Trivedi. Key meet as China tracks U.S. movements closely in Bangladesh. U.S. and China are in an allout fight for influence in Dhaka. India holds key to the balance of power.

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Kanwal Sibal@KanwalSibal·3d

He is well known as an anti- Russian warmonger married to an anti- Russian US neo-con. Poland has a troubled history. We cannot relate politically and emotionally to local European historical grievances. Nevertheless, realistic judgments have to be made about how to handle conflicts today. Europe has already triggered two World Wars. At that time Europe ruled most of the world and European interests and priorities were the only ones that mattered. Today, the there is a dispersal of power in an interconnected world and the independent interests of others matter. People like Sikorski should lower their belligerent rhetoric. Why we continue to pay so much attention to Poland- a string of visits from Poland to India has taken place in recent months- is a bit puzzling. More so, as Sikorski is supporting a US move to impose 100% tariffs on India for buying Russian oil.

Shashank Mattoo@MattooShashank

Breaking: Poland Foreign Minister backs US bill threatening 100% tariffs on India and four other counties for buying Russian oil

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