Lhasa,Tashkent, Gobi, Xian, Samarkand, Syr-Darya, Kashgar, Heaven Lake, Taklaman, Bukhara. Names that instantly evoke visions of adventure, mystery, antiquity, remoteness, bygone civilizations and trail blazing rulers and travellers. Tracing Marco Polo’s Journey : The Silk Route, is a record of the historic expedition undertaken by Major H.P.S. Ahluwalia and his team in the summer of 1994.
Ferdinand von Richthofen’s catchy meta- phor for an ancient trade route crisscrossing Asia and Europe symbolizing mystery and exotic splendour, the Silk Route seems to have returned to political consciousness today. Historically, this trade route facilitated not only movement of goods, but also linked various civilizations: transmitting cultures, traditions, beliefs, religions, languages and technologies.
A powerful voice on national security fell silent on 4 Aug 2013 when Air Cmde. (Retd.) Jasjit Singh, recipient of Padma Bhushan for a lifetime’s contribution to national security passed away. Many have mourned his loss at a time when India stares at an unpredictable world fraught with new faultlines and challenges. But, Singh was used to having the ‘last word’.
A diplomat writes more than anyone in any other profession, apart from journalists, novelists and the like whose very calling is to write. It is not, as far as a diplomat is concerned; his calling is to represent his country abroad, persuading, negotiating, and, as Ernest Satow put it in his Guide to Diplomatic Practice, the application of intelligence and tact to the conduct of relations between nations.
The rise of political Islam has been the prominent development in the aftermath of the popular protest movements against long-entrenched regimes in West Asia and North Africa (WANA). The book under review captures the complexities of these fast-paced events admirably. It places in context the historical and ideological roots of political Islam and helps the reader understand the challenges that its rise has encumbered.
Nirode Mohanty’s book forms part of many current writings on the American-Pakistani relationship, a relationship which is under critical scrutiny as the United States begins to draw down from Afghanistan, calling in question its post-withdrawal relationship. It needs to be underscored that the entire contour of the relationship over the last six decades has been highly transactional in nature marked by divergent strategic interests.