my first article published on decode39.com, an innovative new platform by formiche.net in English and Arabic. #india #italy #mediterranean

The Iranian nuclear project, is one of those useless enterprises which amounts to nothing but keeps everyone busy. Iran is run by a group of almost senile revolutionaries and until it is-this wasteful project will continue along with the jingoistic calls to destroy Israel. It doesn’t matter that these days the Iranian navy is doing exercises with Israel’s two staunch allies, India and the UAE.
The younger generation of Iranian leaders, like Raisi, have to deal with the failure of a theocratic state. Repression in the age of the internet, isn’t cut out for sustainable success. What will be the compromise this time? Restitution of Syria to its place in the global order and peace with Assad?
Israel needs security despite this pointless nuclear journey and the west asian quad is that political blanket. The pointlessness of the obama deal is now more obvious. Before the revolution of the thirsty destroys the theocracy, we hope-that Iran will decide to bring itself back to the global order and give up the nuclear program to feed its masses.
https://www.jpost.com/opinion/the-real-test-for-china-and-iran-opinion-688844
co-written with the legendary Prof. Arduino Paniccia, this article focuses on the importance of India’s role in the Indian Ocean, The Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) and the importance of Italy allying with India for a new enlarged Indo-Mediterranean to keep Turkish designs under check.
Il biennio Indiano a Consiglio di sicurezza
Con il 1 gennaio 2021, inizia il mandato biennale dell’India al consiglio di sicurezza ONU. Per l’India, che da tempo mira ad una posizione permanente all’interno del consiglio, questo è il suo ottavo mandato. Oggi il popolo indiano rappresenta un sesto della popolazione mondiale. E la democrazia più popolosa al mondo ed entro il 2025 supererà la Cina come il paese con un maggiore numero di abitanti. Dopo la pandemia, è la sesta economia ed rappresenta l’unico potere democratico laico in Sud Asia che resiste al dominio Cinese. Dovrebbe già meritare il posto permanente nel consiglio di sicurezza ONU ma in realtà, non è ancora così.
Il mandato Indiano inizia in un mondo colpito dalla pandemia con tante crisi aperte che minacciano la sicurezza di quasi un miliardo di abitanti di questa terra. I conflitti in Libia, in Siria e in Yemen e le instabilità nel corno di Africa, le tensioni nel Medio Oriente tra Iran e Israele. Tuttavia, dopo la pandemia, il problema più grave che affronta la comunità globale è l’aggressività economica e militare cinese.
Dal Movimento dei paesi non-allineati (NAM) a Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam
L’elefante indiano ha ricoperto un ruolo nell’indottrinamento internazionale di non allineamento e non interferenza. Nel 1955 l’India ha fondato il Movimento dei paesi non-allineati (NAM) con l’Indonesia e la Jugoslavia. Nel suo discorso inaugurale del mandato ONU, il Presidente del Consiglio Indiano Narendra Modi ha dichiarato che la strategia Indiana per il suo biennio seguirà I principi di rispetto, dialogo, cooperazione, pace e prosperità. Il Premier ha iniziato il mandato con la dichiarazione: “il mondo è un’unica famiglia”, citando il saggio antico di Mahā Upanishad Vasudhaiva Kuṭumbakam che si trova inciso all’ingresso del parlamento Indiano. Questa dichiarazione di alti ideali non sembra niente altro che una continuazione di uno storico progetto dove l’India cerca di raccogliere consensi e non passa mai ai fatti.
Continue ReadingThe world now weeps for the solitary, poor, Indian farmer and CNN quotes various predominantly Punjabi and Sikh groups who lament how the reform affects the “poor Indian farmer”. CNN asks you to worry, because your spice rack may be at risk as would be your fashion given than India produces 68% of spices globally and more cotton than China. Very few news sites actually explain what the actual problem is and how does one protect the Indian farmer. Most are content at bashing the Indian government.
Internationally, the protests have received strong support, especially in countries like Canada, UK and Italy where the Punjabi and Sikh diaspora are predominant, where pro-Khalistan groups have found shelter.
Over half of the Indian population is engaged in agriculture while generating only 16% of the GDP 85% of Indian farmers manage farms smaller than 2 hectares. The current legal structure is outdated and opposition leaders such as Sharad Pawar of the NCP have in the past criticized the existing legal structure as “outdated”. While these protests politicize the farmers demands, they do little to protect the small, poor Indian farmer who was exploited before and continues to risk exploitation now.
The previous legal framework, including the Essential Commodities Act (1955), is over 55 years old. They were passed when India was a socialist republic, in days of drought, shortages and license raj and originate from British colonial laws which were designed to keep agricultural produce in the control of the colonial government which was why they had colonized India to begin with, for raw material initially for their industries and eventually to keep their armies fed and clothed during the war. So laws which controlled how and to whom farmers sold their produce when made sense during the years of colonialization.
The current laws obliged farmers to sell their produce at the Agriculture Produce Marketing Committees (APMC). The APMC’s are state government-controlled wholesale markets which are run by cartels of middlemen, who buy the produce from small farmers and resell them at higher margins, given that the small farmer neither has the money or the means to transport the produce to the APMC. Over time these middlemen have become a rich and powerful political lobby with strong political links. The APMC’s sell vegetables and several other goods through an auction system, which has been judged by neutral observers are non-transparent and farcical, with price fixing and corruption being rampant.
The second part of this story is the MSP or the minimum support price. Based on the recommendations of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP), the Department of Agriculture and Co-operation, Government of India, the MSP is declared before every sowing season for 22 commodities on the Essential Commodities Act. The Food Corporation of India, based on the MSP, buys wheat and rice from the APMC and sells it at highly subsidized rates to the Indian poor. The national government refunds this loss to the FCI, effectively financing billions of dollars making the Indian system the most expensive food procurement and subsidy initiatives globally. Then there are other issues, including the lack of cold storage etc. which create a lot of waste annually and make any exports of surplus by the FCI unfeasible.
Continue ReadingThe US Presidential elections are almost over and we have a new President-elect. The democratically elected head of state promises to be the President for all 331 million Americans, but the rest of the world, 6.6 billion people will be affected by his decisions. Joseph R. Biden Jr. at 78 is the oldest elected US President, will be the only Roman catholic to occupy the office after John F Kennedy, the youngest to hold that office. His Vice President elect, Kamala Harris, is the first woman Vice President and has a good chance of inheriting the Presidency.
Another US presidential election is almost over, we still expect drama and the suspense of a Trump exit and there are strong apprehensions that there will be Trump fireworks in the next 11 weeks before the inauguration of President-elect Biden and Vice-President-elect Harris. The 2020 election was the most expensive in history and with a $14 billion USD price tag, over 140 million US voters elected the oldest person in US history who will take the oath on the 20th Jan 2021 with the first female Vice President. The world seems to the relieved that the Trump era is over and we seem to be just waiting for peace, harmony tolerance and love to take over world-wide from the 21st of January 2021.
Continue ReadingL’India, con un nuovo accordo con gli Stati Uniti a pochi giorni dalle elezioni presidenziali, dà inizio ad una vera e propria offensiva congiunta contro la Cina. L’alleanza “quad” comprende gli USA, l’India, il Giappone e l’Australia, sfidando la Cina nelle acque dell’Indo-Pacifico.
Durante il suo primo mandato, Modi ha abbracciato una nuova dottrina nel campo degli affari esteri del Sud Asia. L’India è tornata ad essere molto impegnata in Afghanistan, ha aumentato i suoi sforzi per riconquistare il potere in Sri Lanka, dove i rapporti erano recentemente sfuggiti di mano. I fratelli Rajapaksha sono tornati al potere in Sri Lanka ma ora sono molto più sensibili alle esigenze indiane rispetto al passato, ciò è stato dimostrato dalla prima visita a Nuova Delhi del Presidente Rajapaksa dopo la sua vittoria.
Continue ReadingMio articolo: Le pericolose ambizioni Turchia-Pakistano-Cinesi pubblicato il 1 Sett. 2020, l’Occidentale (clicca per leggere il originale)
Quando due anni fa Imran Khan divenne primo ministro del Pakistan suscitò subito molte aspettative. L’auspicio era che l’ex capitano della nazionale di cricket, in virtù delle sue storiche amicizie con i giocatori indiani, inaugurasse una stagione di pace e di dialogo col vicino, dando al suo governo un’impronta moderata e tollerante.
Continue ReadingAggiornamento dei 3 Settembre: Intervista di Premier Imran Khan a Al Jazeera. Pakistan’s PM: Our economic future is now linked to China. Prime Minister Imran Khan reviews his first two years in office.
Aggiornamento del 5 Settembre, formiche.net articolo di Francesco De Palo: Gli 007 turchi avvisano Erdogan e svelano le manovre in Medio Oriente