democracy Archives - Defence Monitor

27 Feb

S. Jaishankar calls India ‘beacon of hope’, 2024 important year for democracy

New Delhi, Feb 27, Calling India a "beacon of hope and resilience" in a world where the principles of democracy are constantly tested, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar has said the year 2024 is important for India with nearly 960 million voters gearing up to exercise their right to vote. With the Lok Sabha elections scheduled to be held in the coming months, EAM Jaishankar said that voting is "not merely a political exercise but a celebration of democracy, a festival where every voice resonates, and every vote counts". "In a world where the principles of democracy are constantly tested,…

16 Apr

The Russians and Trump – a spectacular coup or self-goal?

Title: Collusion: How Russia Helped Trump Win the White House; Author: Luke Harding; Publisher: Guardian Books/Faber & Faber; Pages: 346; Price: Rs 599 Soon after being made Russian Prime Minister in 1999, Vladimir Putin reportedly told his former secret service colleagues that undercover spies, dispatched to infiltrate the US government, had "fulfilled their first objective". Did he, in November 2016, make a similar quip about a pliable "agent" now heading an (increasingly) adversarial superpower? He could well have, though the impact didn't persist too long, as we learn here. The issue of US President Donald Trump's Russian connections and the…

16 Dec

World War I’s forgotten violent aftermath and toxic legacy

Title: The Vanquished - Why the First World War Failed to End, 1917-1923; Author: Robert Gerwarth; Publisher: Penguin Random House UK; Pages: 416; Price: Rs 699 Not all wars end when the fighting does is a lesson that we still have to learn. The First World War was supposed, despite all the upheaval it caused and immense destruction it left across three continents, to be the "war to end all wars" and "make the world safe for democracy". It didn't -- as subsequent history shows. It was however not only the rise of extremist ideologies like communism or fascism, and…