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The first 100 days of President Yudhoyono’s second term in office have made the governance of democratic Indonesia appear cumbersome. It went wrong early on when a number of unanticipated battlegrounds that weren’t even the president’s own choices seized public interest.
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Can Chidambaram leave a decisive legacy behind? By any metric, he is a hard act to follow. But it is also evident that if the Indian state invests the counterterrorism policy with integrity, not deflected by considerations of votebank and minority-bashing politics, Chidambaram-like successes may be replicated.
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But although geography is permanent, geo-strategy is not. China is seeking to change the geostrategic parameters of the existing game for influence in Asia and this is where its second great itinerant tradition – through the Old Silk Road - comes in.
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Hence, Indian analysts have concluded that during a future Indian military conflict with China, Pakistan is likely to come to China’s military aid and vice versa. While the ability to fight on two fronts may be aspirational rather than real at present, recognition of the need to prepare for such an eventuality will drive future Indian doctrine, strategy and force structures.
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And as for the fear that the use of word Allah by Christians would confuse Malay Muslims and they may convert to Christianity – such a fear is simply not well grounded. Only those who feel their religion is followed without much conviction can entertain such fears.
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