Two Democracies Never Have A War?

The notorious North Korea and prosperous South Korea have come close to a war once again. This time, it is said that this attack is the strongest after their 1953 war..

Who is the culprit? That would be too broad a question to ask. In other words, who attacked first this time? If you are regular reader on geopolitical issues, it wouldn't take you much time to point out North Korea. Not because of notoriety, but it is the non democratic country between the two. If you observe of all world conflicts in the present as well as the past, one out of the two countries involved is a non-democratic country, owned by a ruler, monarch or a fascist. It is always this side that has got something to do with creating trouble.

To mention a few recent examples, Saddam Hussein when ruling Iraq created trouble for the entire region. Mahmoud Ahmedijenad is out there to create trouble for Saudi Arabia, Israel and US. Pervez Musharraf, in his time, created unnecessary tensions for India. In case of India china 1962 war, China was the authoritarian state.

So, it's time for North Korea to create trouble. It is an open fact their only motivation to live is for North Korean military and beating South Korea, as they got no other option.

Image from New York Times

The map above shows the island in red which was attacked (it is disputed), whereas the island with black plane, Inchon was the one where people fled.

"Never At War: Why Democracies Will Not Fight One Another" is an interesting book written by Spencer Weart explains marvelously why two liberal democracies never have war. Sure, there are exceptions as always. But then, th argument that one of the two countries is not indeed a democracy. That is specifically true in case of India Pakistan wars, where Pakistan did have a democratically elected person on power, but it was flawed. To be more clear on this, the way Democracy Index is calculated by Economist Intelligence Unit, there are many a 'hybrid regimes' where a namesake democracy exists but rule of law does not necessarily rule. Examples would be Russia, Pakistan, Turkey, Lebanon and Palestine where a democracy is on the cover, but ruler is different. The book gives excellent examples on wars fought in history, medieval era and modern era along with the voting rights of the people in these countries.

To get an alternative view, try reading the book, 'Democracies at War' which goes further one step and analyzes why democracies win 80% of the wars fought by them!

You might be interested in going for a Google search of why 'no two democracies ever had a war', I found the first page of ten results itself very interesting.

More interesting facts regarding this topic would be written in coming posts. So, keep visiting!  

Obama, You Could Have Done This on India Visit

The President, the Uncle Sam, on his recent India visit could have done something better than what blunder he has already committed.

Sure, the President of the world's superpower has provided excellent lip service and satiated the emotional Americans, he has talked everything good but when it comes to delivering, he has miserably failed.

Unemployment grew by 4 million after Obama took the office at White House, and the deals that he has signed in India would get him an estimated 54,000 jobs in US. Yes, let the problems increase and then solve it to prove your greatness, let us hope Obama doesn't fall in any trick like this, which is the diplomacy of worst kind and not workable in today's world where dissemination of information is faster than before.

Image from Hourly Updated World News

To read a little bit on India - US relations, an excellent article can be found at Asia Times.

US invested a lot in India in the last 50 years, that includes funds for setting up IITs and IIMs, where the cream of India studied on Indian Govt.'s subsidy and later on worked in US! It's a two way relationship for sure, when it comes to trade. But, this time, in US - India trade, India clearly seems rising and Obama wants more share of that, especially in defense deals. For that, Obama spent the longest visit in a foreign country since coming to Office, 4 days, in India, where expenses were $200 million per day!! All this, for giving lip service to India, and it is not perceived as something nice in India.

An important thing to note is the role reversal that India and US have had as compared to a few decades back. Then, in '60s, US was championing investments abroad and India was protective. Now, US is protective, does not want jobs to go out due to outsourcing and wants investments from abroad. Of course, US also wants to invests in India, as he appealed India to open up their multi-brand retail market to foreign players, defense deals, etc. For that, there is no need to spend more than $1 billion and travel to the country.

He could get all the business and trade deals by paying the Indian babus, i. e. the bureaucracy in India, or the top government servants!

After all, what's CIA for? But, Obama does not possess the intellect or the common sense. By indulging into sycophancy, Indians look down on him, and not look up.

It is dangerous to see an emotional person taking the White House where a rational, intellectual and a smart one should have been. It is important for the entire world, and also for India, that US remains in control of the world. Imagine, China going at the helm of world powers, that would be a disaster for sure as there isn't a single occasion where China has ever done anything benign.

And as for the UN Security Council seat for India, why doesn't he give it to India for once? The UNO is a dead organization but it will satisfy the ego of the young country India! After all, India is, for sure a benign and a democratic nation and wouldn't cause any harm to world politics after inclusion. Practically, it's going to make no difference but help earn a goodwill among India's youth and business deals, trade deals would all take place easily. But, Obama goofed up there as well and ensured some diplomatic ambiguous statements which did not clearly say India getting a seat among the veto powers of UN. That makes more Indians to listen and forget what he says!