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Global World – 04

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The World and Energy Issue, by K.N. Pandita

A century ago in 1905, the British, for the first time, smelt oil in Southern Iran. That was a period of great rivalry between the two imperial powers, Great Britain and Czarist Russia, struggling for supremacy in Asia.

Sustained researches enabled the British entrepreneurs to explore, extract and exploit this precious mineral wealth in a way that within a short time, it began to control world economy and the destiny of mankind. Today, we are closely bound to the oil and gas that regulate the life of modern human society.

A short survey of oil as the source of energy gives rise to a curious question. Is it a boon or a curse for humanity? Has it made our lives more comfortable or more complicated? At the end of the day will it lead humanity to happiness or to misery and catastrophe? These questions are asked in many circles but the answer is too baffling.

As regards the benefits of this source of energy, there is hardly any doubt in anybody’s mind. The way it has transformed our life is a marvel of research and innovation. Nothing can compare it. Given the space, further researches could be more promising.

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Global World – 03

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Another step forward, by K.N. Pandita

Peace loving peopled heaved a sigh of relief with the cold war coming to an end. World War II had plunged humanity into a gloom when two super power controlled blocs often made confrontational moves.

The debate is not whether the communist system was good or bad. The fact is that it could not sustain itself and had to leave the stage. China, another giant communist country wisely adapted to the demands of the new era and gave a new turn to the entrenched ideology.

But geo-strategies unfolding in post-cold war era that began around 1990 or to be precise with the induction of Perestroika and Glasnost are not reassuring in any way. One is forced to think that cold war may be reappearing humanity but in different form viz. rise of terrorism, emergence of sub-regional identities, new geographical areas of competition and political rivalry, realignment of economic forces, trans-national corporations achieving new markets and new clientele.

World leadership will have to rise to meet these challenges. Europe has at least recast itself into a loose Union that would be a step forward in catching up with the changing socio-political and economic order. Today the EU is perhaps the most effective organization that has emerged out of enormous experience of western societies. Its impact on future shape of mankind will be immense.

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Global World – 02

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The Asian phenomenon, by K.N. Pandita

Active Islamic radicalism coupled with terror is now more than two decades old. It emerged as a forceful reaction to the Soviet incursion into Afghanistan in 1979. Ever since those fateful days it has changed its skin. It boomeranged on those who provided it logistics, obviously for political ends.

Victimized nations have condemned it as brutality against humanity. Islamists have called it a legitimate struggle for freedom from oppression and loot of their natural resources and re-establishment of Islamic identity. Both hold on tenaciously to their respective stances. In the process, violence consumes innocent and precious lives.

Muslims have a grudge against the Europeans. They feel that the Europeans supported Israel grab their land in the Middle East. They also say the US and its western allies have been controlling their hydrocarbon reserves and oil transportation routes to their detriment.

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Global World – 01

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by K.N. Pandita

Now-a-days much is said about the new world order. Everybody has his or her own perception of the new order. It means there is no one final definition of the term.

The term became common after the end of the cold war in 1991. Politicians and professors of political science began using it extensively in their speeches and writings. Surely, each of them had his or her individual perception.

Let us focus on it. Did the new order appear after the implosion of the erstwhile Soviet Union, which supported and propagated a particular social and political system for nearly seventy years after the World War II? Was the new concept born out of incredible revolution in science and technology in the post World War II? Was the concept a cumulative lesson derived from the disastrous conflicts that appeared in the post World War II setting? Questions like these are part of the discussion we propose to open.

One would like to point towards a very important phenomenon while discussing the subject matter. We have seen the rise of demand for recognition of identities over the decades that followed the World War II. There are religious, ethnic, linguistic, cultural and other identities that have raised their head.

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