Beyond Nation & State with Smita Sharma

The curtains came down on a successful G20 summit hosted by India with a 100% consensus on the Delhi Declaration. The declaration saw watered down language on the Russia Ukraine war  to reach a consensus. The African Union has become the latest member of the grouping.  On the sidelines of the summit, the U.S., Saudi Arabia, UAE and India, among others, announced an ambitious infrastructure project-the India Middle East Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), seen as a counter to China’s Belt and Road Initiative. 

On the 15th and final Episode for the current season of the foreign policy podcast Beyond Nation and State on Suno India, Independent Journalist and Host Smita Sharma spoke to retired career diplomat Navdeep Suri. Navdeep Suri has served as Indian Ambassador to UAE and Egypt, former High Commissioner to Australia and is a Distinguished Fellow with the Observer Research Foundation. 

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18 months and counting…Russia’s full blown invasion of Ukraine continues with no political resolution in sight to the war. With the conflict prolonged and the battlefield unpredictable, what is the physical and economic cost of this war in Russia and Ukraine, Europe and beyond? Is there any challenge to President Putin in Russia, or has he emerged stronger with the top brass of mercenary Wagner group including Prighozin eliminated. 

On Episode 14 of the foreign policy podcast Beyond Nation and State on Suno India, Independent Journalist and host Smita Sharma spoke to Alexander Gabuev. Gabuev is the  Director of Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center in Berlin and a Senior Advisor at Albright Stonebridge Group. He contributes regularly to a wide range of international publications 

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The 15th BRICS summit  in Johannesburg South Africa saw a significant decision to expand the membership of the grouping that held its founding summit in 2009 in Yekaterinburg in Russia. For the first time since BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) countries accepted South Africa as a full member in 2010, expanding the forum to BRICS, consensus has been reached to invite six new countries as full members. Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE-have been invited as full members with effect from 1st January 2024.  

Several other countries are being considered as dialogue partners- Prime Minister Modi said.

Is this expansion-which was led by China and backed by Russia and South Africa initially, good for India? What kind of a power shift does BRICS 2.0 signify? What is the geopolitical impact of groupings  like SCO, BRICS today ? 

On Episode 13 of the foreign policy podcast Beyond Nation and State on Suno India, Independent Journalist and Host Smita Sharma spoke to former Deputy National Security Advisor and retired career diplomat Pankaj Saran. 1982 batch IFS , Pankaj Saran has as served as India’s ambassador to Russia and High Commissioner to Bangladesh. Currently he is the Convenor of Nat Strat- a Delhi-based independent Centre for Research on Strategic and Security Issues. 

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Cricketer turned politician, the former Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan is behind bars. Dozens of cases against him- serious charges of corruption, incitement of violence, abuse of authority to leaking of official secrets. He has been barred from fighting elections for five years. Is this the end of the road for the outsider who challenged political dynasts in Pakistan - the Sharifs and the Bhuttos? What triggered the souring of relations between the army-ISI and Khan who was seen as the establishment's blue eyed boy when he won the elections in 2018? What does Imran Khan’s arrest mean for his party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf and for the struggling democracy in Pakistan? 

On Episode 12 of the weekly  Foreign Policy Podcast Beyond Nation And State on Suno India, a look at the political turmoil within Pakistan and the future of Imran Khan. Independent journalist and host Smita Sharma speaks to Raza Ahmad Rumi, a noted Pakistani policy analyst, senior journalist, editor and an author based in the US. Raza Rumi is Director, Park Center for Independent Media and teaches in the journalism department at Ithaca College. He is also a Professor at Cornell Institute for Public Affairs.

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What is a Feminist foreign policy? Does inclusion of more women and application of a gender inclusive lens lead to more human and sustainable foreign policy outcomes? How are countries working on the subject? 

As India celebrates its 77th Independence Year and chairs the G20 Presidency, how gender inclusive is the foreign policy of a country which has seen several woman diplomats lead the way since CB Muthamma. 

On Episode 11 of the Foreign Policy podcast Beyond Nation and State on Suno India, Independent Journalist and host Smita Sharma spoke to Ambika Vishwanath, Co-Founder  of geopolitical advisory Kubernain Initiative based in Mumbai. Ambika Vishwanath has been a Young Leader at the Munich Security Conference and works on Water security, gender and International Relations. Kubernain published a research paper on Opportunities for a more Inclusive Indian Foreign Policy in 2022-  https://kuberneininitiative.com/initiatives/

You can listen to all the episodes of the Foreign Policy Podcast Beyond Nation and State ohe Suno India app, Spotify as well as Apple Podcasts. New episodes drop every Wednesday. 

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30th July is observed by the UN as the World Against Trafficking in Persons Day.  This year’s theme was ‘Reach every victim of trafficking, leave no one behind’. On Episode 10 of the Foreign Policy Podcast Beyond Nation and State on Suno India, we talk about the scale of this crisis in South Asia in particular where a quarter of the world’s population lives today. 

Independent journalist and host Smita Sharma spoke to celebrated photojournalist Smita Sharma who has documented the human trafficking network and crisis across South Asia in her powerful book We Cry in Silence. The book documents the trafficking of underage girls across South Asia and has won the Photography Book of the Year Award of Excellence by Pictures of the Year International and was listed in the Top 10 Photo Books by the International Center of Photography. The episode focuses on how the human trafficking network thrives, legal and policing loopholes,  the socio-cultural perceptions of survivors of trafficking, responsible reporting of human trafficking and more. 

Tune in to the Suno India App to listen to all episodes of Beyond Nation And State. You can also listen in to the weekly episodes on Apple and Spotify podcasts.

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Srilanka witnessed massive protests- called the Aragalaya movement last year against the government in the wake of the worst economic crisis the country faced since its independence. By July events unfolded fast with homes of lawmakers and politicians being torched. President Gotabaya Rajapksa was forced to flee Srilanka and resign. Six-time Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was elected the new president, despite the protesters demanding the entire ruling elite quit. A brutal military crackdown on the protestors followed soon removing them from Galle Face Green. 

In the last one year Srilanka assisted by India, Japan, World Bank, it has tried to find a way out of the debt crisis and seeking and International Monetary Fund bail out. President Wickramesinghe was in Delhi recently on his first bilateral visit since resuming office last year and held formal talks with Prime Minister Modi. 

So is there faith in his leadership now in Srilanka? Does the country feel it is headed on a positive trajectory now? How are the youth reacting to the political process? 

On episode 9 of the Foreign Policy Podcast Beyond Nation and State, we try and understand the underlying currents in Srilanka -what lies beneath the surface. Independent Journalists and Host Smita Sharma is joined by Dilrukshi Handunnetti- Award-winning journalist and lawyer. She is a founder and director of the Colombo-based Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR).

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Chinese President Xi Jinping paid a visit to the Eastern Theatre Command's headquarters on 6th July. This is the command in charge of the region around Taiwan. While there Xi warned about a 'new period of turmoil and change for the world’. This warning also came just days ahead of Taiwan’s main annual Han Kuang military exercises. 

Has Xi upped the ante on Taiwan? Will China force a reunification with Taiwan in the near future through military escalation?  And what would the next Taiwan Strait military conflict mean for the US, India and the world. 

On Episode 8 of the foreign policy podcast Beyond Nation And State, independent journalist and host talks about the history of the Taiwan crisis, changing dynamics with the island and the Peoples’ Republic of China, and what is at stake for India and the world if it leads to a flare up involving the world’s two biggest powers of US and China. 

In conversation with Vijay Gokhale, Retired career diplomat, former envoy to Malaysia, Germany and China and Former Foreign Secretary.  He is the author of  3 important books -  Tiananmen Square: The Making of a Protest, The Long Game: How the Chinese Negotiate with India, and After Tiananmen: The Rise of China
Vijay Gokhale  is currently a Non-Resident senior fellow at Carnegie India
And has authored a recent working paper on -‘What should India do before the next Taiwan Strait Crisis.’ 

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657 days and counting- since the Taliban banned teenage girls from school. An Entire generation of young girls are getting scarred for life as they struggle for the most basic freedoms under the return of the Taliban to power in the war-torn country. On the 15th of August 2021, Kabul fell again to the Taliban for the second time just days ahead of the final withdrawal of the US led international forces. All the initial there talk of Taliban 2.0 being different in their approach from their first stint in power from 1996-2001 has proven to be a clear sham. The Ministry of Vice and Virtue in the Taliban government continues to strangle the lives and rights of young girls, women and minorities with daily new shackles. 

On Episode 7 of Beyond Nation And State, independent journalist and host Smita Sharma is joined by -Shinkai Karokhail - Former Member of Parliament for Kabul Province. Member of Afghan Women's Network and Founder of Afghan Women's Educational Center and Afghanistan Cancer Foundation. 

Speaking from Ottawa where she is forced to live in exile, Shinkai Karokhail recalls the Afghanistan of the past that respected women and allowed them their rights before the Taliban came into existence. In this heartfelt conversation she speaks about the daily horrors that young girls and women are facing under the Taliban, why she feels completely let down by the international community and why countries like India need to do a lot more.

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Since the  National Uprising of Tibetans in 1959 against the People’s Republic of China (PRC) tens of thousands of Tibetans found refuge in India as the  Tibetan Government-in-Exile came into existence. Today with an aggressive Chinese foreign, defence and security policy under President Xi Jinping, information and access to Tibet is extremely controlled with Tibetans saying they are dying a slow cultural death. 

On Episode 6 of Beyond Nation and State on Suno India, we talk about the centrality of Tibet in the dynamics of Indo-China relations, the question of the reincarnation and succession of the Dalai Lama and what is happening inside Tibet. The changing demographics in Tibet, Chinese cultural and religious influences as well as the environmental concerns around China's infrastructure development projects. 

Independent Journalist and Host Smita Sharma spoke to Penpa Tsering who is the highest political leader or the Sikyong of the Central Tibetan Administration or the Tibetan Government-in-Exile. 

Listen to all previous episodes of the Foreign Policy Podcast series on Suno India, Spotify and Apple. 

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