[PINR] 17 April 2006: S.A.A.R.C.: A Potential Playground for Power Politics

apr 16th

chinese up to their usual tricks.

understatement about SAARC: 'anything but impressive'. in reality, it is a useless grouping.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: PINR Dispatch <dispatch@pinr.com>
Date: Apr 17, 2006 10:46 AM
Subject: [PINR] 17 April 2006:  S.A.A.R.C.: A Potential Playground for Power Politics
To: rajeev

_______________________________________ Power and Interest News Report (PINR) http://www.pinr.com content@pinr.com +1 (312) 242-1874 ------------------------------ 17 April 2006 In light of today's topic, a recent PINR analysis may be of interest: "China's Strategy of Containing India" http://www.pinr.com/report.php?ac=view_report&report_id=434 ------------------------------ S.A.A.R.C.: A Potential Playground for Power Politics Drafted By: Dr. Sreeradha Datta http://www.pinr.com At the Dhaka meeting of its Standing Committee held on April 10-11, 2006, the member states of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (S.A.A.R.C.) agreed in principle to admit the U.S. and South Korea as "observers." This move comes against the background of the earlier decision taken during the summit meeting in November 2005 to bestow a similar status to China and Japan. The European Union has also shown its interest for a similar status. In short, major global economic players are too eager to be formally associated with S.A.A.R.C. Because its track record as a cohesive and vibrant organization for regional economic cooperation has been anything but impressive, why is there a sudden rush for "observer" status? ....deleted