Articles by Dhananjoy

Significance of Bangla Desh Dhananjoy IT may be too early to assess the full implications of the emergence of Bangla Desh as a sovereign independent republic. Much will depend on the nature of the elite that will determine the policies and programmes of the new state. The task of ensuring political stability, economic development and social change in that war-tan land is going to be enormously difficult to accomplish and it is not impossible that Bangla Desh will have to experiment with a variety of political systems before it finally settles for one that will be meaningful for its impoverished people. Equally formidable would be the problem of defining the international role of Bangla Desh. It is obvious that the birth of Bangla Desh means the death of the South Asia policies of quite a few great powers. The Indo-Pakistani balance could not be sustained by them despite their best efforts; its collapse could appear to them as the beginning of precisely the kind of fluid situation in which they have to pursue their rivalries and competitions with redoubled vigour. The foreign policy of Bangla Desh will have to lie conducted with a high degree of skill and efficiency to ensure that it does not become the hotbed of international intrigue. In any event, it is certain that there will be many moments of anxiety about the future of Bangla Desh in the minds of those who wish to see it evolve along their preferred ways.

Towards a Tripolar Game Dhananjoy THE announcement that a Soviet- American Summit will take place in May will cause little surprise in the world. Both the Super Powers had been maintaining mutual contacts at various levels for over a decade and meetings at the highest level have also taken place in the past. Nixon himself will be no stranger in Moscow though he may not conduct a kitchen debate this time. There is more important business to be negotiated: it will be appropriate for a Soviet-American summit to announce some progress in the Salt Talks just as it might declare the intention of both Governments to seriously consider schemes of balanced troops reduction in Europe. The number of agreements that have already been negotiated between the United States and the Soviet Union is by no means insignificant. Ever since the non-proliferation treaty, the two Powers have found it possible to agree on a number of subjects like prohibition of biological warfare, non- use of sea-beds for military purposes and providing safeguards against accidental nuclear war. Of still greater significance is the recent agreement on Berlin which clears the way for a new approach to European security.