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Amb Prabhat P Shukla
Prabhat Prakash Shukla was born on 29 March 1951 in New Delhi, where he also went to school and university. A good academic student, he finished his school and college education with honours, and finished his masters at the well-known Delhi School of Economics. Following his Masters, he joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1974. During a career spanning 37 years, he served in Moscow, Brussels, London and Kathmandu, among other places. He served in Delhi twice, including as the Diplomatic Adviser to the Prime Minister from 1996 to 2000. He retired in 2011 as Ambassador of India to Moscow and has settled in New Delhi. He is currently Distinguished Fellow in the Vivekananda International Foundation, New Delhi.

Prabhat Prakash Shukla was born on 29 March 1951 in New Delhi, where he also went to school and university. A good academic student, he finished his school and college education with honours, and finished his masters at the well-known Delhi School of Economics.
Following his Masters, he joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1974. During a career spanning 37 years, he served in Moscow, Brussels, London and Kathmandu, among other places. He served in Delhi twice, including as the Diplomatic Adviser to the Prime Minister from 1996 to 2000.
He retired in 2011 as Ambassador of India to Moscow and has settled in New Delhi. He is currently Distinguished Fellow in the Vivekananda International Foundation, New Delhi.

Contributions 
The Patriarch and the Pope
May 18, 2016 Amb Prabhat P Shukla
Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All-Russia and Pope Francis met in Havana on 12 February 2016 – the first-ever meeting between the heads of the two Churches. The Russian Orthodox is part of the Eastern Communion, and hence part of the Great East-Wes...

Tags: International Relations and Diplomacy, Russia, West Asia, North Africa, Jews
Modi Visits Russia
January 05, 2016 Amb Prabhat P Shukla
With all major foreign engagements, it takes a little time – or longer – for the full facts and implications to emerge; so it is with Modi’s visit to Russia. And the documents and statements made by the leaders do not cover all the ground. Howe...

Tags: International Relations and Diplomacy, Russia, Putin, PM Modi, Modi-Putin
Firm Correctness will yield Positive Results with China
May 25, 2015 Amb Prabhat P Shukla
A clear-eyed assessment of the Prime Minister’s visit to China from 14 to 16 May must conclude that it has its pluses, no doubt, but there are also negatives that require attention. This will entail a detailed discussion on three major aspects of t...

Tags: International Relations and Diplomacy, China
The Obama Visit: An Assessment
February 18, 2015 Amb Prabhat P Shukla
The hype over the nuclear deal has obscured the main achievement of the Obama visit: this is in the Joint Strategic Vision Statement for the Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean Region, to give the full name of the separate document issued by the two leader...

Tags: International Relations and Diplomacy, US
Indo-US Relations: The Obama Visit
January 23, 2015 Amb Prabhat P Shukla
The upcoming visit of President Obama as Guest of Honour for Republic Day 2015 is an occasion for stock-taking, and for laying the foundation for a more stable and productive relationship. This will be the first time that a US President will be visit...

Tags: International Relations and Diplomacy, US
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VIF Papers 
Where Economics and Strategy Intersect: A Political Economy Approach to Global Power
December 26, 2017 Amb Prabhat P Shukla
This essay attempts to understand the role of economic power in shaping the world since the Second World War. It focuses on the main strand of economic developments over this period, separated from looking at subsidiary processes related to the Cold...

Tags: Economic Studies, Economic power, Economic competition, Political Economy Approach
Understanding the Chinese One-Belt-One-Road
August 10, 2015 Amb Prabhat P Shukla
A glance at the history of the last few centuries, since at least the seventeenth, indicates that the opening decades of all centuries are times of upheaval. New forces frequently emerge, new ideologies, or technologies. These take time to play thems...

Tags: International Relations and Diplomacy, China, OBOR
Book Published / Book Reviews 
The Berlin-Baghdad Express; Sean McMeekin; Penguin Books 2011; PP 461; Price Rs 550; eBook Rs 413
August 27, 2014 Amb Prabhat P Shukla
Ideas & Ideologies That Provoked World War I Still Pose A Threat Many books have been written about the First World War, especially in recent years, as more information emerges in the public domain. This year – the hundredth anniversary of the o...

Tags: International Relations and Diplomacy, First World War, Book Reviews, Berlin-Baghdad Express, European Powers, Suez Canal
Reaping the Whirlwind; Michael Griffin; Pluto Press; PP 283; Price: Rs 1834
May 06, 2014 Amb Prabhat P Shukla
Afghanistan 2014: Forward to the Past? This is not a recent book, comparatively speaking; it was published in 2001, but remains topical. It covers the rise of the Taliban in the mid- to late-1990’s, and examines the main actors in the rise ...

Tags: Neighbourhood Studies, Afghanistan, Pashtun, Taliban, Book Reviews, UN Security Council, Osama Bin Laden, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, America, US East African Missions
Avoiding the Fall; Michael Pettis; Carnegie Endowment 2013; PP 157; Price Rs 1238 & The Great Rebalancing; Michael Pettis; Princeton University Press 2013; PP 219; Price Rs 1859
April 07, 2014 Amb Prabhat P Shukla
It makes sense to review the two books together and not just because they are written by the same author, and within a short period of each other [both were written in 2013]. The more compelling reason for doing so is that they deal with the same phe...

Tags: International Relations and Diplomacy, China, Chinese economy, GDP growth, Book Reviews, Global Economy
Shooting for a Century; Stephen P. Cohen; HarperCollins 2013;PP 318: Price: Rs 599
March 14, 2014 Amb Prabhat P Shukla
Interest in India is growing within America. This is a welcome trend, and one that began in the late 1990’s, particularly after the nuclear tests. Among the most prolific of writers is Stephen Cohen, who is also among the few in the US who have bee...

Tags: Economic Studies, Pakistan Army, Book Reviews, OIC, GDP, India's Economy, Nuclear weapon
Fountainhead of Jihad:The Haqqani Nexus, 1973-2012; Vahid Brown and Don Rassler; Hachette India; PP 320; Price Rs 450
August 07, 2013 Amb Prabhat P Shukla
Fountainhead of Jihad is one among the more important books on the nature of Jihad and Islamic extremism in recent times. There have been several in this genre, as interest quickens around the world on this subject. In the South Asian context, it is ...

Tags: International Relations and Diplomacy, Book Reviews, Jihad, Islamic extremism, Manba al-Jihad, Tehreek-e-Taliban, Haqqani network
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