South Asia Nuclear Dialogue Network (SANDNet) – Archives (2000-2003)

The South Asia Nuclear Dialogue Network (SANDNet) aims to bring together officials, NGO representatives, scholars, and others working to advance peace and security in South Asia. SANDNet weekly email and web updates provide news summaries, analysis, and discussion mainly from the South Asian press. SANDNet also serves as a repository for security-related government documents, substantial policy statements, and links to other high-quality web pages that focus on regional nuclear and security issues. In addition, SANDNet will commission scholarly analyses intended for both specialists and generalists.

The network facilitates communication and coordination beyond the Internet, including collaborative research, distribution of results and analysis, and policy-oriented meetings among SANDNet participants. SANDNet seeks to enhance the speed, clarity, perspicacity, and credibility of communication within this “virtual community.”

When fully implemented, the network will provide the following services:

  • An informational report distributed on a weekly or more frequent basis via listserve email delivery and web site posting. The report, inaugurated in January 2000, contains summaries of nuclear- and security-related news items, as well as headlines and web links to news and analysis from throughout the South Asia region. Material for the report will include contributions from network “* participant nodes” (see below).
  • An online “policy forum” will enable network participants to share analyses, opinions, and ideas. The forum will be moderated to ensure that the quality, breadth, and tolerance of the debate continues to serve the diverse community we seek to foster. Discussion forums will be available in print form.
  • An online repository for important documents, agreements, texts, and other background information, updated regularly and available via the Internet.
  • Training and instruction for network partners, including short-term fellowships at the Nautilus Institute and workshops convened in South Asia.

The substantive criteria of the South Asia Peace and Security Network include the following:

  • Focus on nuclear issues. Over time, attention to nuclear issues will be used to anchor the examination of such related issue areas as broadly-defined security and political concerns; economic development; energy production and use; environment, land, and resource issues; and democratic processes.
  • Regional breadth. Nuclear and security issues throughout South Asia extend beyond Pakistan and India to all states in the region. Intra-regional cooperation and conflict are an integral aspect of SANDNet focal concerns. Over time content will include regional representation from across South Asia.
  • Inter-regional breadth. SANDNet content will also address how nuclear weapons issues in South Asia both affect and are affected by developments in China, the Korean peninsula, and elsewhere in Asia. Over time content will include pertinent materials from China, Japan, Korea, and elsewhere in Asia.
  • Communication, research, policy development, and publication. By enhancing the access to and timeliness of communication among participants, SANDNet aims to facilitate collaborative research among its members. This collaborative engagement with the problems intrinsic to nuclear issues in South Asia aims to yield politically sensitive and meaningful ways to address these problems. SANDNet will disseminate the results of this work to the network community, governmental policy-makers, and wider public audiences.
  • Emphasis on reliability, credibility, and representation. SANDNet will strive to create an environment in which information, analysis, and opinion disseminated through the network reflect the diversity of viewpoints that exist across national boundaries and political spectrums. In particular, network participants are urged to open the network to “alternative” points of view that might be underrepresented in more conventional media. The principle guiding network inclusion will be tolerance of this diversity and respectful engagement with diverging points of view. SANDNet will strive to be a credible source of informed, high-quality dialogue and collaboration.
  • Electronic communications assistance. An important subsidiary goal of the network will be to enable participants to take greater advantage of Internet and world wide web opportunities as they pursue their agendas more effectively.
  • Virtual community. SANDNet will foster the development of a genuine community that will evolve beyond SANDNet activities in and of themselves. Many network features and activities–such as the establishment of partnership “nodes” and collaborative research programs–will encourage the growth of new group-to-group and person-to-person relationships, thus enhancing regional and sub-regional cooperation that reaches beyond the network itself.
  • Participant nodes. Initially, SANDNet production and coordination activities will be centered in the Nautilus Institute. Over time, the network will evolve into a truly collaborative enterprise. The Nautilus Institute hopes and expects that SANDNet will embrace the specialized knowledge and resources of organizations and individuals throughout the world.

If you have further questions, please contact the SANDNet Coordinator via email: <SANDNet@nautilus.org>


The South Asia Nuclear Dialogue aims to serve as a forum for dialogue and exchange among South Asia security specialists.

We welcome your commentary, suggestions, government documents, or original research for distribution to the network.

Produced by the Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainable Development in partnership with the Monash Asia Institute.

Robert Brown, SANDNet Coordinator: SANDNet@nautilus.org
Berkeley, California, United States

Wade L. Huntley, Security Program Director: SANDNet@nautilus.org
Berkeley, California, United States

 

SANDNet

Democracy, Nuclear Proliferation and US Foreign Policy

A discussion with Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy and Dr. Zia Mian August 20, 6pm-8pm Nautilus Institute, Berkeley Over the past two years, the Bush administration has repeatedly stated its twin foreign policy goals: greater global security and greater freedom and opportunity for others – particularly for the people of the Middle East. This presentation and discussion […]

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SANDNet Weekly Update, August 12, 2003

CONTENTS August 12, 2003 Volume 4, #12 Nuclear Issues 1. Radiation Leak at Kalpakkam 2. Other News and Opinions Afghanistan 1. Current Situation India-Pakistan Relations 1. Indian Delegation Visit 2. Analysis Pakistan 1. News 2. Opinions and Analysis 3. Foreign Affairs India 1. India: Domestic Situation 2. Military Matters 3. Foreign Affairs Kashmir 1. Internal […]

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SANDNet Weekly Update, July 28, 2003

CONTENTS July 28, 2003 Volume 4, #10 Nuclear Issues 1. News & Analysis India-Pakistan Relations 1. News 2. Analysis Afghanistan 1. News 2. Afghan-Pakistani Border Tensions Pakistan 1. Domestic News 2. Analysis 3. Military India 1. Domestic News 2. US-India Relations 3. Military Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) 1. News 2. Analysis Nuclear Issues 1. News […]

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Kashmir’s Nuclear Shadow

Kashmir’s Nuclear Shadow Zulfiqar Ahmad Over a million soldiers stand across each other along the 1000-mile long border between India and Pakistan; “eye-ball to eye-ball” as the South Asian press calls it. Thousands of villagers in border areas have fled their home; others are suffering periodic mortar and artillery fire. Pakistan has reportedly mobilized its […]

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SANDNet Weekly Update, July 10, 2003

CONTENTS July 10, 2003 Volume 4, #09 Nuclear Issues 1. Regional 2. India 3. Pakistan Afghanistan 1. News 2. Campaign Against al-Qaeda and the Taliban 3. Analysis India-Pakistan Tensions 1. News 2. Analysis 3. Regional Economic Cooperation Pakistan 1. Massacre at Quetta 2. Domestic News 3. US-Pakistan Relations 4. Afghani-Pakistani Border Row 5. Foreign Relations […]

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SANDNet Weekly Update, June 24, 2003

CONTENTS June 24, 2003 Volume 4, #08 Nuclear Issues 1. Related News and Analysis Afghanistan 1. Current News 2. Afghan-Pakistan Border 3. Afghan-Pakistan Relations India-Pakistan Relations 1. News 2. Analysis Pakistan 1. Domestic News 2. US-Pakistan Relations India 1. India: Domestic Situation 2. US-India Relations 3. China-India Relations 4. Foreign Relations – Other News Kashmir […]

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SANDNet Weekly Update, June 16, 2003

CONTENTS June 16, 2003 Volume 4, #07 Nuclear Issues 1. Related News and Analysis Afghanistan 1. Current News 2. Analysis India-Pakistan Relations 1. News 2. Opinion and Analysis Pakistan 1. Shariat Bill In NWFP 2. Political News and Analysis 3. Miscellaneous Stories 4. US – Pakistan Relations India 1. India: Domestic Situation 2. US-India Relations […]

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SANDNet Weekly Update, May 18, 2003

CONTENTS May 18, 2003 Volume 4, #06 Nuclear Issues 1. Related News and Analysis Afghanistan 1. Current News 2. Afghanistan-Pakistan Relations India-Pakistan Peace Initiative 1. News 2. Opinions and Analysis Pakistan 1. News India 1. India: Domestic Situation 2. Foreign Relations Kashmir 1. Domestic News Sri Lanka 1. Peace Talks Region – General 1. US […]

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SANDNet Weekly Update, May 8, 2003

CONTENTS May 8, 2003 Volume 4, #05 Nuclear Issues 1. News 2. Analysis India-Pakistan Tensions 1. News 2. Analysis 3. Third Party Mediation 4. India-China-Pakistan Relations Pakistan 1. Legal Framework Order 2. News & Reports 3. Afghanistan-Pakistan Relations 4. US-Pakistan Relations India 1. News & Reports 2. Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) 3. Communal Issues […]

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SANDNet Weekly Update, April 18, 2003

CONTENTS April 18, 2003 Volume 4, #04 Nuclear Issues 1. News and Analysis Afghanistan 1. News and Analysis India-Pakistan Tensions 1. Iraq War Fallout & Doctrine of Preemption 2. Mediation by the US and Russia 3. Trilateral Relations Between India-US-Pakistan Pakistan 1. Domestic Situation India 1. Domestic Situation 2. Military Kashmir 1. Killings at Nadimarg […]

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