एकं हन्यान्न वा हन्यादिषुः क्षिप्तो धनुष्मता।
प्राज्ञेन तु मतिः क्षिप्ता हन्याद्गर्भगतानपि॥
An arrow shot by an archer may not kill its target;
Skillfull Intrigue by intelligent men can kill those in the womb.
Cāṇakya (CNKY) also known as Kautiliya, (375–283 BCE), was an Indian polymath, strategist, scholar, guru, author of the Arthashastra treatise on statecraft, political science, economic policy and military strategy
“The confluence of the two seas” was the title of the speech of Shinzo Abe, the then Prime Minister of Japan when he addressed the parliament of the Republic of India in 2007. The speech inspired the birth of the Quadrilateral Dialogue, (the Quad), an alliance of the United States, India, Japan and Australia created to uphold the freedom of navigation and enterprise of the Indo-Pacific. It also started the journey of India to the center of the Indo-Pacific thought. Until then, the area was strategically called Asia-Pacific from the western prespective.
Today, India is the center of the Indo-Pacific. We (at CKNY) define and divide the Indo-Pacific into two political units, the Indo-Mediterranean which is the first confluence of the two seas, the Majma-ul-Bahrain. This starts from the shores of Italy and the mediterranean and extends till the western coast of India. For over a two millenium this has been the ancient trade route from Europe to India, giving birth to the cotton road, the red sea route and birthing cultures and languages which define the Indo-European modes of living. This region is also where Hinduism, Judasim, Christianity and Islam find their birth and evolution.
The larger Indo-Pacific which starts at the western coast of India and extends to the Pacific shores of the United States. This is the genius of Shinzo Abe, defining this as the conflence of the two seas-the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. For Abe, to contain China in the Pacific and South China sea was seemingly impossible without checking it in the Indian Ocean.
Now with Russia bringing war to Europe’s doors, the gate of lament, Bab al Mandab, almost shut for traffic due to Houthi aggression, both confluences of two seas is threatened, but more so the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean, the Indo-Mediterranean. In a rapidly evolving multipolar world, India’s world view has rapidly gained importance. With that, is a sense of urgency, for a new Indo-European defence alliance, designed on the Quad, to protect this confluence of two seas from common enemies.
The announcement of the India-Middle East-Europe Economic (IMEC) corridor, at the G20 in New Delhi in September 2023, has already started the disruption of the most important trade route. India’s geopolitical evolution is also accelerating its “Act East” policy, with the BIMSTEC (The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) charter taking effect in May and India’s Adani group getting an in-principal agreement with Vietnam to take over the port in Da Nang in the South China Sea.
IMEC, Quad, I2U2, Elections in India, US, Europe, Israel, Hamas, we live in a connected world. CKNY aims to engage a group of passionate experts who value democracy, freedom and strategy above all, much in the spirit of Cāṇakya. It is the voice of the Indo-Mediterranean Initiative.