The Western nations seem confused and do not know how best to react to North Korea’s nuclear challenge. This is best summed up by The Independent when it says: ” The leading world powers huddled in an emergency session at the United Nations yesterday to forge agreement on measures to punish North Korea…
“But with the regime in Pyongyang still showing unrepentant defiance, it remained hard to say whether measures to further isolate the country from the rest of the world would do much good.
“Nothing can now reverse the events of Monday, when North Korea staged its nuclear breakout. Even settling on sanctions will be hard. Last night China, backed by Russia, said it opposed plans to pass a resolution under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, which implies it could be enforced militarily, saying reference to a single article within it would suffice. It also argued for a narrower scope for the sanctions.
“Pyongyang, meanwhile, is far from remorseful. Rather, the regime said it was for the US to resolve the crisis or face the consequences of the unleashing of warheads. ‘We hope the situation will be resolved before an unfortunate incident of us firing a nuclear missile comes,’ the South Korean news agency, Yonhap, quoted an unidentified North Korean official as saying. ‘That depends on how the US will act’.
The US administration seems to be on the defensive.
“In an attempt to reassure Pyongyang, the US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, said it should not fear US military action. ‘The USA doesn’t have any intention to attack North Korea or to invade North Korea,’ she said.”
Swaraaj Chauhan describes his two-decade-long stint as a full-time journalist as eventful, purposeful, and full of joy and excitement. In 1993 he could foresee a different work culture appearing on the horizon, and decided to devote full time to teaching journalism (also, partly, with a desire to give back to the community from where he had enriched himself so much.)
Alongside, he worked for about a year in 1993 for the US State Department’s SPAN magazine, a nearly five-decade-old art and culture monthly magazine promoting US-India relations. It gave him an excellent opportunity to learn about things American, plus the pleasure of playing tennis in the lavish American embassy compound in the heart of New Delhi.
In !995 he joined WWF-India as a full-time media and environment education consultant and worked there for five years travelling a great deal, including to Husum in Germany as a part of the international team to formulate WWF’s Eco-tourism policy.
He taught journalism to honors students in a college affiliated to the University of Delhi, as also at the prestigious Indian Institute of Mass Communication where he lectured on “Development Journalism” to mid-career journalists/Information officers from the SAARC, African, East European and Latin American countries, for eight years.
In 2004 the BBC World Service Trust (BBC WST) selected him as a Trainer/Mentor for India under a European Union project. In 2008/09 He completed another European Union-funded project for the BBC WST related to Disaster Management and media coverage in two eastern States in India — West Bengal and Orissa.
Last year, he spent a couple of months in Australia and enjoyed trekking, and also taught for a while at the University of South Australia.
Recently, he was appointed as a Member of the Board of Studies at Chitkara University in Chandigarh, a beautiful city in North India designed by the famous Swiss/French architect Le Corbusier. He also teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students there.
He loves trekking, especially in the hills, and never misses an opportunity to play a game of tennis. The Western and Indian classical music are always within his reach for instant relaxation.
And last, but not least, is his firm belief in the power of the positive thought to heal oneself and others.