India and the Current Concerns of UN Peacekeeping: Issues and Prospects
Peacekeeping opera tion is amongst the volatile issues in the contemporary debate on the role and activities of United Nations. The United Nations uses the peacekeeping operation as a fire-fighting device, sent to the crisis situations in various corners of the world. It was an innovative method devised by accident rather than by design to deal with the impasse created by the Cold War between the two Superpowers. It began as an unambitious system in 1948 to deal with inter-state conflicts and by late 20th century, it has become a much sought after means to contain, calm and resolve intra-state disputes. The changed circumstances provided a conducive opportunity to finish the unfinished task of resolving some of the remaining inter-state conflicts of the Cold War period. Meanwhile, ethnic cleavages that remained suppressed during the cold-war period erupted, leading to civil war situations and secession movements.
House of cards? India's rationales for contributing to UN peacekeeping
India has always been a major troop contributor to UN peacekeeping missions. In recent years, however, the benefits of these efforts have been increasingly questioned by some of the country's strategic elites, as are some of the guiding norms of contemporary peace operations. This article scrutinizes the contemporary and historical plausibility of both ideational and materialistic explanations of India's comprehensive peacekeeping engagement. Against this backdrop, it provides an estimation of the likelihood of a future Indian retreat from these efforts. Our conclusions are neither reassuring nor alarmist. Status and economic considerations, normative disagreements, and growing frustration with the stalemate of UN reforms all complicate India's peacekeeping policies. Neither of them, however, unambiguously hints at a complete withdrawal.
Enantioselective Synthesis of Dihydropyrans. Catalysis of Hetero Diels−Alder Reactions by Bis(oxazoline) Copper(II) Complexes
C2-symmetric bis(oxazoline)−Cu(II) complexes 1 and 2 catalyze the inverse electron demand hetero Diels−Alder reaction of α,β-unsaturated carbonyl compounds (heterodiene) with electron-rich olefins (heterodienophile) in high diastereo- and enantioselectivity. α,β-Unsaturated acyl phosphonates and β,γ-unsaturated α-keto esters and amides are effective heterodienes, while enol ethers and sulfides function as heterodienophiles. A range of substitution patterns is possible on the heterodiene:  terminal alkyl, aryl, alkoxy, and thioether substituents are all tolerated. The enantioselective synthesis of dihydropyrans by this method has been shown to be straightforward:  cycloadditions may be conducted with as little as 0.2 mol % of the chiral catalyst and are readily run on multigram scale. The reactions exhibit a favorable temperature−enantioselectivity profile, with selectivities exceeding 90% even at room temperature. A simple reaction protocol that employs a solid air-stable catalyst, convenient reaction tem...