‘Israel Iran Tensions – Will it lead to War?’

Mysore/Mysuru: Mysore Open Forum has organised a talk on the topic ‘Israel Iran Tensions – Will it lead to War?’ by former Diplomat Ravi Joshi on May 5 (Sunday) at 10.30 am at its Kalpa Kshetra Auditorium, 581/1, Vijayanagar 4th Stage, 1st Phase, Mysuru.

Ravi Joshi retired after a distinguished service as Joint Secretary at the Cabinet Secretariat, Government of India, having served in Research & Analysis Wing (RAW) and the Indian Diplomatic Service. He is an alumnus of Mysore University (Political Science) and JNU, New Delhi.

After passing out of Indian Civil Service, he worked in Indian Ordnance Factories Service before moving to Ministry of Defence as Under-Secretary. He later joined the Indian External Intelligence Service, the RAW and served there for over 25 years. He has had three diplomatic assignments — in the Maldives, Kenya and Austria — during which he also served as India’s Alternate Permanent Representative to two UN agencies — the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) in Nairobi, Kenya and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Vienna, Austria.

Since his retirement he has been a Visiting Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation (ORF), a pre-eminent Think Tank in New Delhi, which is ranked among the Top 10 in Asia today. He has been contributing regularly on the political affairs of the Maldives, Iran and West Asia to the ORF as well as to several print and online media organisations.

Ravi Joshi has studied the West Asian region, particularly these two countries, very closely for 4 years while serving in the RAW. He has visited Iran three times, Israel once and has interacted with the Security & Intelligence establishments of both countries.

Taking the Israel-Palestine conflict as the trigger for the present tensions in the region, he will examine how any escalation by Israel on Iranian proxies or territory could lead to a major war. He will also talk about the role of other major powers like the US, Russia, China and the likely response of India in case of a war.

The meeting is open to all.