Talk:Vikram Sood

A fact from Vikram Sood appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 17 March 2019 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that in India, a postal officer became a spymaster?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2019/March. The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Vikram Sood.

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DYK Suggestions

This article has been expanded 5x recently and meets other DYK criteria too (I hope). DYK suggestions...

DYK 1... that the main difference between RAW and ISI is in the latter's ability to form policy, according to Vikram Sood?

Source: "The difference between Indian and Pakistani intelligence agencies is in their ability to form policy, says Vikram Sood" (THE HINDU)

DYK 2... that in reality espionage is more like John le Carre's George Smiley and less like James Bond according to Vikram Sood?

Source: "James Bond is fantasy, George Smiley is reality," says Vikram Sood (Yahoo News)

Source: “James Bond is fantasy, George Smiley is real,” Vikram Sood tells us in The Unending Game: A Former R&AW Chief’s Insights Into Espionage. And that line is the soul of his book. (FIRSTPOST)

DYK 3... that the rivalry between India's RAW and Pakistan's ISI is exaggerated according to former RAW chief Vikram Sood?

Source: Rivalry With ISI Is An Exaggeration: Former RAW Chief Vikram Sood (THE QUINT)

DYK 4... that peace talks with Pakistan are futile according to Vikram Sood?

Source: Peace Talks With Pakistan Will Be Futile: Former RAW Chief Vikram Sood (OUTLOOK INDIA)

Any and all suggestions welcome. DiplomatTesterMan (talk) 11:26, 6 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Hi DTM, unfortunately, this is not a good article and suffers from WP:COATRACK. A biography article should cover what WP:THIRDPARTY sources say about the person. Instead, this article is more about his book than about the person, and even then it fails the THIRDPARTY requirement. If this article is nominated as it is, I would not want to be part of the nomination.

One way to rectify the situation would be to create a separate article for the book. But then again, you need enough THIRDPARTY views about it. Cheers, Kautilya3 (talk) 12:57, 6 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Well, so then that closes this. DiplomatTesterMan (talk) 13:18, 6 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]

@DBigXray: I won't be able to follow up with this. If you want to or anyone else, they can of course. This article is wrapped up from my side. Regards DiplomatTesterMan (talk) 13:28, 6 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]

I disagree with Kautilya3. Sood is notable due to his post of RAW chief. I am not so sure about his book, I havent checked, but I guess the book is notable and deserves its own article. In either cases it is acceptable to have a subsection about the book in the author's BIO. The description on Sood can be expanded if it is available. I believe the book should contain more info on biography. after the book release It is possible that Sood's personal life was also reported so more info should be available.

Among these I only like DYK1 and weak support for DYK 2. --DBig Xrayᗙ 13:30, 6 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]
I created my own DYK and added it as ALT0 before nominating. --DBig Xrayᗙ 20:11, 6 January 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Clarification requested

The text in green are direct quotes. Too many or is this ok? (The matter has been copy pasted from the main article just now, and I have removed the cites since that is not what I want to discuss with this particular section, just the quantity of direct quotes and whether it is ok or not):--

Pakistan

At the event for his book launch, The Unending Game, Sood said that the Pakistan Army is the "largest corporate entity in Pakistan" and that Kashmir is being used by the Pakistan Army merely as a justification to maintain power in Pakistan. Sood takes a hardline stance, saying that Pakistan would need to "shut the machinery of terrorism" and provide proof that changes are happening for dialogue to happen. In 2016 he had voiced similar hardliner opinions, stating that dialogue with Pakistan is pointless and that unless Pakistan changes its approach, dialogue between the two countries should not happen.

In relation to to Kulbhushan Jadhav, an Indian national who is in Pakistan's custody since March 2016 and is being tried by a military court on alleged charges of being a R&AW agent, Sood says that Pakistan has no "leverage" over India because of this matter. In an interview in 2019 he stated, "No spy worth his salt will be caught with his passport. The charges against him are laughable."

China

When it comes to China-Pakistan links, Sood is of the opinion that China takes actions such as supporting Pakistan in the UNSC in relation to Masood Azhar because of fear of retaliation from Islamic groups in Xinjiang (an autonomous region in China partly borders Pakistan) other than of course protecting their interests in Gilgit-Baltistan and Balochistan in relation to CPEC. When it comes to just China, Sood says that the capabilities of China are much more than Pakistan and that India should take note. This statement was made during a seminar on 17 February 2019, three days after the Pulwama attack, where he had also said, "China in control of Pakistan is even worse."

DiplomatTesterMan (talk) 18:25, 10 March 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Quotes of that length properly marked and cited are okay; it's more the paraphrasing that was a concern. Nikkimaria (talk) 22:48, 12 March 2019 (UTC)[reply]

@Nikkimaria:, thanks for the reply. Yes, I have tried to address the paraphrasing issues too. What do you think, are they addressed? DiplomatTesterMan (talk) 22:51, 12 March 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Certainly much better than it was. Nikkimaria (talk) 22:54, 12 March 2019 (UTC)[reply]

@Nikkimaria: So can the paraphrasing template be removed from this page and can this DYK proceed? (The book article and DYK is different, just talking about this one first). DiplomatTesterMan (talk) 22:57, 12 March 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for your inputs. Pointing out this close paraphrasing aspect will help me with all my future edits too and I'll be sure to be doubly careful. DiplomatTesterMan (talk) 23:45, 12 March 2019 (UTC)[reply]