The Chinese naval expansion, threat to Vietnam and India

” It is clear that military clashes would bring bad results to all countries in the region involved, but China will never waive its right to protect its core interest with military means.”
                                                                                    — From a “Global Times” editorial of July 26,2010

Seven blunders that will haunt India for posterity

History is most unforgiving. As historical mistakes cannot be undone, they have complex cascading effect on a nation’s future. Here is a saga of seven historical blunders that have changed the course of independent India’s history and cast a dark shadow over its future. These costly mistakes will continue to haunt India for generations. They [...]

How to best remember Kargil

Putting it in simple terms, if the Indian Army had not restored the situation in Kargil, the entire Jammu & Kashmir would have been lost. It was the most audacious operations undertaken by the Pakistan Army under the circumstances of conventional status-quo engendered by the nuclear capability that both countries had overtly declared.

Reevaluating our Pakistan policy

The latest round of talks between the foreign ministers of India and Pakistan has failed. Indian home secretary G K Pillai has been made the villain for the failure by both the foreign ministers. The fact that Pillai is being attacked in what appears to be sponsored media interviews by the authorities in the ministry [...]

Wikileaks: The Implications for the Obama Administration

The leakage of nearly 90,000 documents relating to the Afghan war for the period between January 2004 and December 2009 by Wikileaks, a US web site which disseminates secret information of public interest received from whistleblowers after verifying the authenticity of the secret information, could damage the chances of re-election of President Barack Obama in the [...]

How long will US cover up PAKISTAN?

According to Wikipedia, a 22-year-old US Army intelligence analyst, Bradley Manning, was arrested by the United States Army Criminal Investigation Command in May 2010. Manning was detained without charge in a military jail at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait.

More Railways in Tibet

Already in March this year, the China Tibet Information Center had announced two more railway extensions in Tibet: “Two more railways linking Lhasa with Xigaze (Shigatse) and Nyingchi (Nyintri) will start construction, said Zhang Qingli, Tibet regional Party committee.”

China Faces a New Threat: A Tweeting Dalai Lama

The Chinese are facing a new threat to their national security—a tweeting Dalai Lama. His Holiness has started a direct dialogue with interested Chinese and Tibetan netizens with the help of Chinese writer Wang Lixiong, presently living in the US,

The Price of Security

The political and administrative elite of India has yet to assimilate a fundamental lesson in the management of the Country’s defense policy. Like in almost every other sphere the quality of security will largely depend on the kind of money we are prepared to pay. While making this observation it has to be conceded that [...]

The Af-Pak boundary is not a border

There has been a heated debate on the validity and legality of Sir Henry Mortimer Durand’s line, a line some 2,640 kilometres long between former British India and Afghanistan, which now divides Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Maoist Warriors: More than foot soldiers

Predictably, Delhi’s Left-dominated intellectual circles have condemned the reported move on the part of Chhatisgarh police to implicate a high-profile Delhi University Professor for her alleged links with the Maoists in the state. Like the professor concerned, most of these intellectual elites come from highly influential families – in fact, many of them are the [...]

Calling China’s Bluff

The remarks of the outgoing Indian Navy Chief, Admiral Sureesh Mehta, where he ascribed China’s economic and military prowess as beyond India’s reach, is misplaced and exaggerated given China’s present and evolving tangible and intangible assets.

Where are the real leaders?

The terrorist attack on Mumbai once again brought the issue of the quality of Indian political leadership in focus. Nearly 200 people lost their lives and left the nation humiliated. Yet, the Home Minister of the state, the man responsible for security, had the audacity to term it as a small incident. When people came [...]

Radicalization of Pakistan will increase threat to India.

Pakistan is a state deep in turmoil. Contributory causes are some historical and some current. Historical causes can be summed up

Creation of Bangladesh: Shining Moment or Strategic Blunder

“DURGA ASTRIDE A TIGER”.  This is how Atal Behari Vajpayee described Indira Gandhi immediately after India’s lightening victory in the 1971 war, which resulted in creation of Bangladesh.  Ironically and now in retrospect, correctly, he led a protest march against Shimla Agreement in 1972. 

Terrorism and its Containment

Terrorism is undergoing what maybe equivalent to genetic changes. In the earlier decades, its agenda was mostly political, such as class questions, national liberation and urban or anarchic issues. In the 1990s religious motivation has captured the centre stage. This development introduces an abstract concept into the phenomenon.

Thinking the Unthinkable

While our Prime Minister plays the conjuror with war clouds and the mysteries of lightening strikes, a grave and potently disastrous possibility of an armed Indo –Pak conflict is being peremptorily dismissed, through mere warnings of the most awful consequences of a nuclear war. The more responsible approach of ensuring that the use of nuclear [...]

The Shadows in J&K

In his message of February 12, 2007, Ayman al-Zawahiri, the No.2 to Osama bin Laden, has spoken of a global Jihadi Intifada. Has he spoken of any special areas of focus for this Intifada?

Indian Air Force 2020

Planning for Modernisation of the IAF
Festivity during the 73rd anniversary of the Indian Air Force in October 2005 was overshadowed by the concern over its depleting combat power. Obsolescence appears to be overtaking the IAF as several components of its combat and supporting assets are reaching the end of technical or calendar life and [...]

What makes nations great?

As India celebrates 62 years of Independence, one wonders as to what makes nations great. Why is the US an undisputed world power? Why has Britain remained undefeated for centuries? Why has India succumbed to foreign rule so often? Why is India still struggling with internal dissensions and fissiparous forces? What does India lack?