Geopolitics
Tibet 2030
By: P K Gautham | Issue: Book Excerpt: Asia 2030 - The Unfolding Future | Date: 13 Mar , 2012
Economic Tibet. China’s aim is to have an economic Tibet. Urbanisation, infrastructure building, extension of rail, roads and airports, converting grasslands to farmland will continue...
Is Myanmar-China relation entering a tricky phase?
By: Col R Hariharan | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 11 Mar , 2012
Myanmar’s decision to suspend the construction of the Chinese-aided Irrawaddy Myitsone hydroelectric dam project in Kachin State comes as a pleasant surprise, whatever be the reasons behind the...
Battling the Dragon
By: MP Anil Kumar | Issue: Vol. 27.1 -Mar 2012 | Date: 06 Mar , 2012
“To win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the acme of skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill.” —Sun Tzu, Art of War The Chinese maintain that the...
India’s Role in Afghanistan – II
By: Bhashyam Kasturi | Issue: Courtesy: Aakrosh | Date: 18 Feb , 2012
India’s Role in Afghanistan The U.S.-led invasion after 9/11 marked a turning point in the Indian investment in Afghanistan, and it has been able to steadily re-establish its presence. The...
Iran-Israel spat: National Interest is Supreme
By: Bharat Verma | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 18 Feb , 2012
India appears to be caught in crossfire between Iran and Israel. New Delhi should evaluate the strategic dividends that accrue from Iran and Israel before it responds to the developing crisis....
War and Oil – The Pipeline Politics
By: Rohit Singh | Issue: Vol 24.2 Apr-Jun 2009 | Date: 16 Feb , 2012
One has heard of the great depression that has struck the world on at least two occasions, once in the early 20th century, and the other one we are going through, currently. While the current...
Pakistan 2030: Possible Scenarios and Options
By: Col Harinder Singh | Issue: Book Excerpt: Asia 2030 - The Unfolding Future | Date: 15 Feb , 2012
George Friedman once said that the first line of defence against Islamic radicals would be the Muslim states themselves. It could be believed that Pakistan quite accurately represents this fault...
UN Peacekeeping: Thinking ‘out of the box’
By: Ali Ahmed | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 13 Feb , 2012
The story of India’s peacekeeping engagement is too well known to recount. However, less known is the fact that India numbers among the five top UN troop contributing countries. In effect,...
Fears of Pakistanisation of Maldives
By: B Raman | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 12 Feb , 2012
There has been disquiet among the large number of supporters of former Maldivian President Mohammed Nasheed over indications that appeared on February 11, 2012, that India, the US and the...
Washington’s Views of Sino-Pakistan Relations – II
By: Ramtanu Maitra | Issue: Courtesy: Aakrosh | Date: 11 Feb , 2012
Chinese Arming of Pakistan The first area of concern is Beijing’s help in arming Pakistan. According “China-Pakistan Relations,” a July 2010 article by Jamal Afridi and Jayshree Bajoria in...
Tibet: The International Betrayal
By: Claude Arpi | Issue: Book Excerpt: Tibet - The Lost Frontier | Date: 11 Feb , 2012
“In former times Tibetans were a war-like nation whose influence spread far and wide. With the advent of Budhisim our military prowess declined…” Dalai Lama 23 October 1950: A Telegram...
Washington’s Views of Sino-Pakistan Relations – I
By: Ramtanu Maitra | Issue: Courtesy: Aakrosh | Date: 10 Feb , 2012
In the recent period, relations between Washington and Islamabad have developed into a full-blown crisis. According to some analysts, the trust gap between these erstwhile allies has put a...
Russian-Chinese nervousness influences their vote on Syria
By: B Raman | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 05 Feb , 2012
The veto by Russia and China on February 4,2012, of a resolution in the UN Security Council that called upon Syrian President Bashar Assad to step down in the face of the persisting movement...
Pakistan at War with Itself
By: Bharat Verma | Issue: Vol. 27.1 -Mar 2012 | Date: 02 Feb , 2012
In the coming years, Islamabad will remain pre-occupied with internal strife without respite due to multiple contradictions arising out of the use of terrorism primarily against New Delhi as a...
Can Pakistan’s Army be Restrained?
By: Bhaskar Roy | Issue: Courtesy: Uday India | Date: 18 Jan , 2012
In an interview with the BBC last December, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister, Ms Hina Rabbani Khar admitted that the Pakistan army’s overwhelming power and influence over the civilian government...
Assertive Dragon
By: Dr Pushpa Adhikari | Issue: Book Excerpt: China Threat in South Asia | Date: 16 Jan , 2012
Ahead of offering an Indian perspective on rising China, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh (in Washington) said lately, “there is but a certain amount of assertiveness on the Chinese...
China bolsters Pak Army’s image
By: B Raman | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 06 Jan , 2012
As the Pakistan Army confronts the US on the one hand and the civilian leadership headed by President Asif Ali Zardari on the other in a triangular re-assertion of its primacy in strategic...
The War of Nerves in Pakistan: Q & A
By: B Raman | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 02 Jan , 2012
Q: What is the likelihood of Gen.Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, Pakistan’s Chief of the Army Staff (COAS), staging a coup, seizing political power and imposing the rule of the Army till fresh elections...
Kim Jong-Un: Little Known Ruler of an Unpredictable State
By: B Raman | Issue: Net Edition | Date: 20 Dec , 2011
One need not be surprised by the regional and global nervousness over the death of Kim Jong-Il, the ruler of North Korea, following a heart attack reportedly suffered by him on board a train on...
India-US Relations: Future Trajectory
By: Kanwal Sibal | Issue: Vol 24.4 Oct-Dec 2009 | Date: 16 Dec , 2011
The confidence of the Indian establishment that India–US relations were set on a steep upward trajectory has eroded noticeably with President Obama replacing President Bush. Even though...