Comment & Briefs

The success of India's diplomacy will lie in the extent to which it can induce Naypyitaw to take a long view in the interests of its own political stability, internal security and social harmony.

A quantum jump in the operational role of UAVs can be expected only with a breakthrough in Artificial Intelligence. Until that happens, their will increase gradually to reach about 50 per cent of combat operations over the next three decades.

While the agreement remains controversial, China is likely to consolidate its presence and Sri Lanka likely to get deeper into the Chinese debt trap even though it has gained temporary relief through the equity for debt swap.

Unfortunately, the incoherence in US policy under Trump makes one fear that the probability of a disastrous miscalculation is truly worrisome.

The Doklam standoff has emerged as a litmus test for India in terms of how resolutely it can stand up against an increasingly hegemonic China to protect the interests of Bhutan as well as its own interests.

To effectively cope with the PRC’s hostile attitude, India needs to reduce the power asymmetry, articulate a clear security policy based on a realistic threat assessment, reorganise the military, and revamp the border management mechanism.

While decades of counterinsurgency operations and peace processes have taken the sting out of the region’s major insurgencies, collaboration between groups continues to pose security challenges, particularly in the exploitable border areas adjacent to the upper Sagaing Region of Northwest Myanmar.

While the willingness of the Maduro regime to silence the opposition is cause for concern, far more worrying is the prospect of the new Constituent Assembly rewriting the Constitution to eliminate the last vestiges of democratic checks and balances.

It will take some time before the PLA can claim to be a modern military, at par with Western armies, capable of undertaking extended global missions. But the PLA is poised for a “Giant Leap”, and that is bound to dramatically change the ‘balance of power’ dynamics.

This special feature explores the mechanics and attributes which have led to the steep rise in the popularity of cryptocurrencies, delves into the risks they pose to the user and the state, and evaluates the opportunities, risks and policy options for India.