Comment & Briefs

China has created a constituency within the Nepal Army during the last few years. Some senior officers of the NA favour deeper military cooperation with China to reap more benefits.

The strategic dialogue should focus on the fundamentals of shared beliefs and political culture, and be supported by widespread engagement at the provincial, governmental and academic levels.

India’s current nuclear doctrine does not call for an automatic massive retaliation for Pakistan’s use of TNWs against Indian troops on Pakistan soil. However, this does not mean that such an attack will go unanswered.

Costa Rica is determined to maintain a demilitarised approach to internal security despite the increasing challenge from violent transnational organized crime largely linked to the trade in illegal narcotics.

Though it began as a search for a path to political democracy, the Arab Spring was used or misused by external powers and entrenched interests within the Arab world to prevent the march towards democracy.

It is time to engage in a dialogue process not just for enhancing strategic trust but also to think more cunningly about how to benefit from China’s riches by gaining access to Chinese credit and technology, and securing markets for Indian products.

AIIB is a Chinese dominated bank and the Chinese excitement about AIIB is based on the control and strategic clout that Beijing, the bank’s main architect, wields over its functioning.

The relationship between the cost versus coverage of technology transferred, which likely follows the law of diminishing returns, would make technology acquisition beyond, say 80 per cent, increasingly cost prohibitive, with no matching and assured gains

It is important to restore the functional self-sufficiency of the finance division of a ministry which handles 17-18 per cent of the total central government expenditure so that it could discharge its responsibilities without real or perceived pressures.

It would be prudent for the new state government to re-instil confidence among all parties through a total focus on equitable development in both the Hills and the Valley areas and take all stakeholders on board before undertaking any controversial move.