Comment & Briefs

For the Arabs, India’s caution, slow responses and long periods of situation assessments re-affirmed stereotypes about its inability to assume a leadership role in international affairs. However, given the volatility, the most effective way is to “think regionally but act bilaterally”.

Parameters, dimensions and operational requirements specified by the user must be evaluated exclusively by the user trial team, while DGQA must concentrate only on the testing of quality encompassing the product design, the material used and the manufacturing process in addition to the environmental testing of the product under simulated conditions.

The US has spent over a trillion and a half dollars and this huge expenditure has nearly unhinged its domestic economic equilibrium. At the strategic level the results for the US have been even more disconcerting in terms of Iraq's Shiite-led government refusing to let US troops stay on as well as extending support for fellow Shiites in Syria.

The Baidya-driven radicals want to adopt the party line of the Second National Conference in 2001 when they had decided to supplement their Chinese model of revolution (protracted people’s war) with the Russian model (armed urban insurrection).

The PLA has been laying emphasis on human resource management. Recruitment, salaries, living standards, perks and education are likely to get an impetus with attendant advantages of morale, motivation and technology absorption.

Even as it stands firm on the issue of proceeding with the war crimes trials, the Awami League government should not make the mistake of going for an election without the participation of the main opposition BNP.

By now making software development ineligible for discharge of offsets we might be depriving ourselves of what was considered necessary only a couple of months ago. This could also prove to be a setback for the Indian software industry.

Apparently, serving the PLA is no longer a very attractive option and there seem to be issues of lack of motivation among the new recruits to make the supreme sacrifice.

The Pakistanis are playing a high-stakes gamble, one in which they think the odds are stacked in their favour in a way that while they stand to gain a lot even if things don’t quite work in the way they imagine they won’t end up losing too much.

It will be in keeping with the normative principles of India’s foreign policy to support a resolution that does not undermine Sri Lanka’s sovereignty but stipulates a time-bound and monitorable implementation by the SLG as well as UNHRC of remedial measures in accordance with the LLRC recommendations.