Comment & Briefs

Belarus has successfully pursued a multi-vector foreign policy and is seeking to play a significant role to strengthen peace and stability in the region.

Given India’s dependence on imports for 90 per cent of its telecom equipment, the decision to allow Huawei to bid for 5G should be in line with the national interest, rather than taking sides and constraining options.

There is an urgent need to formulate a ‘Counter Proxy War Doctrine’ that integrates diplomacy, defence, development and other tools of hard and soft power.

An ASAT in itself is not a defensive system that could ‘safeguard’ any asset. Instead, it is an offensive system that could solely be used for retribution in response to an attack on India’s space assets. In that sense, the capability can only be used as a deterrent against a potential rival.

The best option would be for India to continue to work with individual members of the OIC to establish friendly relations and deepen bilateral cooperation, and work to negate the machinations of Pakistan within the OIC.

Every time a cyber security organisation comes out with a decrypter to counter the effect of GandCrab, a brand new version of the ransomware is generated by effecting a small fix in the code.

A slight push in the right direction would be much more productive and efficient, such as treating telecommunications as a utility rather than a market, and building innovation and IPR ecosystems rather than incentivizing licensed production.

A dynamic offset policy has to include a mechanism for identifying the causes for likely delay or default on the part of vendors in discharging their obligation and removing the impediments faced by them

Shortage of funds even to service the committed liabilities raises questions about the financial affordability of the defence modernisation programme and viability of the push for ‘Make-in-India’ in defence.

That the AK-203 would be produced in India with 100 per cent indigenous content in less than three years makes it a win-win deal for the Army and the Make in India initiative, with Ordnance Factory Korwa emerging as the biggest winner.