Learning from the American Experience in Counter Terrorism It has been widely noted that the US has not suffered a terrorist attack since 9/11. This is because it undertook major reform of its homeland security structures following the 9/11 attacks. India could learn from the wide ranging CT reform in the US after 9/11 and adopt measures suitable in the Indian context. Arvind Gupta January 30, 2009 IDSA Comments
Foregrounding ‘Non-Combatant Immunity’ A fundamental principle of humanitarian law, non-combatant immunity, has been virtually consigned to history during the Bush years. To a large extent this can be considered a ‘success’ for terrorists. That terrorists do not respect the principle of non-combatant immunity is central to the definition of terrorism. The aim of terrorists is substantially achieved when states also adopt their language and grammar. This has been done to an extent by the US in its militarily aggressive response to 9/11 in Iraq and Afghanistan. Ali Ahmed January 30, 2009 IDSA Comments
Obama’s Likely Policy Towards North East Asia Expectations are high in Japan, both in the general public and amongst the elite, after Democrat Barack Obama’s ascendancy to the American Presidency. Japan was clearly uncomfortable with Republican Bush administration’s pursuit of a unilateralist foreign policy as against Obama’s more pronounced multilateral approach. According to Professor Kenji Takita of Chuo University, multilateralism is closely associated with smart power and therefore Obama’s shift towards multilateralism is likely to undo some of the damage that the Bush administration’s unilateralism has done to American standing. Rajaram Panda January 29, 2009 IDSA Comments
Offset Absorption: Adding Arsenal to Armament Considering the volume of defence expenditure planned in the 11th Five Year Plan and in the future, it is certainly befitting for each recipient service to debate methods and procedures that offset this expenditure and contribute towards the economic and technological development of the country. S. Samaddar January 2009 Journal of Defence Studies
Global Security Environment: Challenges and Prospects There seems to be a consensus worldwide among the members of the strategic and academic community that the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) has been the greatest danger… Continue reading Global Security Environment: Challenges and Prospects Arvind Kumar January-March 2009 CBW Magazine
The Emerging Biological Weapons Threat and Proliferation Of the triad of weapons of mass destruction, nuclear weapons that have been the focus of attention followed by chemical weapons. But it must be remembered that there is an… Continue reading The Emerging Biological Weapons Threat and Proliferation Sudha Raman January-March 2009 CBW Magazine
What India can learn from Global Offset Experiences Boeing has successfully implemented offset programmes in over 35 countries completing over $29 billion in offset commitments and we are currently engaged in executing over 45 active programmes valued at over $14 billion involving 18 countries. Therefore, we have some relevant experience in this area. Vivek Lall January 2009 Journal of Defence Studies
Enhancing Manufacturing Capability for Efficient Offsets Absorption Since Independence, as a policy, Defence R&D in India had been reserved for the state sector with the DRDO having been established with the mandate to conduct research into Defence areas. Defence Public Sector Undertaking units (DPSUs) and Ordnance Factories (OFs) were set up with the twin objectives of: J.D. Patil , Mukesh Bhargava January 2009 Journal of Defence Studies
Obama as Tech president: Leading the Way Among the many monikers that Barack Obama has collected as he enters office is that of being the first "Tech President". In the days since his victory, Obama has already brought technology into his Presidency in a big way, starting with the launch of an online site, change.gov, where people could apply for jobs in his Administration and give suggestions on the agenda of his Administration. Other changes include the transformation of the traditional weekly radio address to a video address which can be viewed over video site Youtube, and a complete re-design of the White House website. Cherian Samuel January 23, 2009 IDSA Comments
Redefining France’s Role in Afghanistan: Need for better Strategy In a recent poll for the newspaper Le Parisien, 55 per cent of the French public expressed their disagreement with the presence of the French military in Afghanistan. A number of political and strategic mistakes contributed to this difficult situation being faced by Sarkozy’s government regarding the war in Afghanistan. The situation is also exacerbated by the fact that 10 soldiers of the 8th RPIMA lost their lives in the Uzbin sector in late August after a brilliantly orchestrated ambush by elements of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar’s Hezb-e-Islami which shocked the country. Guillem Monsonis January 22, 2009 IDSA Comments
