IDSA Comments

Obama is the first American president to actively pursue the goal of nuclear disarmament. But roadblocks on the road to disarmament nirvana, as envisaged by Obama, remain.

• S. Samuel C. Rajiv |
• October 08, 2009 |
• IDSA Comments

While Pakistan could still try and develop a taste for grass by rejecting US assistance, there is no way it can economically sustain the fight against the Islamist insurgency without external assistance.

• Sushant Sareen |
• October 08, 2009 |
• IDSA Comments

Indian insurgent groups are re-establishing camps in Bhutan and are also forging links with Bhutanese rebel groups.

• Balaji Chandramohan |
• October 05, 2009 |
• IDSA Comments

India should engage space have-nots at a different level, going beyond technological and commercial interests.

• Ajey Lele |
• October 05, 2009 |
• IDSA Comments

Resource-rich Balochistan province has high rates of poverty, unemployment, illiteracy and infant and maternal mortality.

• Arvind Gupta |
• October 05, 2009 |
• IDSA Comments

Indian insurgent groups are re-establishing camps in Bhutan and are also forging links with Bhutanese rebel groups.

• Ramesh Phadke |
• September 30, 2009 |
• IDSA Comments

The strategic partnership is moving towards a higher trajectory with growing co-operation in the areas of defence, economy, energy, education, environment, science, technology and innovation.

• Sanjeev Kumar Shrivastav |
• September 29, 2009 |
• IDSA Comments

If Karzai were to become President again in the election seen as marked by fraud, his lack of legitimacy will only feed into the insurgent propaganda.

• Shanthie Mariet D'Souza |
• September 29, 2009 |
• IDSA Comments

The aggressive posture that the Chinese have adopted along the otherwise relatively tranquil Line of Actual Control (LOAC) has come under a lot of analytical examination by Indian Sinologists. They have advanced a number of explanations for the Chinese actions, all of which have a ring of truth about them.

• P. K. Upadhyay |
• September 23, 2009 |
• IDSA Comments

Pratibha Patil’s three-day visit to Tajikistan (September 6 to 8, 2009) was the first ever visit by an Indian President to the Central Asian region. She attended the National Day celebrations of Tajikistan as the Guest of Honour. President Patil held talks with Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon on a wide range of issues, including efforts to tackle terrorism, bilateral relations, and developments in and around the region aimed at consolidating ties between the two countries in the political, economic and other spheres.

• Meena Singh Roy |
• September 23, 2009 |
• IDSA Comments

Pakistan’s ability to press home a multidimensional campaign against the radical forces, and contain domestic instability and economic downturn, is suspect.

• Harinder Singh |
• September 23, 2009 |
• IDSA Comments

Indications are that the stalled six-party talks on the North Korean nuclear issue will resume in the coming months. While North Korea has let it be known that it is willing to return to the negotiating table, the United States showed its willingness to hold one-to-one talks with North Korea. This time, the North Korean capability/status of uranium enrichment programme would, among other things, dominate the negotiations.

• Ch. Viyyanna Sastry |
• September 23, 2009 |
• IDSA Comments

Once an exporter of Chinese style Communism and isolated internationally, today’s China is the mainstay of the capitalist world exporting a large quantity of what the world imports.

• Avinash Godbole |
• September 23, 2009 |
• IDSA Comments

Pakistan has yet again shown its proclivity to raise tensions with India. This time, the Pakistan Army or its proxies have fired three rockets across the International Border (IB) near Wagha in Punjab. Although no injuries were reported, such attacks pose a major danger to the people living in areas adjacent to the border, and some 150 farmers of the area indeed protested. This is the second time that rockets have been fired from Pakistan in the recent past.

• Ramesh Phadke |
• September 14, 2009 |
• IDSA Comments

In a surprise move the Iranian parliament (Majles) approved 18 of the 21 nominees including that of a woman proposed by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as members of his cabinet. Although Ahmadinejad had nominated three women candidates, parliament approved only one, that of Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi as the health minister. This is the first time that a woman has acquired a ministerial position in the Islamic Republic since the 1979 revolution. Marzieh Vahid is a gynaecologist and obstetrician by profession.

• M. Mahtab Alam Rizvi |
• September 11, 2009 |
• IDSA Comments

A number of Chinese border intrusions across the Line of Actual Control have been reported in recent months. One such event near Mount Gya in the Chumar sector of Ladakh saw Chinese troops intruding 1.5 kilometres inside Indian territory and writing “China” on the rocks with red paint. The intrusion was first noticed by an Indian patrol team on July 31, 2009. An earlier incident of Chinese intrusion in this area reportedly took place on June 21st, when two Chinese M1 helicopters violated the Indian airspace and air dropped canned food at Chumar.

• Pushpita Das |
• September 10, 2009 |
• IDSA Comments

In a new book Nuclear Strategy: India’s March Towards a Credible Deterrent, Dr. Manpreet Sethi has recommended a restructuring of India’s Nuclear Command Authority. Since India’s nuclear doctrine is premised on ‘Assured Retaliation’, nuclear retaliatory attacks can only be authorised by the civilian political leadership through the Nuclear Command Authority. Presently, the Nuclear Command Authority, as approved by the Cabinet Committee on Security on 04 January 2003, stipulates:

• Ali Ahmed |
• September 09, 2009 |
• IDSA Comments

A few weeks ago Sunday Express reported that the Madhya Pradesh Hunger Index at 30.9 was worse than that of Ethiopia. Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh, its two neighbours, were only marginally better at 28.7 and 26.6 respectively. BBC had also brought out a similar report in October 2008. According to the report, the statistics came from the country’s Planning Commission and not from a local NGO and that the authorities were extremely alarmed. The state was ranked 11 in 1994 but has fallen to 17 in 2008.

• Ramesh Phadke |
• September 04, 2009 |
• IDSA Comments

The month of May 2009 was the most violent month in Pakistan in the last five years. As the security forces launched a concerted operation against the Taliban in Malakand Division, the casualties shot up almost five times. The month recorded 504 violent incidents against 332 in April, which resulted in the loss of 2,585 lives. Most of the casualties were due to Operation Rah-e-Rast launched by the security forces in Swat and adjacent districts.

• T. Khurshchev Singh , Alok Bansal |
• September 02, 2009 |
• IDSA Comments

The Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), an ensemble of liberals and conservatives, has unseated the Liberal Democratic party (LDP) in the general elections held on August 30, ending the LDP’s almost half a century of uninterrupted rule over the country. Though the DPJ has been elected primarily because of people’s dissatisfaction with the LDP’s domestic and economic policies, it is likely to alter Japan’s foreign and defence policies.

• Shamshad A. Khan |
• August 31, 2009 |
• IDSA Comments