IDSA Comments - MP-IDSA

Pratibha Patil’s Visit to Tajikistan: Enhancing goodwill, trust and mutual confidence

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...

Meena Singh Roy |
September 23, 2009 |
IDSA Comments

The Pakistani Taliban: An existential or a passing threat ?

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

North Korea Admits to Uranium Enrichment Programme

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...

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

Sixty Years of The People’s Republic of China

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’s latest adventure across the International Border

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...

Ramesh Phadke |
September 14, 2009 |
IDSA Comments

New Beginning in Islamic Republic

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...

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

What do Chinese intrusions across the Line of Actual Control Tell India?

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...

Pushpita Das |
September 10, 2009 |
IDSA Comments

Re-visioning the Nuclear Command Authority

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...

Ali Ahmed |
September 09, 2009 |
IDSA Comments

Warnings from Madhya Pradesh

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...

Ramesh Phadke |
September 04, 2009 |
IDSA Comments

Violence in Pakistan: Trend Analysis May 2009

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...

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

Political Change in Japan: Implications for Foreign and Defence Policies

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...

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

Demarcate the India-Nepal Border

Though tensions between India and Nepal over a few disputed pockets along the border have persisted for more than three decades, the first half of 2009 witnessed an increase in...

Pushpita Das |
August 31, 2009 |
IDSA Comments

Tackling the Naxal Threat

With the killing of three women and a nine-year old girl, absurdly described as a police informer, the Naxals have lost any moral justification that they may have had to...

Ramesh Phadke |
August 31, 2009 |
IDSA Comments

Japan rethinks its pacifist security policy

Japan seems set to overhaul its pacifist security policy with the ongoing formulation of a new National Defense Programme Guidelines (NDPG) for fiscal 2010-2014. The NDPG lays out Japan’s basic...

Shamshad A. Khan |
August 27, 2009 |
IDSA Comments

India’s response to the next terror attack

“There is credible information of ongoing plans of terrorist groups in Pakistan to carry out fresh attacks. The area of operation of these terrorists today extends far beyond the confines...

Ali Ahmed |
August 26, 2009 |
IDSA Comments

Iranian Upheaval and Implications for Indian Policy

Iran has unfortunately witnessed a deep political upheaval in the wake of recent Presidential elections leading to vertical polarization among its ruling elite between two major factions, one led by...

P. Stobdan |
August 25, 2009 |
IDSA Comments

Racial Profiling: An absurd drama

Incidents of racial profiling of Indian citizens at American airports have been reported time and again. The latest incident of ‘secondary questioning’ of a film star whom the United States...

The imperative of a national government in Nepal

Nepal Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal, who heads a twenty-two party coalition government, chose India for his first official foreign visit after assuming office two months back. This ‘goodwill’ visit...

Smruti S. Pattanaik |
August 24, 2009 |
IDSA Comments

Afghan Presidential Elections: The Quest for Change

As a harbinger of change in a conflict ridden country, the Afghan presidential elections being held on August 20 are important for both the people of Afghanistan and the international...

Challenges Before New Government in Indonesia

A Constitutional court recently dismissed a petition about alleged electoral irregularities filed by opposition presidential candidates Megawati Sukarnoputri and Jusuf Kalla. The decision effectively clears the decks for a second...

Pankaj K Jha |
August 19, 2009 |
IDSA Comments