China-India Joint Military Drill: Time for a Review Joint military exercises hold strategic relevance but India must consider seriously that despite the Annual Defence Dialogue mechanism and joint training exercises, incursions in the border regions have increased over the years. Jagannath P. Panda | September 02, 2013 | IDSA Comments
Indian Airpower Afloat The Indian navy has long aspired for a true blue water capability and the aircraft carrier project is a critical part of safeguarding India’s maritime interest that includes providing security along the sea lanes of communication. Vivek Kapur | September 02, 2013 | IDSA Comments
Vietnam-US Rapprochement: A New Phase Vietnam’s president Sang’s visit to the US is historic in many ways and promises to bring in a new era of partnership through active trade relations and strategic alliance as a counterweight to China. Rahul Mishra | September 02, 2013 | IDSA Comments
Arrest of Yasin Bhatkal: An Analysis The arrest of Bhatkal, head of the Indian Mujahideen, highlights the measures taken by security agencies including improved coordination in different states to apprehend a number of terrorists in the last few years. Anshuman Behera | September 02, 2013 | IDSA Comments
The Kenya-ICC Standoff Uhuru Kenyatta's election as the president of Kenya is important both with respect to the Kenyan internal politics and the larger implications for the legal regime of the International Criminal Court. It remains to be seen that who will bring justice to the families of the dead and displaced after the 2007-08 post election violence. Saurabh Mishra | September 2013 | Africa Trends
Terror attack in Kenya: resurgence of Alshabaab? The recent terror attack in Nairobi has brought focus on Kenya's involvement in Somalia and indicates that despite the African Union forces' successes last year the Somalia based terrorist group, Al Shabaab, may have regrouped and emerged stronger. Ruchita Beri | September 2013 | Africa Trends
China in and Beyond the Headlines The book China in and Beyond the Headlines is a collection of 16 contributions written by scholars and experts on various aspects of Chinese politics, society and economy. Considering that China has undergone a major transformation over the past decades since it opened its economy, this book provides a much-needed insight into the contours and extent of these changes and their impact. The most promising aspect of the book is that it provides information and analysis on almost all the aspects of changes within China. Gunjan Singh | September 2013 | Strategic Analysis
The China Fallacy: How the US Can Benefit from China’s Rise and Avoid another Cold War There have been many studies on US foreign policy towards China dwelling specifically on the efficacy of the US strategy of containment. Donald Gross’s book is an addition to this genre. It basically challenges the wisdom of the current US policy of containing China and offers a ‘new paradigm’ for ‘stable peace’ as an alternative approach for dealing with China and yet keeping US dominance in the Asia-Pacific intact. This new paradigm provides for greater cooperation, co-existence and accommodation with the rising dragon to ensure long-term peace in the international system. Abanti Bhattacharya | September 2013 | Strategic Analysis
The Untold History of the United States Filmmaker Oliver Stone and historian Peter Kuznick’s The Untold History of the United States is an uncompromising and riveting account of the uncomfortable aspects of American history. The book studies the period from the beginning of the 20th century right up to the present regime of Obama and highlights the extent to which democratic ideas have been abandoned by the world’s largest democracy. Atul K. Thakur | September 2013 | Strategic Analysis
Debacle to Resurgence: Y.B. Chavan, Defence Minister (1962–66) Relatively little is known about Y.B. Chavan, India’s defence minister from 1962 to 1966. He replaced the controversial Mr. Krishna Menon on 19 November 1962, when India’s war with China was still going on. Chavan was also the defence minister when India fought its second war with Pakistan in 1965. The present book is an attempt to throw light on the shaping of Y.B. Chavan as defence minister of India during 1962–1966. Arvind Gupta | September 2013 | Strategic Analysis