Name of the Game Is Interdependence Lawrence Summers, United States President Barack Obama's chief economic advisor and formerly secretary of treasury in the second term of the Clinton administration, once said that there was a ‘balance of financial terror’ between the US and its financial creditors, primarily China and Japan. Today, China, holding some $800 billion in US treasury bonds and some $2 trillion worth of currency reserves wields financial terror against the US. Bharat Wariavwalla | July 2010 | Strategic Analysis
Strategy and Tactics in Countering Left Wing Extremists in India Left Wing Extremism (LWE) presents a serious internal security challenge to India that needs careful and coordinated policy response from both the security front and the development front. For the CPI (Maoists) (Communist Party of India), the main outfit propagating LWE, the plan and execution of this style of people's war against the state is like the Churchillian ‘a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma’. At one level, the LWE can be described as a ‘Democratic revolution through tactical offensive with tactical speed in the protracted people's war of strategic defensive’. Giridhari Nayak | July 2010 | Strategic Analysis
A Growing Technological Gap with China? The drivers for sustaining the decades-long growth of the Chinese economy are the subject of enduring conjecture, controversy and even wonder. From a US$1 trillion economy in the 1980s, China's GDP has crossed the US$4 trillion mark and is vying with Japan for the status of the number two economy in the world. China has now set itself the task of becoming a major research and development (R&D) power in the medium-term, signalling its ‘arrival’ as a major power. Smita Purushottam | July 2010 | Strategic Analysis
Putin’s Visit to India: Resetting the Indo-Russian Partnership Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's visit to India on March 11–12, 2010 signifies the beginning of a new phase in Indo-Russian friendship. In fact, this visit needs to be viewed in the context of the changing geopolitical and geo-economic realities in the international system. Meena Singh Roy | July 2010 | Strategic Analysis
‘Aman Ki Asha’ in Pakistani Media: Requiem for a Peace Process? The peace process between India and Pakistan came to an abrupt halt with the Mumbai attacks on November 26, 2008 (26/11). Ironically, the attacks were carried out by Pakistani terrorists minutes after the foreign ministers of both countries met in New Delhi and pledged to take the composite dialogue process forward. Ever since, Pakistan's unwillingness to bring the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks to justice has come in the way of resumption of the composite dialogue. There have been many false starts, but the process continues to be in a state of suspended animation. Ashok K. Behuria | July 2010 | Strategic Analysis
Water a Pre-eminent Political Issue between India and Pakistan Like in the 1950s, the word ‘riparian’ is back again in the India–Pakistan lexicon, becoming this time intensely political, emotional and divisive. This development is both instructive and unsettling. It is instructive to note how the current water realties of the two countries, which have changed significantly since the Indus Water Treaty (IWT) in 1960, will now determine the treaty's future. With growing populations, inadequate water management techniques and the impact of global warming, water resources are under pressure. Uttam Kumar Sinha | July 2010 | Strategic Analysis
India’s strategic advantage over China in Africa Focusing on specific sectors, beyond the options much in vogue with offensive emulationists or passive singularists, will help India to clarify its priorities, optimize its policy-making process and infuse its Africa policy with greater strategic depth. Constantino Xavier | June 30, 2010 | IDSA Comments
India-Pakistan Relations: Need to proceed with caution Because the Pakistan Army appears to be gearing itself up for large-scale counter-terrorism operations in Punjab and parts of Sindh, India is being engaged diplomatically even as attempts are afoot to bring the situation in Kashmir to a boil. P. K. Upadhyay | June 30, 2010 | IDSA Comments
India, Buddhism and Geopolitics in Central Asia: Regaining Centrality Proposal to Establish The Takshila University for the Study of Indo-Central Asia Culture to Promote World Peace in the 21st Century P. Stobdan | June 25, 2010 | Policy Brief