Hu’s Visit to Japan Sino-Japanese relations were in the doldrums for the past decade because of the repeated visits to the Yasukuni Shrine by former Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. One consequence was a complete freeze in mutual visits at the highest political levels between 2001 and 2006. Even exchanges at other levels were affected. The ice was broken in 2006 when Japanese Prime Minster Shinzo Abe visited China, and the ice began to thaw when Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao visited Japan in 2007. Gunjan Singh | May 28, 2008 | IDSA Comments
NATO’s Bucharest Summit At the NATO Summit in Bucharest, Ukraine and Georgia’s loss became Russia’s overall gain. Ukraine and Georgia wanted to get the invitation for the pre-membership programme in NATO, which is the last step to full membership. Before the summit, President Bush went to Kiev and promised Ukrainian leaders that he would do all to support their country’s membership in NATO. But strong opposition from France and Germany put paid to Ukrainian and Georgian hopes. Nivedita Das Kundu | May 28, 2008 | IDSA Comments
Increasing Violence in the Assam Hills The hill district of Assam, North Cachar Hills (N.C. Hills), has been recently in the news all too often but for the wrong reasons. Known for its pristine mountainous landscape and myriad ethnicities, culture and breathtaking bio-diversity, this hill district is now sadly dominating news bytes as a place plagued by a ‘vicious cycle of ethnically slanted indiscriminate violence’. Namrata Goswami | May 26, 2008 | IDSA Comments
China and Maoist Nepal: Challenges for India “[China] feels that the Himalayas alone in this nuclear age are not enough to guarantee its national security, especially in view of Tibet’s strategic location. [It], therefore, ideally wants a China of small, preferably pro-Chinese, neighbours on the cis-Himalayan region separating the two Asian giants.” - Dawa Norbu Abanti Bhattacharya | May 23, 2008 | IDSA Comments
The Strategic Dimension of Iran’s Leap into Space In February 2007, Iran launched its first sub-orbital rocket that reached an altitude of 150 kms before falling back to Earth and deploying a parachute for recovery.1 Iran claimed that the rocket was intended for research and part of its goal of launching Iranian manufactured satellites on Iranian manufactured rockets. Harsh V. Pant , G. Bharath | Summer 2008 | Journal of Defence Studies
India’s Affordable Defence Spending Defence expenditure is an important component of national security and every country allocates a significant portion of its resources for this purpose. However, given the scarcity of resources and the competing demands from other sectors, a nation’s ability to meet all its Defence requirements is not unlimited. Even the United States, the only military superpower, is unable to afford many of its major programmes, forcing it to scale down the number of items to be procured. Laxman Kumar Behera | Summer 2008 | Journal of Defence Studies
Renewed Infiltration in Jammu and Kashmir and the Indian Response In a turnaround of events, the recent encounter with terrorists in Samba area and the reported infiltration of a large group of terrorists through the international border (IB) of Jammu region is a clear indication that levels of infiltration in Jammu & Kashmir are likely to see an increase this summer. The situation in the State was fast moving towards normalcy and hectic political activities were on with more political parties and other groups joining the mainstream, in a run up to elections later this year. B. S. Sachar | May 16, 2008 | IDSA Comments
India-Brazil-South Africa ‘Tango’ at Sea The first half of May 2008 (2-16) witnessed an epochal multilateral event that passed off virtually unnoticed in the countries involved. It saw the first ever combined maritime exercise among the navies of India, Brazil and South Africa (IBSAMAR). The lack of attention to it was hardly surprising given that the venue was the wide blue yonder, and the fact that the peoples of these countries are only beginning to realise the import of events that occur beyond terra firma. Gurpreet S Khurana | May 16, 2008 | IDSA Comments
Stalemate Redux in Sri Lanka? A fierce battle in the North and the reported high casualties among Sri Lankan troops at Forward Defence in Muhamalai in the third week of April have placed a question mark on the conjecture that the endgame is up for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). There is no doubt that beginning with the Mavil Aru incident in mid-2006, the LTTE has been facing a major crisis. Its numerical strength has fallen. It is not doing too well in drafting recruits and procuring arms. M. Mayilvaganan | May 16, 2008 | IDSA Comments
Geophysical Threats and ENMOD The term “environment” has come to be used in security discourse at three levels. At the first level is the issue of the degradation of the natural resource base, exhaustion of renewable resources and the upsetting of ecosystems by human action, all of which are contributing to environmental degradation and global climate change. The second level is the link between environment and war. Preparations for war and the use of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction have caused the maximum damage to the environment. P. K. Gautam | May 16, 2008 | IDSA Comments
