“Thousand-Ship Navy”: A Reincarnation of the Controversial P.S.I.? Among the foremost security concerns of the US after 9/11 is the use of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) by terrorists on its territory and their proliferation through inimical states. The global stretch of the predominantly maritime threat and the 'overstretch' of the US Navy have led to the initiation of a series of American initiatives like Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI), Container Security Initiative (CSI) and Regional Maritime Security Initiative (RMSI), all aimed at mobilizing global support to secure the US 'homeland'. Gurpreet S Khurana | December 28, 2006 | IDSA Comments
NATO’s Riga Summit: Big thinking but fundamental problems On November 28 and 29, NATO Heads of State and Government met in the Latvian capital for the annual summit. This was the first summit to be held in a country that had joined the alliance during its second enlargement since the end of the Cold War. The summit concentrated on three issues, which are considered to be the pillars for defining the role and status of NATO in the post-Cold War period: Political Engagement, Defence Transformation and Operations. On the basis of discussions held on these issues, an attempt was made to chalk out a path for NATO in its future endeavours. Prasad P. Rane | December 28, 2006 | IDSA Comments
Afghanistan: Galloping Backward That the Taliban power stands resurrected is a fact now. At the same time, the 'war on terror' is also showing signs of fatigue. It has already come to a halt in the north-western tribal expanse of Pakistan, the cradle of the Taliban's resurrection. Dubbed as 'remnants' until recently, the Taliban today are a power to reckon with, effectively redrawing the power equations within Afghanistan. Vishal Chandra | December 27, 2006 | IDSA Comments
The Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change and India’s Position Sir Nicholas Stern, former chief economist of the World Bank and head of the British government's economic service, and his team submitted the report titled The Economics of Climate Change in October 2006. The report consolidates the research on the scientific evidence of climate change and concludes that evidence is now overwhelming: climate change is a serious global threat. P. K. Gautam | December 27, 2006 | IDSA Comments
Olmert’s ‘Nuclear Slip’ and Israeli Nuclear Ambiguity Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's seemingly 'inadvertent' admission of his country's nuclear status in an interview broadcast on German television on December 11 at the start of his trip to Berlin once again focussed world attention on the country's nuclear status. It is widely known that Israel has a nuclear arsenal consisting of about 150-200 weapons from the plutonium produced at the Dimona nuclear reactor, situated in the Negev desert near Beer Sheva. S. Samuel C. Rajiv | December 21, 2006 | IDSA Comments
Indo-US Nuclear Deal: The Bill and Apprehensions Order Hard Copy Please email us at publication [at] idsa.in or call +91-11-2671 7983 (Ext. 7322) Rajiv Nayan | | Occasional Papers
Weather and Warfare Publishers: IDSA and Lancer Publishers & Distributors ISBN: 81-7062-145-3 Rs. 595 Ajey Lele | | Book
Bomb Blast in Jalpaiguri: KLO flexing its Muscles? The recent bomb blast that ripped through two cars of the Haldibari-New Jalpaiguri passenger train on November 20, 2006 left the strategic community wondering as to who among the various insurgent outfits operating in the region was responsible for the heinous attack. Was it the communist rebels active in the province, or the militants fighting for an independent homeland of the Rajbanshis, the Kochs, or other ethnic minorities sheltering in the region, and were they acting at the behest, or in collusion with foreign intelligence agencies? T. Khurshchev Singh | December 14, 2006 | IDSA Comments
