It is difficult to figure out the basic motivation of US policy. It might be sheer inability to decide or it might be the desire to lend support to the progressive realization of the 1982 Yinon plan.

Stakeholder regional countries threatened by Islamic militancy need to get together under the umbrella of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and fight a joint war to end the menace.

US authorities seem to be unusually reluctant to use air power to help the Iraqi authorities and their Iranian allies in the conduct of the Tikrit offensive. Why?

There is a great traction amongst western countries on building up a coalition to tackle ISIS, but the big question is which countries in West Asia would be able to synchronise western goals with theirs? While the US and its NATO allies, along with France and Australia have been assisting the Kurdish peshmerga, the list of Arab countries willing to work with the West-led coalition is unclear.

Given that marine police has been exclusively created for coastal security, it is imperative that the force is adequately strengthened and for this to happen, it is incumbent upon the respective state governments to recognize the severity of sea-borne threats.

In the wake of the Sukma attack, it is apparent that the CPI-Maoist's weather- and surrender-induced operational frailty is a matter of the past.

The military has ridden roughshod over Pakistan’s polity for most of the country’s history since its independence. The Pakistani army, once described as a ‘state within a state’, is now being viewed by many as the state. In fact, the army and the ISI (the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate) together form the ‘deep state’.