Differing outcomes to similar importance of Russia and India to US interests in Afghanistan.
Well, Holbrooke might not have been welcome in India for some months now but he and his team have been in Beijing and Moscow in buildup to the Obama announcement. Russia’s importance to the US efforts in Afghanistan is not limited to [...]
A rebuff for the Kashmiri separatists from China and EU.
Mir Waiz Umar Farooq really seems to be landing himself into trouble. First, he had to stave off internal problems in the Hurriyat by dissolving his executive and governing council, and issue a gag order on media interaction. All this while he is also being targeted [...]
Maoism — terrorism or socio-economic class struggle?
While the Indian army chief was happy labelling Maoism as a “socio-economic class struggle”, here is how Ai Ping, the director-general of the Communist Party of China’s Bureau 1 that advises Beijing on its South and East Asia policies characterised the Maoists.
Maoism is nothing but terrorism. The Maoists should [...]
Two sensible answers. Counter China with open-minded caution. Look at China as an opportunity.
It is for good reason that K. S. Bajpai has been a huge favourite of the INI bloggers. Although his pieces appear rather infrequently in the media, Bajpai’s perceptive analysis and clarity of thought always shines through. So it came as a [...]
The Chinese suffered heavy losses at Indian hands.
To all those in the Indian media who tend to skip to Amar Chitra Katha versions of 1962 while drawing parallels with 2009, here is a small reminder about what happened at Nathu La in the interregnum, in 1967.
When the forward Chinese troops suddenly opened machine gun fire [...]
Andrew F. Cooper, writing in the latest issue of the Public Diplomacy magazine, contends that India — along with other BRIC nations — has moved on from being a middle power to an emerging power.
In economic terms, middle powers have been overtaken by the big emerging powers. These economies are garnering significant attention from the [...]
China is worried about the Pakistan connection of Uighurs.
As far as the trouble in Xinjiang province goes, here is what the Communist regime in China expects from its neighbours.
China expected cooperation from neighbouring countries to safeguard peace and stability in the region, Qin said replying to a question on whether Beijing has asked neighbours [...]
From the Afghan ambassador’s memo.
Cribbing to Kabul about inadequate funding for hiring lobbyists in Washington to further Afghan interests in the US Congress and administration, Afghanistan’s ambassador to the US, Said Tayeb Jawad gives out the details of his competitors, embassies of Pakistan and India. Here is the list of India’s lobbyists in Washington from [...]
India pushing more military resources to counter the Chinese threat.
Recent press reports state that Indian army is raising two more divisions to be stationed in Arunachal Pradesh. The IAF is also moving its Sukhoi aircrafts to the North East and reactivating old airfields in the region. This is ostensibly being done to counter the Chinese [...]
Smart idea from Washington. Will it succeed?
Other than the US, there are three other countries that Pakistan considers its foremost allies: China, Saudi Arabia and Iran. While the US is directing all its energies on to Pakistan, it is also looking at these countries for asking Pakistan to do more in its fight against the [...]
India must avail of this opportunity.
This blogger’s take on India not striving hard enough to find common ground with Iran and the US, and facilitate a rapprochement between the two countries, has got a boost from an unlikely source. Osama bin Laden’s deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri has posted a video to mark the sixth anniversary of [...]
Even Iran and China don’t accept this Pakistani distinction.
Ismail Khan, writing in the Daily Times, makes a case for introspection by the Pakistani society on the way it has patronised terrorist groups. While the Pakistani society, state and the media are used to Indians (and now the US) pointing fingers at the Pakistani military-intelligence-jehadi machinery, [...]
If it is too good to be true, it probably is.
Now the international media has also waken up to the story. The New York Times has a story [HT: The Acorn] explaining that as the commodity prices fall, the Chinese purse-strings are being tightened in Africa.
China’s approach to securing minerals in Africa has been to [...]
Protecting China. Denuking India.
Manifestos might count for little for most political parties nowadays but the Communists still take these documents (and themselves) seriously. As the CPI(M) announced its manifesto for the Parliamentary elections, C Raja Mohan rips into their particularly obnoxious stance on India’s nuclear weapons.
The CPM says it will press the next Government to [...]
CCCP signs agreement with the Jamaat-i-Islami.
An agreement, signed between the Chinese communist party and JiI[HT: PNON], has got the attention of many observers. It is evident that the Chinese are trying to preempt and contain a likely al Qaeda involvement in Xinjiang province. This is an affirmation of an unstated agreement between the Pakistani Islamists [...]
Nuclear capability is fine, but focus on the complete spectrum of warfighting capabilities against Pakistan.
Bharat Karnad, in his piece in the Indian Express, harps on the “the unique nature of India-Pakistan “wars” and how it has habituated the Indian armed services to the wrong kind of force planning that has obtained for the country military [...]
Match China in national strategy and institutional framework, not in defence expenditure.
The quality of decision is like the well-timed swoop of a falcon which enables it to strike and destroy its victim. ~Sun Tzu
Harsh Pant focuses the debate on to right issues for the Indian security establishment [...]
Commodity price decline shows the true colour of Chinese intentions in Africa. India should hold steady to its own model of engagement in Africa.
It was a story where most thought that China had beaten India and even United States and Africa’s former colonial masters in Europe. However, it might surprise these wise men to hear [...]
Any military action against Pakistan has to be preceded by diplomatic breakthroughs.
All war represents a failure of diplomacy. ~Tony Benn
The Acorn explains why surgical strikes across our western borders are a bad idea today. Subramanian Swami, someone to be quoted with great caution and trepidation, talks about the actions India must undertake before executing such [...]
Pakistan dodges the real issue again and the US seems to be buying it.
The Indian Prime Minister has unequivocallly ruled out a military response. No movement of Indian troops to their forward positions has been reported so far. All the reports, that are being verified by the US intelligence agencies, are of twenty thousand Pakistani soldiers moving from their [...]
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