COMMENTARIES
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The Strategist
The Chilling Prospects of Nuclear Devices at Large
Vijay Shankar · 12 May, 2014 · #4431 · Commentary · Column
During the Cold War, the Soviet Union produced over one thousand tons of weapon grade plutonium and highly enriched uranium. By 1986 its stockpile numbered 45,000 warheads; it was poorly inventoried; spread across the Republics with fissionable ...
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Eagle Eye
US’ Frantic Effort to Make the Rebalancing Strategy Work
Chintamani Mahapatra · 12 May, 2014 · #4430 · Commentary · Column
Since late 2011, the Obama administration has been repeatedly trumpeting a new strategy to sustain and strengthen the US’s interests in the Asia-Pacific.
First, then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton published an article high...
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Real Threat to Sharif and Pakistan
Imran Khan, Not Taliban
D Suba Chandran · 07 May, 2014 · #4429 · Commentary
It is deja vu in Pakistan. In a matter of month, there has been a dramatic change in the political scenario in terms of relationship between the major institutions and actors within the country.
Consider the following developments and com...
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Pakistan: Military and the Myth of Independent Media
Sushant Sareen · 08 May, 2014 · #4428 · Commentary
When Pakistani journalists interact with Indians, it is a fairly common practise for many of them to label others of their ilk as an ‘agencies man’; i.e. being on the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI)/Intelligence Bureau/Military Int...
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Appointment of the Next Indian Army Chief: A Contested Political Issue
C Uday Bhaskar · 07 May, 2014 · #4427 · Commentary
The UPA government led by PM Manmohan Singh is expected to demit office on 16 May 2014 when the eagerly awaited elections results will be announced by the Election Commission (EC). Both the BJP and the Congress have been making strong claims tha...
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Af-Pak Diary
Inside Pakistan: The Establishment’s Two-Front War
D Suba Chandran · 05 May, 2014 · #4426 · Commentary · Column
The Establishment in Pakistan may have worried about a two-front war bordering India and Afghanistan for a long time, but it never would have imagined a two-front war within the country itself, vis-à-vis the elected political leadership a...
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Spotlight West Asia
Elections in Iraq: Uncertain Prospects
Ranjit Gupta · 05 May, 2014 · #4425 · Commentary · Column
The US’ unilateral invasion of Iraq in 2003, the subsequent overthrow and execution of then President Saddam Hussein, and the complete dismantling of the Ba'athist state apparatus left an already emaciated Iraq – to over a decade...
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East Asia Compass
Obama’s Visit: Deciphering US’ Regional Intentions
Dr Sandip Kumar Mishra · 05 May, 2014 · #4424 · Commentary · Column
The four-nation trip made by US President Barack Obama in April 2014 could be interpreted in many different ways. It was important as in October 2013, Obama was not able to participate in the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit and man...
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Dateline Colombo
Ethnic Reconciliation: Learning from the Rwandan Experience
Asanga Abeyagoonasekera · 05 May, 2014 · #4423 · Commentary · Column
In May 2014, the nation of Rwanda commemorates the twentieth year of its brutal massacre.
In one of the most cruel and inhumane moments of history to date, the Hutus massacred 800,000 to 1 million Tutsis as well as moderate Hutus within a hundr...
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Himalayan Frontier
Nepal: Challenges to Constitution-Making
Pramod Jaiswal · 05 May, 2014 · #4422 · Commentary · Column
The Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (UCPN-M), the single largest party from the first Constituent Assembly (CA) election, is in a dilemma after suffering a setback in the second CA election. The party seems to have lost direction and is ...
