COMMENTARIES
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Fernandes, Political Accountability and National Security
Sonika Gupta · 23 Oct, 2001 · #620 · Commentary
George Fernandes is back in the Union Cabinet as Defence Minister. He had resigned in the wake of the Tehelka scandal to “uphold the morale of the armed forces”. Therefore the government’s arguments for bringing him back into the...
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A Supersonic Cruise for India
· 23 Oct, 2001 · #619 · Commentary
On 12 June 2001, the Indo-Russian joint venture, Brahmos Co, successfully test fired a supersonic cruise missile code-named PJ-10. It is a state-of-the-art weapon system and can strike warships at 300 kms in 300 seconds, can mount multiple war-h...
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The Spectre of Chem-Bio Terrorism - II
Arpit Rajain · 18 Oct, 2001 · #618 · Commentary
Biological weapons have been used in war since antiquity. The Persians, Romans and Greeks poisoned the drinking water wells of their adversaries by throwing corpses into them, while the British and French infected North American Indians by giving ...
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The Spectre of Chem-Bio Terrorism I
Arpit Rajain · 18 Oct, 2001 · #617 · Commentary
Following the events of 11 September there is an emerging concern of terrorist use of chemical and biological weapons. There is a large assortment of chem-bio weapons with diverse characteristics that are suitable for terrorist use. There are ma...
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Nuclear Deterrence in Southern Asia – II
Arpit Rajain · 16 Oct, 2001 · #616 · Commentary
China
has been a key player in the South Asian nuclear dynamics since the early 1960’s. With the South Asian nuclear tests, a new source of instability was brought into the security architecture of
Asia
. This has led to furth...
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Nuclear Deterrence in Southern Asia – I
Arpit Rajain · 16 Oct, 2001 · #615 · Commentary
In 1946, strategic analyst Bernard Brodie wrote: “Thus far the chief purpose of our military establishment has been to win wars. From now on its chief purpose must be to avert them”. This sums up the basic premise of nuclear deterrence...
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Lawless Bihar-Democracy at all costs?
Sonika Gupta · 16 Oct, 2001 · #614 · Commentary
TABLE.MsoNormalTable {
FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Times New Roman"; mso-style-parent: ""
}According to a recent newsreport, the
Bihar
chapter of the Indian Medical Association is seeking legal opinion on whether they can discontinu...
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Chronicling the Afghanistan Tragedy – V Zahir Shah, Daud Khan and the Saur Revolution
D Suba Chandran · 16 Oct, 2001 · #613 · Commentary
Zahir Shah, who is now being considered as a key player by the West in setting up any broad-based coalition in the aftermath of the fall of the Taliban, became the King of Afghanistan in 1933. He was deposed by his cousin Daud Khan in 1973. ...
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Chronicling the Afghanistan Tragedy – IV The Great Game
D Suba Chandran · 16 Oct, 2001 · #612 · Commentary
The British and the Russians started showing interests in
Afghanistan
since the beginning of 19th century. The “Great Game”, as it came to be called later, started when
Persia
, with the Russian help, attempted to take o...
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Chronicling the Afghanistan Tragedy III The First Afghan Empire
D Suba Chandran · 11 Sep, 2001 · #611 · Commentary
The first Afghan Empire was established under Ahmad Shah Abdali in 1747. He belonged to the Durrani tribe and was selected as the leader of the tribe by the elders in
Kandahar
. He proceeded to win Ghazni,
Kabul
,
Herat
, Ma...
