COMMENTARIES
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The Strategist
Barbarism and the Smell of Cordite
Vijay Shankar · 30 May, 2016 · #5045 · Commentary · Column
Aggregation of power is never more apparent than when there is dramatic increase in state controlled power-activism. Equally impactful is the growing disregard for moral principles when power (political, corporate or military) is exercised. The ...
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Chinese Military Modernisation: Takeaways from the Pentagon Report
Bhartendu Kumar Singh · 30 May, 2016 · #5044 · Commentary
Every year, the American Department of Defence (Pentagon) publishes a report on the military and security developments of China under the National Defence Authorisation Act (2000). The report is supposed to address the current and probable futur...
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India-Taiwan Relations: What is the Way Forward?
Sumit Kumar Jha · 30 May, 2016 · #5043 · Commentary
The Modi government took many foreign policy initiatives to deepen India’s ties with the rest of the world soon after coming to power. One was to foster closer ties with the East Asian countries under its Act East policy. However in May 20...
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J&K Focus
Governance & Strategic Communication: Keys to Stabilising J&K
Lt Gen (Retd) Syed Ata Hasnain · 30 May, 2016 · #5042 · Commentary · Column
With the durbar back in Srinagar, one of the first things the new government did was to convene a meeting of the Unified Command. That is most sensible because an early stock-taking of the situation and planning for contingencies for the summer ...
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Nuke Street
Why China is Using NPT to Block India's Entry into the NSG
Sheel kant Sharma · 27 May, 2016 · #5041 · Commentary · Column
There is unusual and shocking stridence in China's very vocal stand, and its timing, demanding adherence to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) as the criterion for India's membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group. Such insistence on bei...
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Obama in Vietnam: Only Permanent Interests
Amruta Karambelkar · 27 May, 2016 · #5040 · Commentary
The US and Vietnam are the strangest bedfellows in the Asia Pacific. US President Barack Obama’s visit to Vietnam received wide attention, particularly because of the lifting of the embargo on the sale of lethal weapons to Vietnam. The ban...
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IPCS Discussion
India-Pakistan Under Prime Ministers Gujral-Sharif: A Retrospective
Report · 26 May, 2016 · #5039 · Commentary
On 18 May 2016, the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies hosted a discussion on India-Pakistan bilateral relations during the governments of Prime Ministers Inder Kumar Gujral and Nawaz Sharif, at which Ambassador (Retd) Salman Haidar, Patron...
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Brass Tacks of the Emerging Afghan Taliban
Rajeshwari Krishnamurthy · 26 May, 2016 · #5038 · Commentary
On 21 May 2016, Afghan Taliban Chief Mullah Mansour was killed in a US drone strike in Balochistan, Pakistan. On 25 May 2016, the insurgent group’s Rahbari Shura – the central leadership council – declared Mansour’s first...
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India-Iran
Modi in Iran: A Successful Visit
Ambassador KP Fabian · 25 May, 2016 · #5037 · Commentary
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s two-day visit to Iran from 22-23 May 2016 is easily one of the best visits in terms of impact, made by this globe-trotting head of government who went to 26 countries in 2015. This visit has to be view...
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Of Ranks and Scores in Nuclear Security: 18 Years of South Asian Nuclearisation
Rabia Akhtar · 24 May, 2016 · #5036 · Commentary
In the foreword of the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) Index 2016, Sam Nunn, NTI Co-Chairman and CEO, asked an important question in the context of the last Nuclear Security Summit (NSS) held in Washington, DC: “Without the high-level atte...
