COMMENTARIES
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IPCS Review
Myanmar: Is Tatmadaw Assuming a Proactive Role?
Aparupa Bhattacherjee · 20 May, 2014 · #4456 · Commentary
The International Crisis Group’s (ICG) recent report, titled 'Myanmar’s Military: Back to the Barracks?’ has tried to elaborately update the readers on the role of Myanmar’s army – the Tatmadaw – in the co...
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Statehood Demands in India’s Northeast: Is Bodoland Justifiable?
Ruhee Neog · 20 May, 2014 · #4455 · Commentary
As anticipated, the creation of Telangana has had a destabilising domino effect on the rest of India. The most recent of these is the demand for a separate Bodoland to be carved out of Assam, which has intensified since the government announced ...
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BCIM and BIMSTEC: Two Competing Initiatives for Northeast India?
Leonora Juergens · 20 May, 2014 · #4454 · Commentary
In June 2014, the second meeting of the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) forum for economic cooperation will be held in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The idea of a BCIM economic corridor was primarily initiated by the 'Kunming Initiative' to e...
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Jamaat-e-Islami Hind: Changed Political Outlook?
Ayesha Khanyari · 20 May, 2014 · #4453 · Commentary
At the New Delhi chapter of the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JIH), Ameer-e-Jamaat Maulana Jalaluddin Omari, the central head of the JIH, recently said, ‘‘The Jamaat is committed to upholding the values of democracy, secularism and the princ...
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Will China ‘Rig’ the Indian Ocean?
Shreya Upadhyay · 20 May, 2014 · #4452 · Commentary
China’s deployment of the Haiyang Shiyou 981, a massive billion-dollar rig designed to drill oil, in the South China Sea (SCS), has sent a clear message to the region – Beijing will drill as and where it pleases.
Is Chi...
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China, the CUES, and Freedom of Navigation
Vivek Mishra · 20 May, 2014 · #4451 · Commentary
The issue of freedom of navigation in the Asia-Pacific, particularly in the South China Sea (SCS) and the East China Sea (ECS), has been a disputative one, involving narratives and counter-narratives of what constitutes a ‘code of conduct&...
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Indus-tan
Modi-fying India-Pakistan Relations
Sushant Sareen · 19 May, 2014 · #4449 · Commentary · Column
Given the decades of hostility between India and Pakistan, animosity and prejudice is entirely understandable; even natural; but the sheer ignorance about each other never ceases to surprise. The Pakistani reaction to the victory of Narendra Mod...
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Dateline Kabul
Taliban’s Spring Offensive: Are the ANSF Prepared?
Mariam Safi · 19 May, 2014 · #4448 · Commentary
On 12 May, the Taliban commenced their annual spring offensive with a series of attacks that left over a dozen killed and many more injured in the Afghan provinces of Helmand, Ghazni, Nangarhar, Parwan and Kabul. Calling it ‘Khaibar’...
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Nuke Street
Looking Up in North East Asia
Sheel kant Sharma · 19 May, 2014 · #4447 · Commentary · Column
For weeks before President Obama’s visit to Seoul in April 2014 there were a series of reports, spurred by deliberate North Korean announcements, about an impending nuclear test. It has not happened so far, nor any missile test for that ma...
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Dhaka Discourse
Bangladesh-US: Towards New Engagements?
Delwar Hossain · 19 May, 2014 · #4446 · Commentary · Column
The third round of the 2014 Bangladesh-US security dialogue was held in Dhaka on 22 April. It focused on issues such as peacekeeping, counter-terrorism, disaster-management, maritime security and regional security. The security dialogue is part ...
