COMMENTARIES
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Ethnic Fault-Lines in Assam: A Separate Bodoland?
Leonora Juergens · 30 Apr, 2014 · #4418 · Commentary
Prior to the third Phase of the 2014 Lok Sabha Elections on 24 April, Chief Minister of Assam Tarun Gogoi claimed that after prolonged agitations in Assam’s Bodo heartland, the situation had returned to normal. This was apparently due to the...
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US in Asia Pacific
India-US: DTTI and India's Quest for Self Reliance
Shreya Upadhyay · 30 Apr, 2014 · #4417 · Commentary
A recent SIPRI report states that India continues to be the world’s largest arms importer while the US, the biggest supplier. Though it does not paint a happy picture about the ‘patron-client’ relationship,...
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India and No First Use: Does ‘Calculated Ambiguity’ Help?
Ruhee Neog · 30 Apr, 2014 · #4416 · Commentary
Since the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) released its election manifesto that promises to “study in detail India’s nuclear doctrine, and revise and update it, to make it relevant to challenges of current times,” and Prime Ministe...
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India-China: A Water War over the Brahmaputra?
Roomana Hukil · 30 Apr, 2014 · #4415 · Commentary
Recently, Claude Arpi, renowned scholar on China wrote about how China’s aspirations to divert the waters of the Brahmaputra River were feeding into mounting disagreements between New Delhi and Beijing. China has consistently been moving a...
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Myanmar: Peace in Kachin State?
Aparupa Bhattacherjee · 30 Apr, 2014 · #4414 · Commentary
Ongoing conflicts between the Myanmarese army and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) since 2011 have questioned all the peace deals signed between these two parties. The Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO), the political wing of the KIA, had ...
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Pakistan: Shooting the Messengers
Shujaat Bukhari · 30 Apr, 2014 · #4413 · Commentary
Within a span of three weeks from March 28 to April 19, Pakistan’s two prominent journalists Raza Rumi and Hamid Mir escaped murderous assaults. The assassination bids show how hazardous the situation is for media persons in a country that h...
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Pakistan: A Different Agenda for Taliban’s Foot Soldiers?
Rajeshwari Krishnamurthy · 30 Apr, 2014 · #4412 · Commentary
Of late, the discourses on terrorism and terrorist cells operating from within and outside Pakistan have seen intensification. What are the motives of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), given how leadership changes in the organisation have resul...
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US in Asia Pacific
Camp Pendleton Exercise: Heralding the Future US-Asia Security Dynamics?
Vivek Mishra · 30 Apr, 2014 · #4411 · Commentary
What does the recently held Camp Pendleton Exercise (Iron Fist 2014), between the US and Japan, portend for the US’ role in the Asian security architecture?
Joint military exercises, particularly those involving combat simulations a...
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An Indian Nuclear Doctrine Review: A Third Model
Ali Ahmed · 30 Apr, 2014 · #4410 · Commentary
The reference in the BJP manifesto to a review of the Indian nuclear doctrine has had the salutary effect of keeping the nuclear issue in the public mind. It has also made the possibility of a review of the doctrine, even if the BJP does not com...
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A Comprehensive Nuclear Agreement with Iran: Four Potential Roadblocks
Ruhee Neog · 24 Apr, 2014 · #4409 · Commentary
The Joint Statement released by EU High Representative Catherine Ashton and Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif after the latest round of nuclear talks towards a possible comprehensive agreement states that “A lot of intensive work will b...
