COMMENTARIES
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Dhaka Discourse
India-Bangladesh: Enhancing Ties through a ‘Power Corridor’
Delwar Hossain · 21 Apr, 2014 · #4394 · Commentary · Column
The issue of a ‘power corridor’ has sparked a new debate in Bangladesh-India bilateral relations. Bangladesh has agreed in principle to provide India a ‘power corridor’ to help its neighbour link its north eastern and nor...
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Strategic Space
India and No First Use: Preventing Deterrence Breakdown
Manpreet Sethi · 21 Apr, 2014 · #4393 · Commentary · Column
Several recent writings, including in the context of a possible revision of the Indian nuclear doctrine as mentioned in the BJP manifesto, have mentioned the need for a reconsideration of the no first use (NFU) principle. Many argue that India&r...
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South Asian Dialectic
India and No First Use: The Doctrinal Conundrum
PR Chari · 21 Apr, 2014 · #4392 · Commentary · Column
One can only be bemused by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s exhortation while inaugurating a recent conference on nuclear disarmament that the need was to establish a global no-first-use convention relating to nuclear weapons. His relevant ...
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Iran-Pakistan: Time for Realpolitik over Riyal Politics
Rajeshwari Krishnamurthy · 16 Apr, 2014 · #4391 · Commentary
Although the Jaish al-Adl (JA), a terrorist group that primarily operates from Pakistan’s Balochistan and Iran’s Sistan Baluchestan provinces, released four of the five Iranian border guards it had abducted and held captive in Pa...
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Is Bangladesh’s foreign policy becoming India and Russia-centric?
Harun ur Rashid · 15 Apr, 2014 · #4390 · Commentary
On 27 March, Bangladesh abstained from voting at the UN General Assembly resolution on Russia’s annexation of Crimea. While 100 countries voted in favour of the resolution, 11 opposed it. Bangladesh, alongside 57 others abstained, and even...
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Oman's Duqm Port and US Exit from Afghanistan
Vijay Sakhuja · 14 Apr, 2014 · #4389 · Commentary
The US is keenly following developments in Duqm, an Omani port overlooking the Indian Ocean, and a number of US defense, military and civilian personnel have visited Oman in this connection. British Royal Navy ships have called at Duqm, and in 2...
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Nuke Street
Iran Nuclear Deal: Regional Shadows
Sheel kant Sharma · 14 Apr, 2014 · #4388 · Commentary · Column
There are indications of further substantive progress in P5 plus Germany’s negotiations with Iran in the latest round in Vienna. Iran has shown readiness and given plans to change the design of the Arak research reactor to drastically reduce...
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Eagle Eye
US, Ukraine and the End of Unipolarity
Chintamani Mahapatra · 14 Apr, 2014 · #4387 · Commentary · Column
When Ukraine became a sovereign independent republic following the Soviet disintegration, a unipolar world order was born. Now with Crimea’s secession from Ukraine and the annexation to Russia, the death of the unipolar world seems certain...
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Dateline Islamabad
Elections in India and Afghanistan: Perspective from Pakistan
Salma Malik · 14 Apr, 2014 · #4386 · Commentary · Column
A recent trip to New Delhi brought forth some interesting trends and comparisons. Gripped with election fever, Indian voters appeared to be facing the same dilemma their Pakistani counterparts did a year ago. Reminiscent of the May 2013 Pakistan...
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The Strategist
MH370 and China's Anti-Access Area Denial Strategy
Vijay Shankar · 14 Apr, 2014 · #4385 · Commentary · Column
fThe mystery of the missing Malaysian Airlines MH 370 continues to confound. Was it a sudden catastrophic end to an ill-fated flight or was it a failure of surveillance that led to a controlled and purposeful disappearance of a marked commercial...
