COMMENTARIES
  • 16th ASEAN Regional Forum: Has It Gone Beyond Rhetoric?
       ·   08 Oct, 2009    ·    #2979    ·    Commentary    
    Twenty-seven countries across the Pacific Ocean gathered in Phuket, Thailand towards the end of July on the sideline of ASEAN Summit and the subsequent East Asia Summit. The week long event concluded with the annual ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) me...
  • The McChrystal Report and India
    Uddipan Mukherjee    ·   06 Oct, 2009    ·    #2978    ·    Commentary    
    Is the inexorable march of the NATO-led coalition forces through the cobweb of insurgency in Afghanistan, coming to a grinding halt? That this appears to be inescapable for the US-spearheaded International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) is a p...
  • China’s Space Programme
    Radhakrishna Rao    ·   06 Oct, 2009    ·    #2977    ·    Commentary    
    Even as India’s maiden lunar probe Chandrayaan-1 launched in October last created a space history by providing the strongest evidence ever for the presence of water on the moon, China put in place a high resolution, three dimensional atlas...
  • Pokharan II: The Incestuous Debate
    PR Chari    ·   01 Oct, 2009    ·    #2976    ·    Commentary    
    Santhanam’s disclosure that the thermonuclear (hydrogen bomb) test in 1998 failed to reach expectations was known earlier. Initial doubts emerged among weapons designers abroad whether Indian nuclear scientists could have contained the yie...
  • Engaging Iran: “Bigger Carrots and Bigger Sticks”
    Tara Sarin    ·   25 Sep, 2009    ·    #2975    ·    Commentary    
    After almost a decade long struggle to engage Iran, the international community seems prepared to offer an ‘extended hand’ to Iran by finally launching a direct diplomatic dialogue combined with employing a new strategy of ‘big...
  • Where is the “Northern Spring” in Sri Lanka?
    N Manoharan    ·   23 Sep, 2009    ·    #2974    ·    Commentary    
    The Sri Lankan government’s socio-economic and political plans for the island’s north are called “Northern Spring.” It has two broad aspects: ‘Triple R’ and elections. Relief, Rehabilitation and Reconstruct...
  • LTTE : The Jihadi Connection
    Jeremie Lanche    ·   23 Sep, 2009    ·    #2973    ·    Commentary    
    In an article for the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism in March 2008, Shanaka Jayasekara analyzed the LTTE links with Islamic militant groups in South Asia and beyond. Jayasekara stated that as the LTTE benefited from its worldwide ...
  • Presidential Visit to Tajikistan: India among the Pamirs?
    Uddipan Mukherjee    ·   22 Sep, 2009    ·    #2972    ·    Commentary    
    Indian President Pratibha Patil made a quiet but strategic three-day state visit to the Central Asian Republic of Tajikistan from 6-8 September. She stated India’s commitment to assisting Tajikistan in nation building through Indian experi...
  • The 90,000 sq kms Sino-Indian tangle
    Mirza Zulfiqur Rahman    ·   18 Sep, 2009    ·    #2971    ·    Commentary    
    The state of Arunachal Pradesh on India’s northeastern frontier has been in the news recently for a variety of reasons. The state has really been the center of Sino-Indian contestations for the past few years over the question of territory...
  • Chinese Military 'Website' : Possible Interpretations
    Bhartendu Kumar Singh    ·   16 Sep, 2009    ·    #2970    ·    Commentary    
    Recently, China’s Ministry of National Defence (MND) opened itself to the rest of the world through an exclusive website, available in Chinese and English. While the initiative is only on a trial basis, it could stay put. Given the curiosi...
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