COMMENTARIES
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China: Naval Drill and Regime Legitimacy
Palden Sonam · 11 May, 2018 · #5463 · Commentary
President Xi Jinping reviewed the largest naval exercise in
China’s history in the disputed South China Sea (SCS) on 12 April, barely two
days after the USS Theodore Roosevelt sailed through the same troubled sea as in
what the US called norm...
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The Strategist
The Regression of Nuclear Policy
Vice Admiral Vijay Shankar · 03 May, 2018 · #5462 · Commentary · Column
Contemporary trends positing the reversibility of a nuclear exchange presupposes that the antagonists are able to understand mutual aims, objectives and have unimpeachable knowledge of boundaries within which the conflict is to be played out. In t...
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Between Sanctions and Diplomacy: North Korea's Balancing Act
Shivani Singh · 30 Apr, 2018 · #5461 · Commentary
The possibility of bilateral negotiations between North Korea and the US is a sign of relief after months of prevailing tensions in the Korean Peninsula. Following a long trajectory of strained relations between North Korea and the West, North Kor...
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The Chabahar Port Project and Afghanistan’s Alternative Approach to Trade
Jawad Torabi · 19 Apr, 2018 · #5460 · Commentary
Historically,
and given the tensions in bilateral relations, dependence on the Pakistani
market and trade routes has been a point of vulnerability for Afghanistan, a
landlocked country. To overcome this vulnerability, Kabul has begun looking fo...
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The Nuclear Consequences of Brexit
Arushi Vig · 19 Apr, 2018 · #5459 · Commentary
After the 2016 Brexit verdict, one area of several areas of concern is nuclear energy. The British civil nuclear programme was meshed with Euratom since the UK's inclusion in the EU in 1973. One consequence of Brexit is Prime Minister Theresa May...
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Trump’s Tariffs and a Looming Trade War: India's Stakes
Ayan Tewari · 17 Apr, 2018 · #5458 · Commentary
As US President Donald Trump imposes steel and aluminium tariffs on most countries, India is in a unique position to capitalise on the situation. Trump...
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Maritime Matters
New Technologies Demand New Laws and Ethics
Vijay Sakhuja · 16 Apr, 2018 · #5457 · Commentary · Column
The Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) on lethal autonomous weapon systems (LAWS) met in Geneva earlier this month and emphasised the critical necessity to ban "fully autonomous weapon systems." They urged states to move towards negotiating a leg...
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East Asia Compass
Regional Stability and Japan's Irresponsible Political Gambit
Dr Sandip Kumar Mishra · 06 Apr, 2018 · #5456 · Commentary · Column
It is a critical time for the North Korean nuclear and missile issue, and South Korea, the US and other stakeholder states have accorded it their highest priority. Japan, however, is focusing its primary attention on the abduction of its citizens ...
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Maritime Matters
Game-changing Technologies for Future Naval Operations
Vijay Sakhuja · 31 Mar, 2018 · #5455 · Commentary · Column
Two new weapon technologies - Solid State Lasers (SSLs) and Electromagnetic Railgun (EMRG) - can augment ship defence against incoming missiles, high speed projectiles and unmanned vehicles/drones. Experts argue that if these are successfully depl...
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From Bangladesh to Myanmar: Repatriation of Rohingya Refugees
Angshuman Choudhury · 27 Mar, 2018 · #5454 · Commentary
23 March 2018 marks two months since the first wave of repatriation of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh was to begin through a bilateral agreement with Myanmar signed in November 2017.Since then, not a single refugee - of the 6,88,000 new arriv...