COMMENTARIES
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China’s Nuclear Programme: Modernising or Multiplying?
Allyson Rimmer · 22 Aug, 2017 · #5344 · Commentary
China, one of five countries allowed to possess nuclear weapons by the Treaty for the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), has been accused of expanding the number of nuclear warheads at its disposal. It is believed to be the only NPT Nuc...
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Dateline Colombo
Sri Lanka: Leveraging the Politics of Geography
Asanga Abeyagoonasekera · 22 Aug, 2017 · #5343 · Commentary · Column
Rural Hambantota was once best known thanks to featuring in a book by Leonard Woolf in the early 20th century, and now, as a port shaping Sri Lankan politics. Woolf’s Village in the Jungle was the first novel in English literature to be writ...
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Strategic Space
Stabilising Deterrence: Doctrines Score Over Numbers
Manpreet Sethi · 22 Aug, 2017 · #5342 · Commentary · Column
In answer to the criticism from non-nuclear weapon states on lack of movement towards nuclear disarmament by the nuclear weapon states, the latter often highlight the reductions in their stockpiles as one step showcasing their commitment to this...
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Trump's Afghanistan Strategy
Rana Banerji · 22 Aug, 2017 · #5341 · Commentary
After procrastinating for almost five months, US President Donald Trump chose the symbolically significant platform of Fort Myers, Arlington to announce a shift from a “time-based to a conditions-based” strategy to support the Ashraf G...
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Three Years of the Modi Government
India-Afghanistan Relations: Innovating Continuity
Rajeshwari Krishnamurthy · 17 Aug, 2017 · #5340 · Commentary
Bilateral relations between India and Afghanistan have been characterised by ‘friendly engagement’ and underscored by positive public perception in both countries; this has continued after the Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Al...
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Three Years of the Modi Government
The State and the States: The Northeast in the Centre's Vision
Sanjoy Hazarika and Niyati Singh · 17 Aug, 2017 · #5339 · Commentary
A Google search of the keywords "Prime Minister Narendra Modi" and the "Northeast" throw up various headlines that include the following:
"Narendra Modi wants to make Northeast ‘Gateway to Southeast Asia’&...
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Three Years of the Modi Government
India-Nepal Relations: Mixed Fortunes
Pramod Jaiswal · 16 Aug, 2017 · #5338 · Commentary
Narendra Modi’s electoral victory in May 2014 generated positive vibes throughout the region. His invitation to the heads of governments of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) member-states to his swearing-in cerem...
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East Asia Compass
The US' Acrobatic Responses to the North Korean Riddle
Dr Sandip Kumar Mishra · 13 Aug, 2017 · #5337 · Commentary · Column
North Korea has been consistent and uncompromising in its pursuit of nuclear weapons and their delivery systems. In 2017, on an average, North Korea carried out missile tests every 2.6 weeks. The North Korean pursuit has brought unimagined success...
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Maritime Matters
Dhow Trade in the North Arabian Sea
Vijay Sakhuja · 07 Aug, 2017 · #5336 · Commentary · Column
The half yearly report on global trends in sea piracy and armed robbery against ships for 2017, published by the International Maritime Bureau (IMB), presents a mixed bag of news: the good news is that 87 piracy incidents were recorded across th...
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The Strategist
A Pug, a Terrier and the Doklam Stand Off
Vice Admiral Vijay Shankar · 07 Aug, 2017 · #5335 · Commentary · Column
William Moorcroft, a British veterinary surgeon of the East India Company, set off in 1816 on an expedition to the Kailas region of Tibet to search for that breed of Central Asian horses that would revitalise the blood stock of the Company&rsquo...
