COMMENTARIES
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Spotlight West Asia
West Asia Six Years After the ‘Arab Spring’: Prognosis for 2017
Ranjit Gupta · 19 Jan, 2017 · #5224 · Commentary · Column
All Arab countries have autocratic governments. Six years ago, in the winter of 2010-2011 a spontaneous and exhilarating surge of massive protest demonstrations involving hundreds of thousands of common people swept across the Arab world, swiftl...
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US Policy Orientation
Donald Trump's Counter-Terrorism Policy
Angshuman Choudhury & Husanjot Chahal · 18 Jan, 2017 · #5223 · Commentary
US President-elect Donald Trump's proposed counter-terrorism (CT) policy is as vociferous in its tone as it is imprecise in its content. On this, Trump’s orientation and preferences can be drawn from his own statements and those of his...
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India: Crises in Command?
Murli Menon · 12 Jan, 2017 · #5222 · Commentary
The controversial nature of the new Indian army chief’s appointment and the corruption scandal involving a former air chief has brought the Indian military leadership in the media spotlight once again. In India, traditionally, military lea...
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East Asia Compass
Japan-China Contestation in 2017
Dr Sandip Kumar Mishra · 10 Jan, 2017 · #5221 · Commentary · Column
2017 is set to be a consequential year for East Asia in general and Japan-China contests in particular. Beijing and Tokyo's growing assertive postures would continue in 2017 and it is likely that the Japan-China contestation in the region wo...
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India and Vietnam: Strengthening Bilateral Relations
Amruta Karambelkar · 09 Jan, 2017 · #5220 · Commentary
2016 has been an important year in India-Vietnam relations, characterised by several high-level bilateral visits. Prime Minister Modi paid a visit to Vietnam in September 2016, preceded Defence Minister Parrikar's visit in June 2016. New Del...
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India-Pakistan
Line (Out) of Control?
Joy Mitra · 06 Jan, 2017 · #5219 · Commentary
The Line of Control (LoC) between India and Pakistan is witnessing a fresh spiral of violence post the Indian “surgical” strikes of 29 September 2016. The spike in violence seems to suggest that the ceasefire agreement of 2003 betwee...
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Special Commentary
India’s Nuclear Energy Policy: Bottlenecks to Implementation
Niharika Tagotra · 03 Jan, 2017 · #5218 · Commentary
India has an ambitious nuclear energy programme but its legislative-regulatory mechanism does not quite match up to it. With a present installed capacity of 5780 mega watts (MW), contributing about 3 per cent to the total energy production, nuclea...
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India, Afghanistan and the Heart of Asia: Reading Between the Lines
Sarral Sharma · 03 Jan, 2017 · #5217 · Commentary
On 4 December 2016, the sixth ministerial conference of the Heart of Asia - Istanbul Process (HoA-IP) on Afghanistan concluded in Amritsar, India. The Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi voiced their concern ove...
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Red Affairs
A Bridge Over River Gurupriya
Bibhu Prasad Routray · 31 Dec, 2016 · #5216 · Commentary · Column
In Odisha's Malkangiri district, a 910 m-long bridge over river Gurupriya is being attempted to be built for the last 34 years. This could arguably be the most delayed infrastructure building project in the world. In a layman's calcu...
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The Strategist
Perils of Nuclear Paranoia
Vijay Shankar · 31 Dec, 2016 · #5215 · Commentary · Column
If armed hostilities, for the initiator, has very little to do with military balance both conventional and nuclear; then it raises the prospect that balance may indeed be skewed against gravity.
Nuclear Brinkmanship Plus
The late Thomas S...
