COMMENTARIES
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IPCS Discussion
IPCS-Stimson Center Roundtable on South Asia
Report · 31 Dec, 2016 · #5214 · Commentary
In the 9th interaction under its Twentieth Anniversary Plenum Series, IPCS, in collaboration with Stimson Center, organised a roundtable on South Asia on Thursday, 8 December 2016.
In Session I, Amb (Retd) Salman Haidar (Patron, IP...
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J&K Focus
The Ominous Calm is both Good and Bad for J&K
Lt Gen (Retd) Syed Ata Hasnain · 31 Dec, 2016 · #5213 · Commentary · Column
After the 2013 hanging of Afzal Guru, many had expected that the Valley would boil. Nothing much happened, leading people to inquire from Kashmiris as to why this was so. Friends from Kashmir often say that people from the Valley do not respond ...
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US Policy Orientation
Trump and “America Firstâ€: The End of the Asia-Pacific Pivot?
Akanksha Narain · 31 Dec, 2016 · #5212 · Commentary
Donald Trump’s unexpected victory has not only shocked the world but is also likely to shake up US foreign policy. While Trump’s unpredictability, campaign rhetoric and unclear foreign policy stance have left analysts and policymakers ...
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Indonesia: Secularism and Domestic Politics
Navrekha Sharma · 27 Dec, 2016 · #5211 · Commentary
Jakarta’s popular, dynamic (and by all accounts, clean) Governor, Basuki “Ahok” Purnama, a Christian of Chinese descent, is on trial for saying, at a recent election rally to vote in the next governor, that his c...
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Russia’s Search for New Ground in Pakistan
Adarsh Vijay · 26 Dec, 2016 · #5210 · Commentary
Russia is all set to rebuild its relations with Pakistan, a move that could be a game-changer for both Pakistan and South Asia. Given the dynamic strategic parameters in South Asia and a policy transition that might overcome the long drawn US-Ru...
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Dateline Colombo
Sri Lankan Foreign Policy: Diaspora and Lobbying
Asanga Abeyagoonasekera · 26 Dec, 2016 · #5209 · Commentary · Column
“No foreign policy - no matter how ingenious - has any chance of success if it is born in the minds of a few and carried in the hearts of none.”
Henry A Kissinger
7 December this year marks the 75th anniversary of the Pearl Har...
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Strategic Space
Limits of Practising Nuclear Brinksmanship
Manpreet Sethi · 21 Dec, 2016 · #5208 · Commentary · Column
Thomas Schelling, a noted nuclear strategist who passed away recently, explained brinkmanship as a strategy that “means manipulating the shared risk of war. It means exploiting the danger that somebody may inadvertently go over the brink, ...
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US Policy Orientation
Trump and West Asia: Reading the Tea Leaves
Ranjit Gupta · 19 Dec, 2016 · #5207 · Commentary
Not only is Donald Trump the least-prepared president-elect in US history, but he compounds this handicap by showing little interest in preparing for perhaps the most important position in the world. He has been brazenly blasé about avoid...
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US Policy Orientation
President Trump's Prospects for the Middle East
Derek Verbakel · 15 Dec, 2016 · #5206 · Commentary
Predicting the implications of Donald Trump’s presidency for the Middle East requires informed guesswork in drawing links from campaign rhetoric to a more coherent approach or ensuing foreign policy. Trump, who apparently favours ‘is...
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Xi as "Core Leader": Re-emergence of Strongman Politics?
Tapan Bharadwaj · 15 Dec, 2016 · #5205 · Commentary
The sixth plenary session of the 18th Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee was held in Beijing on 24-27 October 2016. Plenary sessions are important in understanding the opaque political functioning of the Chinese government. T...
