Senior Fellow in National Security Studies at the Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi, he was Member of the (1st) National Security Advisory Board and the Nuclear Doctrine-drafting Group, and author, among other books of, 'Nuclear Weapons and Indian Security: The Realist Foundations of Strategy', 'India's Nuclear Policy' and most recently, 'Why India is Not a Great Power (Yet)'. Educated at the University of California (undergrad and grad), he was Visiting Scholar at Princeton University, University of Pennsylvania, the Shanghai Institutes of International Studies, and Henry L. Stimson Center, Washington, DC.
Mr Karnad,
I don’t see Pakistan as a mere gnat, as they have killed far too many of our people. This is how we ended up twiddling our thumbs while Pakistan went nuclear right under our noses. USA doesn’t call North Korea a gnat, even though the relative power difference is much greater – and they certainly won’t allow the gnat to get into the position of being able to hold a nuclear knife to their throat. This overly proud and disdainful downplaying of enemy threats seems to only result in India being taken unawares, again and again. Pride, as they say, comes before a fall.
That being said, I do agree that China is our most powerful enemy by far, and we ought to be cautious about overtly antagonizing them. Sometimes I look at our new Look East policy, and wish we were keeping a lower profile while carrying it out.
Anyway, I see our future as mainly being predicated on our fulfillment of our economic potential, which seems continually elusive.
Reblogged this on securityanalystblog.
Mr Karnad,
I don’t see Pakistan as a mere gnat, as they have killed far too many of our people. This is how we ended up twiddling our thumbs while Pakistan went nuclear right under our noses. USA doesn’t call North Korea a gnat, even though the relative power difference is much greater – and they certainly won’t allow the gnat to get into the position of being able to hold a nuclear knife to their throat. This overly proud and disdainful downplaying of enemy threats seems to only result in India being taken unawares, again and again. Pride, as they say, comes before a fall.
That being said, I do agree that China is our most powerful enemy by far, and we ought to be cautious about overtly antagonizing them. Sometimes I look at our new Look East policy, and wish we were keeping a lower profile while carrying it out.
Anyway, I see our future as mainly being predicated on our fulfillment of our economic potential, which seems continually elusive.