Author Archives: Bharat Karnad

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About Bharat Karnad

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.

Expeditionary future

Posted on October 21, 2011 by Bharat Karnad

The closely packed state visits by three heads of governments in South Asia and the extended region – Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan, Truong Tan Sang of Vietnam, and Thein Sein of Myanmar signified something the Manmohan Singh government did not … Continue reading →

Posted in Great Power imperatives, India's China Policy, India's Pakistan Policy, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Air Force, Indian Army, Indian Navy, Strategic Relations with South East Asia & Far East | Leave a comment

Myanmar-India

Posted on October 15, 2011 by Bharat Karnad

India has finally woken, a bit late in the day, to Chinese advances in Myanmar. Like, in many other areas, the Indian govt rushes into a stance prompted by “political correctness” — in this case of human rights violations and … Continue reading →

Posted in India's China Policy, India's strategic thinking and policy, Strategic Relations with South East Asia & Far East | 3 Comments

Indian armed forces have China Syndrome

Posted on October 14, 2011 by Bharat Karnad

Over the years, the Indian Armed Services have become more and more like the Indian government – cautious, defensive, incremental in thought and action, and risk-averse when it comes to China, an adversary that’s, perhaps, better endowed, if not more … Continue reading →

Posted in Great Power imperatives, India's China Policy, India's Pakistan Policy, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Air Force, Indian Army, Indian Navy, Strategic Relations with South East Asia & Far East | 1 Comment

Buying out of trouble

Posted on October 14, 2011 by Bharat Karnad

A quick Quiz: what’s common about India’s North-East, Kashmir, and Afghanistan? It’s money. The Indian government’s attitude to any insurgency-infected state and, indeed, its solution to ending rebellion and bring distant communities within the Indian fold, is essentially to tempt … Continue reading →

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Posted on October 13, 2011 by Bharat Karnad

Curious, how Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and visiting Vietnam President Truong Tan Sang talked of piracy, etc as shared threats — that is the text, but did not mention China as the common danger — which is the sub-text!

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Endless delusion

Posted on October 8, 2011 by Bharat Karnad

Come the annual meeting of the United Nations General Assembly in autumn and there’s India, predictably making the same old pitch for a permanent seat in the Security Council as part of “comprehensive reform” of the UN. As in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Great Power imperatives, India's China Policy, India's Pakistan Policy, India's strategic thinking and policy, Strategic Relations with South East Asia & Far East, Strategic Relations with the US & West | Leave a comment

Buying out of trouble

Posted on October 8, 2011 by Bharat Karnad

A quick Quiz: what’s common about India’s North-East, Kashmir, and Afghanistan? It’s money. The Indian government’s attitude to any insurgency-infected state and, indeed, its solution to ending rebellion and bring distant communities within the Indian fold, is essentially to tempt … Continue reading →

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Posted on October 6, 2011 by Bharat Karnad

Heard Afghan President Hamid Karzai at the ORF lecture yesterday. Spoke well. He identified the region Afghanistan is in, correctly, as “Central South Asia”.  The strategic partnership he has inked with India, it’s clear, is leverage he means to use to extract … Continue reading →

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India’s first line of defence

Posted on October 1, 2011 by Bharat Karnad

Nations establish moral ascendency over other nations only by victory in war. Shrugging off the possibility of American nuclear attack, China crossed the Yalu River in October 1950 and almost brought the United States led-forces in Korea to their knees, … Continue reading →

Posted in Great Power imperatives, India's China Policy, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Navy, Strategic Relations with South East Asia & Far East | 1 Comment

People’s visceral antipathy

Posted on October 1, 2011 by Bharat Karnad

The everyday experience of the average citizen is that he faces the “pay up the bribe or wait forever/face-the-music” situations at every turn. In this milieu of an exasperated and beaten citizenry, it is surprising that an Anna Hazare has … Continue reading →

Posted in Indian Politics, Internal Security | Leave a comment