Category Archives: Asian geopolitics

Dealing with transitions

Posted on November 16, 2012 by Bharat Karnad

It is a relatively rare occasion to have the timelines converge for transitions in governments in the two countries India’s foreign and military policies, for different reasons, revolve around. The relatively greater importance of the United States in the Indian … Continue reading →

Posted in Asian geopolitics, China, China military, Geopolitics, Great Power imperatives, India's China Policy, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Ocean, Nuclear Policy & Strategy, Nuclear Weapons, Strategic Forces Command, Strategic Relations with the US & West, United States, US. | Leave a comment

Army in doldrums

Posted on November 9, 2012 by Bharat Karnad

                          Bharat Karnad After a rough-hewn career in the field, politics should be pursued by soldiers as an avocation, not a vocation that the workaday politicians have made it The Army has been in the news for a few years … Continue reading →

Posted in Asian geopolitics, China, China military, civil-military relations, India's China Policy, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Air Force, Indian Army, Indian Politics | 3 Comments

Meaningless cabinet jiggle

Posted on November 2, 2012 by Bharat Karnad

It is not clear what the cabinet reshuffle that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh or, as the Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, at an election rally in Himachal Pradesh, wittily called him, Maun Mohan Singh, and Congress party president Sonia Gandhi … Continue reading →

Posted in Asian geopolitics, China, Geopolitics, India's China Policy, Indian Politics, Internal Security, nonproliferation, Nuclear Policy & Strategy, Strategic Relations with South East Asia & Far East, Strategic Relations with the US & West, United States, US. | Leave a comment

Nuclear decisionmaking 1964-74 – discussion at IDSA

Posted on October 19, 2012 by Bharat Karnad

As part of the nuclear history project, an hour-long video of panel discussion at IDSA, Oct 10, 2012,  chaired by Inder Malhotra and involving Joseph Pilat of the Los Alamos lab, K. Santhanam, Vice Admiral (ret) KK Nayyar, and yours truly. Recently uloaded … Continue reading →

Posted in Asian geopolitics, civil-military relations, disarmament, DRDO, Geopolitics, Great Power imperatives, India's China Policy, India's strategic thinking and policy, indian policy -- Israel, Iran and West Asia, Indian Politics, nonproliferation, Nuclear Policy & Strategy, Nuclear Weapons, Strategic Relations with the US & West, United States, US. | 8 Comments

Republicans better for India

Posted on October 19, 2012 by Bharat Karnad

It matters to Indian national interest which person and party wins the presidential elections in the United States, not for the usual reasons of the this or that winner being more friendly to this country. But because, generally, Republicans are … Continue reading →

Posted in Asian geopolitics, China, Geopolitics, Great Power imperatives, Nuclear Policy & Strategy, Nuclear Weapons, Strategic Relations with the US & West, United States, US. | 2 Comments

Revisting 1962, with ifs and buts

Posted on October 11, 2012 by Bharat Karnad

Many years ago, Air Marshal B.D. Jayal (Retd), former Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, South Western Air Command, one of the most thoughtful airmen around, recalled how he and his mates of 1 Squadron sat in their transonic Mystere IVA fighter-bombers lined … Continue reading →

Posted in Asian geopolitics, China, China military, civil-military relations, Geopolitics, India's China Policy, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Air Force, Indian Army, Indian Politics, Military Acquisitions, Nuclear Policy & Strategy, Nuclear Weapons | 27 Comments

Leave security to experts

Posted on October 6, 2012 by Bharat Karnad

Brajesh Mishra’s death last week triggered fulsome and well deserved eulogies from his Foreign Service colleagues and persons who had worked with him during the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition government, 1998-2004. There is no question but that he was the … Continue reading →

Posted in Asian geopolitics, civil-military relations, DRDO, Great Power imperatives, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Politics, Nuclear Policy & Strategy, Nuclear Weapons, Strategic Relations with the US & West, US. | 1 Comment

Preempting Danger

Posted on September 21, 2012 by Bharat Karnad

If a graph were drawn with Pakistan government’s bluff, bluster, and threats of nuclear weapons use on one axis and the growth of its nuclear arsenal on the other axis, what you’d trace is actually a line that has been … Continue reading →

Posted in Asian geopolitics, China, China military, Geopolitics, Great Power imperatives, India's China Policy, India's Pakistan Policy, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Politics, Internal Security, Missiles, Nuclear Policy & Strategy, Nuclear Weapons, Pakistan, Pakistan military, Terrorism, United States, US., Western militaries | 5 Comments

Nuclear Correctness

Posted on September 13, 2012 by Bharat Karnad

National Security Adviser (NSA) Shiv Shankar Menon was at an Indian Council of World Affairs (ICWA) meet on August 27 to launch a revived Rajiv Gandhi Action Plan for nuclear disarmament. In his speech, he teased the audience with his … Continue reading →

Posted in Asian geopolitics, Geopolitics, Great Power imperatives, India's China Policy, India's Pakistan Policy, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Air Force, Indian Army, Indian Navy, Nuclear Policy & Strategy, Pakistan, Pakistan military, Strategic Forces Command | 18 Comments

China respects hard power

Posted on September 7, 2012 by Bharat Karnad

Shyam Saran, the former foreign secretary and Chinese language speaker, the other day delivered in New Delhi a most insightful and enlightening public lecture on China. Equally, there has not been a more damning indictment of India’s China outlook, approach, … Continue reading →

Posted in Asian geopolitics, China, China military, Geopolitics, Great Power imperatives, India's China Policy, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Air Force, Indian Army, Indian Navy | 7 Comments