Category Archives: civil-military relations

The Myth of Politicised Army

Posted on October 7, 2013 by Bharat Karnad

The former army chief General Vijay Kumar Singh’s reaction to the calculated leaking to the press of an internal army report investigating the activities of the secretive Technical Support Division (TSD) during his tenure has created needless confusion about the … Continue reading →

Posted in Asian geopolitics, China, civil-military relations, guerilla warfare, India's Pakistan Policy, Indian Army, Indian para-military forces, Indian Politics, Internal Security, South Asia, Terrorism | 5 Comments

Giap the Great and thoughts on the Indian nation

Posted on October 5, 2013 by Bharat Karnad

Perhaps, the greatest general of the 20th Century, Vo Nguyen Giap, the Vietnamese victor over, successively, the Japanese Imperial land forces, the French colonial army, the United States and, under his guidance as defence minister, the beating up of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Asian geopolitics, China, China military, civil-military relations, Geopolitics, guerilla warfare, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Politics, Internal Security, Japan, Missiles, Nuclear Policy & Strategy, Nuclear Weapons, South Asia, Strategic Relations with South East Asia & Far East, United States, US., Western militaries | 5 Comments

Politicising an apolitical military

Posted on September 24, 2013 by Bharat Karnad

A day apart, there were two contrasting views about the “apolitical” Indian military. Yesterday Lt Col CR Sundar, President Tamil Nadu BJP ExServicemens’ (ESM) Cell, emailed me a note sent off to others well in which he said, that ex-Servicemen, … Continue reading →

Posted in civil-military relations, Indian Air Force, Indian Army, Indian Navy, Indian Politics, Internal Security, Pakistan, Pakistan military, South Asia | Leave a comment

Zubin and his Childish enthusiasms

Posted on September 8, 2013 by Bharat Karnad

Zubin Mehta, conductor of perhaps the finest orchestra in the world, the Berlin Philharmonic, is happy he made music to bring solace to the people of Kashmir. Had he followed up with the kind of reserve he maintained in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Asian geopolitics, civil-military relations, Europe, Geopolitics, Great Power imperatives, guerilla warfare, India's Pakistan Policy, Indian Army, Indian Politics, Internal Security, Pakistan, Pakistan military, South Asia, Terrorism | 5 Comments

Naivete in extremis

Posted on September 5, 2013 by Bharat Karnad

The naivete of Indian diplomats never ceases to amaze! A one-time diplomat and now adviser to Nitish Kumar, Pavan Verma, on a TV panel discussion charged Amit Shah and, by extension, Narendra Modi, with “proactively” violating the Constitutional rights of … Continue reading →

Posted in Asian geopolitics, civil-military relations, guerilla warfare, Indian Politics, Internal Security, Pakistan, South Asia, South East Asia | Leave a comment

Targeted execution of Dawood Ibrahim?

Posted on August 29, 2013 by Bharat Karnad

Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi of the BJP surely startled many viewers in an ABP TV Hindi discussion show “Live Debate” starting at 1800 hours today (Aug 29). In response to a remonstrance by a Pakistani, some Pirzada, that Dawood was not … Continue reading →

Posted in Asian geopolitics, civil-military relations, guerilla warfare, India's Pakistan Policy, Indian Politics, Internal Security, Pakistan, Pakistan military, South Asia, Terrorism | 7 Comments

India’s submarine production

Posted on August 23, 2013 by Bharat Karnad

The Sindhurakshak tragedy raises many issues, among them, the danger of close-berthing of warships and submarines in the crowded Mumbai docks and the need urgently to commission the Karwar base to host most of the Western Fleet and take the … Continue reading →

Posted in Asian geopolitics, civil-military relations, Defence Industry, DRDO, Geopolitics, Great Power imperatives, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Navy, Indian Ocean, Indian Politics, Military Acquisitions, Missiles, Nuclear Policy & Strategy, Relations with Russia, Russia, russian assistance, russian military, South Asia, Strategic Relations with the US & West, Technology transfer, Weapons, Western militaries | 17 Comments

Babu Vs. Leader

Posted on August 15, 2013 by Bharat Karnad

Juxtaposing the addresses of the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh from the Red Fort and the Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in Bhuj on the occasion of Independence Day, the differences and sort of leadership they provide could not have been … Continue reading →

Posted in China, China military, civil-military relations, Great Power imperatives, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Politics, Pakistan, Pakistan military, South Asia, Terrorism | 2 Comments

Unforgiving take on past

Posted on August 11, 2013 by Bharat Karnad

(Review of Lt Gen V.K. Nayar’s book, ‘From Fatigues to Civvies: Memoirs of a Paratrooper’, Manohar, 2013; Rs 1395/-) Lieutenant general V K “Tubby” Nayar (Retd) is among a rare breed of military officers. Despite being outspoken with his seniors … Continue reading →

Posted in civil-military relations, guerilla warfare, Indian Air Force, Indian Army, Indian ecobomic situation, Indian para-military forces, Indian Politics, Internal Security, Pakistan, Pakistan military, South Asia, South East Asia, Special Forces, Terrorism | Leave a comment

Micro-wars as murderous business on LOC

Posted on August 8, 2013 by Bharat Karnad

With the media-generated mass boo-hooing attendant on the killing of the five jawans of the Bihar Regiment on the LOC in J&K, some core issues are being lost sight of. Firstly, as I have mentioned in a previous blog, such … Continue reading →

Posted in Asian geopolitics, China, China military, civil-military relations, Great Power imperatives, guerilla warfare, India's China Policy, India's Pakistan Policy, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Army, Pakistan, Pakistan military, satellites, South Asia, Special Forces, Terrorism | 14 Comments