Category Archives: corruption

Scorpene — Leaked DCNS Documents & ‘The Australian’ news report

Posted on August 25, 2016 by Bharat Karnad

What’s simply astounding about GOI’s (Parrikar’s) and the Indian Navy’s reaction to this massive leak at the DCNS end is their (1) complacent attitude (compare this to the alarm generated in Australia, which is buying another version of the Scorpene), … Continue reading →

Posted in arms exports, Asian geopolitics, Australia, civil-military relations, corruption, Defence Industry, Europe, Geopolitics, Great Power imperatives, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Navy, Indian Politics, society, South Asia, Strategic Relations with the US & West, Technology transfer, Weapons, Western militaries | 13 Comments

Boeing C-17s, Shashikant Sharma, & accountability

Posted on August 19, 2016 by Bharat Karnad

It is curious that the mainstream Indian press and media that raise hell when it comes to anything going wrong with ex-Russian military hardware are strangely silent and fail even to report the findings of the Comptroller and Accountant General … Continue reading →

Posted in civil-military relations, corruption, Culture, Defence Industry, domestic politics, Geopolitics, Great Power imperatives, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Air Force, Indian democracy, Indian ecobomic situation, Indian Politics, Military Acquisitions, Russia, russian assistance, society, South Asia, Special Forces, Strategic Relations with the US & West, United States, US., Weapons | 11 Comments

Sinking feeling — Modi’s I-Day speech

Posted on August 15, 2016 by Bharat Karnad

India is going to advance despite its government, not because of it. It is BJP today, some Congress coalition tomorrow, or a third front regime the next day, the dispensation in New Delhi of the moment will talk big, flaff … Continue reading →

Posted in Asian geopolitics, China, China military, corruption, Culture, domestic politics, Geopolitics, Great Power imperatives, guerilla warfare, India's China Policy, India's Pakistan Policy, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian democracy, Indian ecobomic situation, Indian Politics, Internal Security, Pakistan, Pakistan military, society, South Asia, Strategic Relations with the US & West, United States, US., Western militaries | 20 Comments

Ditching the Excalibur and every other indigenous armament project

Posted on August 10, 2016 by Bharat Karnad

The army brass in 2012 decided they wanted a multi-purpose infantry weapon with interchangeable barrels — 5.56x39mm for conventional warfare and the 7.62x51mm for distant kills. Foreign weapons — CM 901 from Colt (US), VZ 58 from Ceska (Czech Republic), … Continue reading →

Posted in Asian geopolitics, civil-military relations, corruption, Culture, Defence Industry, domestic politics, DRDO, Europe, Geopolitics, Great Power imperatives, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Air Force, Indian Army, Indian democracy, Indian ecobomic situation, Indian Navy, Indian Politics, Israel, Military Acquisitions, Russia, SAARC, society, South Asia, United States, US., Vietnam, Weapons, Western militaries | 22 Comments

Wish IAF had PAF’s innovative, cost-benefit, mindset

Posted on July 23, 2016 by Bharat Karnad

There’s a report about the Pakistan Air Force acquiring a squadron of Mirage 2000-5s from Qatar. (See http://www.tacticalreport.com/view_news/Qatar:-Talks-with-Pakistan-over-Mirage-2000-5s/5055) But for the interventions by ACM S Tyagi (Retd) — yea, the same IAF chief since fingered in the Agusta-Westland scam, sixty … Continue reading →

Posted in arms exports, Asian geopolitics, Australia, China, China military, civil-military relations, corruption, Defence Industry, domestic politics, DRDO, Europe, Geopolitics, Great Power imperatives, India's China Policy, India's Pakistan Policy, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Air Force, Indian ecobomic situation, indian policy -- Israel, Iran and West Asia, Iran and West Asia, Military Acquisitions, Missiles, Pakistan, Pakistan military, Relations with Russia, Russia, russian assistance, SAARC, South Asia, Strategic Relations with the US & West, Technology transfer, United States, US., Weapons, West Asia | 61 Comments

Turkey do, Pakistan follow?

Posted on July 16, 2016 by Bharat Karnad

The US pledged “absolute support for Turkey’s democratically elected, civilian government and democratic institutions” and immediately ended the attempted coup in Turkey. This attitude of Washington must have come as a nasty surprise to the coup planners — the leaders … Continue reading →

Posted in Afghanistan, Asian geopolitics, civil-military relations, corruption, Europe, Geopolitics, Great Power imperatives, Iran and West Asia, Pakistan, Pakistan military, SAARC, society, South Asia, United States, US., West Asia, Western militaries | 17 Comments

IDSA Panel discussion on ‘Why India is Not a Great Power (Yet)’

Posted on June 6, 2016 by Bharat Karnad

IDSA held a panel discussion on my book — ‘Why India is Not a Great Power (Yet)’on May 18 involving RADM Raja Menon (Retd), Shakti Sinha, ex-IAS and former private secretary to prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, V. Siddhartha, former … Continue reading →

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FGFA On — simplifies Parrikar’s aircraft choices

Posted on May 12, 2016 by Bharat Karnad

The word is the Modi government has informed Moscow it will soon sign the detailed long pending co-development agreement for the Su-50 FGFA (Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft). This simplifies the choices somewhat for defence minister Manohar Parrikar as regards the … Continue reading →

Posted in arms exports, Asian geopolitics, China, China military, civil-military relations, corruption, Culture, Defence Industry, domestic politics, DRDO, Europe, Geopolitics, Great Power imperatives, India's China Policy, India's Pakistan Policy, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Air Force, Indian Army, Indian ecobomic situation, Indian Navy, Indian Politics, Military Acquisitions, Missiles, Pakistan, Pakistan military, Relations with Russia, Russia, russian assistance, society, South Asia, Strategic Relations with the US & West, Technology transfer, United States, US., Weapons | 14 Comments

ADM Arun Prakash reviews ‘Why India is Not a Great Power (Yet)’

Posted on May 10, 2016 by Bharat Karnad

Published in ‘Seminar’, Issue 679, March 2016 at http://www.india-seminar.com/semframe.html. (Go to the left margin on the page and in the column ‘Seminar web edition, click successively on 2016 and March.) ————– Bharat Karnad’s latest offering, tantalizingly titled, Why India is … Continue reading →

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Bureaucrat facilitators of corruption

Posted on May 6, 2016 by Bharat Karnad

The BJP government has picked up on the fact mentioned in a post from a week ago about all IAF acquisitions of late being scams. Those that have come to light are the Rs 3,700 crore Agusta-Westland VVIP helo deal … Continue reading →

Posted in arms exports, Asian geopolitics, civil-military relations, corruption, Culture, Defence Industry, domestic politics, DRDO, Europe, Geopolitics, Great Power imperatives, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Air Force, Indian Army, Indian democracy, Indian ecobomic situation, Indian Navy, Indian Politics, Military Acquisitions, society, South Asia, Strategic Relations with South East Asia & Far East, Strategic Relations with the US & West, Technology transfer, Weapons | 22 Comments