Category Archives: Culture

“Muska chaska” & F-35: Why concede the game to Trump?

Posted on February 25, 2025 by Bharat Karnad

[Family meet in the White House, or serious business?] The Indian Prime Minister’s “working visit” with Donald Trump went off script in a major way now and again. As expected, Narendra Modi was publicly manhandled. In a bid to embarrass … Continue reading →

Posted in arms exports, asia-Pacific/Indo-Pacific, Asian geopolitics, Bangladesh, China, China military, Culture, Decision-making, Defence Industry, Defence procurement, domestic politics, Europe, Geopolitics, geopolitics/geostrategy, Great Power imperatives, India's China Policy, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Air Force, Indian ecobomic situation, Indian Politics, Indo-Pacific, MEA/foreign policy, Military Acquisitions, Military/military advice, Northeast Asia, Relations with Russia, Russia, russian assistance, society, South Asia, Technology transfer, technology, self-reliance, United States, US., war & technology, Weapons | Tagged , , , , | 27 Comments

SSN or aircraft carrier — the right choice!

Posted on January 16, 2025 by Bharat Karnad

[Chinese N-powered attack submarine — 093 Shang class] Couple of days ago, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a justly celebratory mood, commissioned three warships in Mumbai — INS Surat (4th and the last of the Project 15B) stealth missile destoyer, … Continue reading →

Posted in asia-Pacific/Indo-Pacific, Asian geopolitics, China, China military, civil-military relations, Culture, Decision-making, Defence Industry, Defence procurement, Europe, Geopolitics, geopolitics/geostrategy, Great Power imperatives, India's China Policy, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Navy, Indian Ocean, Indo-Pacific, Israel, MEA/foreign policy, Military Acquisitions, Military/military advice, Missiles, Nuclear Policy & Strategy, Nuclear Weapons, Pakistan, Pakistan military, Pakistan nuclear forces, Russia, russian assistance, society, South Asia, Technology transfer, technology, self-reliance, Trade with China, US., war & technology, Weapons, Western militaries | Tagged , , , , | 60 Comments

Jaishankar’s foreign policy Vision: NO mention of national security and or the military aspects of international relations — welcome to his brand of “realism”!

Posted on December 30, 2024 by Bharat Karnad

The external affairs minister, S Jaishankar, for some reason, dislikes “polemics”. Derived from the Greek word for war, polemos, and defined by Oxford Dictionary as “a strong verbal or written attack” and as the “practice of engaging in fierce discussion”, … Continue reading →

Posted in arms exports, asia-Pacific/Indo-Pacific, Asian geopolitics, Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brazil, China, China military, civil-military relations, Culture, Cyber & Space, Decision-making, Defence Industry, Defence procurement, DRDO, Europe, Geopolitics, geopolitics/geostrategy, Great Power imperatives, guerilla warfare, 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 Ocean, Indian para-military forces, indian policy -- Israel, Iran and West Asia, Indian state/administration, Indo-Pacific, Intelligence, Internal Security, Japan, Maldives, MEA/foreign policy, Military Acquisitions, Military/military advice, Missiles, Nepal, nonproliferation, North Korea, Northeast Asia, NRIs, Nuclear Policy & Strategy, Nuclear Weapons, Pakistan, Pakistan military, Pakistan nuclear forces, Relations with Russia, Russia, russian assistance, russian military, space & cyber, Strategic Forces Command, Strategic Relations with South East Asia & Far East, Strategic Relations with the US & West, Taiwan, Technology transfer, technology, self-reliance, Terrorism, Tibet, Trade with China, United States, US., Vietnam, war & technology, Weapons, Western militaries | 117 Comments

Modi’s good friend — Trump? Really?

Posted on December 12, 2024 by Bharat Karnad

[Uhmm…Smellin’ good, friend!] Come January 20, 2025, Donald J Trump will be re-installed as US President after the Joe Biden interregnum. And leaders all over are wondering what their rank-order will be in his court. The first invitation sent out … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, asia-Pacific/Indo-Pacific, Asian geopolitics, China, corruption, Culture, Cyber & Space, Decision-making, Defence Industry, Defence procurement, domestic politics, Europe, Geopolitics, geopolitics/geostrategy, Great Power imperatives, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian democracy, Indian ecobomic situation, Indian Politics, Indian state/administration, Indo-Pacific, Intelligence, Internal Security, MEA/foreign policy, Military Acquisitions, NRIs, SAARC, society, South Asia, Strategic Relations with South East Asia & Far East, Terrorism, Trade with China, United States, US., Vietnam, war & technology, Weapons, West Asia | 57 Comments

Cornering Modi

Posted on November 23, 2024 by Bharat Karnad

[Adani and the PM] It is said of highly professional intelligence agencies that what they consistently do well is focus on the leaders of countries their government deals with, to try and find some weakness, some sore spot, a well … Continue reading →

Posted in asia-Pacific/Indo-Pacific, Asian geopolitics, Australia, corruption, Culture, Decision-making, Defence Industry, Defence procurement, Europe, Geopolitics, geopolitics/geostrategy, Great Power imperatives, Indian Air Force, Indian Army, Indian Navy, Russia, SAARC, society, South Asia | Tagged , , , , | 51 Comments

Speed up the hypersonic to the FOBS regime

Posted on November 17, 2024 by Bharat Karnad

[Launch of the hypersonic missile from the Kalam test range] The hypersonic test firing took its time coming. From its look, it is a low 6 Mach-end 1,500 km medium range missile. More like the Russian Kinzhal. That it was … Continue reading →

Posted in asia-Pacific/Indo-Pacific, Asian geopolitics, China, China military, civil-military relations, Culture, Decision-making, Defence Industry, DRDO, Geopolitics, geopolitics/geostrategy, Great Power imperatives, India's China Policy, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Air Force, Indo-Pacific, Military Acquisitions, Military/military advice, Missiles, Nuclear Weapons, Russia, russian assistance, russian military, society, Strategic Forces Command, United States, US., war & technology, Weapons, Western militaries | Tagged , , , , | 52 Comments

A significant development with Israel India should have initiated

Posted on November 1, 2024 by Bharat Karnad

[Israeli Merkava Mk 4 main battle tank] There are numerous nuclear, military and foreign policy recommendations and suggestions in my books and writings over the last 40 years that have been picked up and implemented, naturally without any public acknowledgement, … Continue reading →

Posted in arms exports, asia-Pacific/Indo-Pacific, Asian geopolitics, Culture, Decision-making, Defence Industry, Defence procurement, DRDO, Geopolitics, geopolitics/geostrategy, Great Power imperatives, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indo-Pacific, Iran and West Asia, Israel, MEA/foreign policy, Military Acquisitions, Military/military advice, Missiles, Nuclear Policy & Strategy, Nuclear Weapons, South Asia, Technology transfer, technology, self-reliance, war & technology, Weapons, West Asia | Tagged , , , , | 34 Comments

No breakthrough! China stringing India along

Posted on October 22, 2024 by Bharat Karnad

[Jaishankar with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi] Woke up this morning, and was startled by Indian newspaper headlines heralding a new dawn in Sino-Indian relations. All the breathless reporting about agreement being reached on the “patrolling points “northeast of the … Continue reading →

Posted in asia-Pacific/Indo-Pacific, Asian geopolitics, Bhutan, China, China military, civil-military relations, Culture, Decision-making, domestic politics, Geopolitics, geopolitics/geostrategy, Great Power imperatives, India's China Policy, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian ecobomic situation, Indo-Pacific, MEA/foreign policy, Military/military advice, nonproliferation, Nuclear Policy & Strategy, Nuclear Weapons, Relations with Russia, Russia, SAARC, society, South Asia, Special Forces, Taiwan, Technology transfer, Tibet, United States, US., war & technology, Weapons | 79 Comments

Israeli attack on Iran’s N-facilities — very unlikely

Posted on October 7, 2024 by Bharat Karnad

[Natanz centrifuge unit] On the first anniversary of the Oct 7 Hamas attack on Israel that has unravelled the region and pushed the world, some alarmists claim, to the brink of the Third World War, it may be useful to … Continue reading →

Posted in asia-Pacific/Indo-Pacific, Asian geopolitics, Culture, Decision-making, Defence Industry, disarmament, Geopolitics, geopolitics/geostrategy, Great Power imperatives, Iran and West Asia, Islamic countries, Nuclear Policy & Strategy, Nuclear Weapons, Russia, sanctions, United States, US., war & technology, Weapons, West Asia, Western militaries | 100 Comments

Extraordinary tech innovation by IISc, the Indian govt better not screw up!

Posted on September 14, 2024 by Bharat Karnad

[The IISC team: seated in front: Sreetosh Goswami (left) and Navakanta Bhat (right). Standing behind (from left to right): Deepak Sharma, Bidyabhusan Kundu, Santi Prasad Rath, and Harivignesh S ] The Security Wise Blog is doing something unprecedented — reproducing below … Continue reading →

Posted in asia-Pacific/Indo-Pacific, Asian geopolitics, civil-military relations, Culture, Decision-making, Defence procurement, Geopolitics, geopolitics/geostrategy, Great Power imperatives, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Air Force, Indian Army, Indian Navy, Military/military advice, society, space & cyber, Technology transfer, technology, self-reliance, war & technology | 95 Comments