Category Archives: Great Power imperatives

Fork in the road to defence ties

Posted on July 20, 2012 by Bharat Karnad

In the past several years India has dashed headlong into military acquisitions without thinking through their implications. This is par for the course for the Indian government wedded to ad hoc policies and decisions concerning the most serious aspects of … Continue reading →

Posted in Asian geopolitics, China, Defence Industry, 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, Military Acquisitions, Missiles, Pakistan, Pakistan military, Relations with Russia, United States | 34 Comments

Sanya analogue on Andhra Coast

Posted on July 1, 2012 by Bharat Karnad

The story in today’s ‘Sunday Express’ about the Chinese hackers penetrating the Eastern Navala Command’s communications hub and planting bugs to relay any info or communication involving the Arihant SSBN, etc.  China’s strategic concerns understandably revolve around the deployment patterns of the … 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 Navy, Indian Ocean, Nuclear Policy & Strategy, Nuclear Weapons, Strategic Relations with South East Asia & Far East | 3 Comments

Countering US pressure

Posted on June 7, 2012 by Bharat Karnad

Assuming the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) has done its job, the government must be aware of the fact that North Korea is preparing to conduct its third nuclear test, this time of a Chinese-designed boosted fission device. Transferred in … Continue reading →

Posted in Asian geopolitics, Defence Industry, Geopolitics, Great Power imperatives, India's China Policy, India's Pakistan Policy, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Army, Indian Politics, Military Acquisitions, Missiles, Nuclear Policy & Strategy, Nuclear Weapons, Strategic Relations with South East Asia & Far East, Strategic Relations with the US & West | 24 Comments

Lavoy and Indian Tanks in Afghanistan?

Posted on May 24, 2012 by Bharat Karnad

Heard the other day from Rahul Bedi of Janes’s and, following up on my blogging re: Lavoy, said he had heard from his MoD army sources that Lavoy, during his trip here last week, had urged India to dispatch Indian … Continue reading →

Posted in Afghanistan, Asian geopolitics, Geopolitics, Great Power imperatives, India's Pakistan Policy, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Army | Tagged | 11 Comments

Mission Taliban

Posted on May 24, 2012 by Bharat Karnad

There are some immutable laws of military history that repeated attempts at disproving them only end up confirming their veracity. One such law has to do with certain countries being simply intolerant of interventions by foreign powers. Vietnam and Afghanistan … Continue reading →

Posted in Afghanistan, Asian geopolitics, Geopolitics, Great Power imperatives, India's Pakistan Policy, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Army, indian policy -- Israel, Iran and West Asia, Special Forces, Strategic Relations with the US & West, Terrorism | 2 Comments

Perils of Double-hedging

Posted on May 4, 2012 by Bharat Karnad

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visits Delhi after leading the American delegation in the latest round of the US-China Economic and Strategic Dialogue held in Beijing on May 3-4, an exercise that usually involves the largest American delegation of officials … Continue reading →

Posted in Asian geopolitics, Geopolitics, Great Power imperatives, India's China Policy, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Air Force, Indian Army, Indian Navy, Indian Ocean, Indian Politics, Military Acquisitions, Missiles, Nuclear Policy & Strategy, Nuclear Weapons, Relations with Russia, Strategic Relations with South East Asia & Far East, Strategic Relations with the US & West | 5 Comments

India can play bigger military role in Asia

Posted on May 3, 2012 by Bharat Karnad

The Singapore statesman, Lee Kuan Yew likened Asia to an airplane with India and China as the two wings keeping the continent flying. This aviation metaphor was constructed, at least in part, on the hope and prayer that India would … Continue reading →

Posted in Asian geopolitics, Defence Industry, Geopolitics, Great Power imperatives, India's China Policy, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Air Force, Indian Army, Indian Navy, Indian Ocean, Military Acquisitions, Missiles, Nuclear Policy & Strategy, Nuclear Weapons, Strategic Relations with South East Asia & Far East, Strategic Relations with the US & West | 14 Comments

Rethinking Indian Policies Towards Pakistan

Posted on May 2, 2012 by Bharat Karnad

The transcript of my talk and subsequent interaction at the Atlantic Council, Washington DC, took place mid-November 2011, but the subject is ever-green and topical now with the Indian and Pak govts seeking to forge economic and trade ties, etc., … Continue reading →

Posted in Asian geopolitics, civil-military relations, 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, Indian Ocean, Indian Politics, Missiles, Nuclear Policy & Strategy, Nuclear Weapons, Terrorism | 1 Comment

Risat SAR

Posted on May 2, 2012 by Bharat Karnad

The important thing about the Risat-1 sent up a few days back is that the synthetic aperture radar in it is of Israeli origin. However, the SAR on board Risat-2 will be the entirely indigeneous, tho’ a little bulkier than … Continue reading →

Posted in Asian geopolitics, Defence Industry, Geopolitics, Great Power imperatives, India's China Policy, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Ocean, indian policy -- Israel, Iran and West Asia, Military Acquisitions, Missiles, Nuclear Policy & Strategy, satellites, Strategic Relations with South East Asia & Far East, Technology transfer | 11 Comments

India’s missile bamboozle

Posted on April 26, 2012 by Bharat Karnad

Bharat Karnad There has been needless confusion and obfuscation about the Agni-V missile test-fired on April 19. First was the delay in the launch by some 11 hours. For a missile touted as “all weather”, a bit of lightning shouldn’t … Continue reading →

Posted in Asian geopolitics, Defence Industry, Geopolitics, Great Power imperatives, India's China Policy, India's Pakistan Policy, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Army, Indian Ocean, Military Acquisitions, Missiles, Nuclear Policy & Strategy, Nuclear Weapons, Strategic Relations with South East Asia & Far East, Strategic Relations with the US & West, Technology transfer | 7 Comments