Category Archives: Great Power imperatives

India & America: The Future of a Strategic Partnership

Posted on November 18, 2011 by Bharat Karnad

Third Annual Symposium, Center for International Security Studies, Princeton University, Nov 10-12, 2011 Nov 12 1st Session: “Military Challenges and Defense Cooperation”/Bharat Karnad 1)    State and trajectory of India-Pakistan military balance and the India-China military balance The India-Pakistan military balance … Continue reading →

Posted in Great Power imperatives, India's China Policy, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Navy, Nuclear Policy & Strategy, Nuclear Weapons, Strategic Relations with South East Asia & Far East, Strategic Relations with the US & West | 1 Comment

No nuclear war, but an arms race?

Posted on October 31, 2011 by Bharat Karnad

[Published in South Asian Journal (Lahore), Issue No. 33, July-September 2011]                   Talk of a four-node vicious circle! Pakistan is perennially at loggerheads with India, whose conventional military handicap it seeks to overcome with significant arms transfers by China and … Continue reading →

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Expeditionary future

Posted on October 21, 2011 by Bharat Karnad

The closely packed state visits by three heads of governments in South Asia and the extended region – Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan, Truong Tan Sang of Vietnam, and Thein Sein of Myanmar signified something the Manmohan Singh government did not … Continue reading →

Posted in Great Power imperatives, India's China Policy, India's Pakistan Policy, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Air Force, Indian Army, Indian Navy, Strategic Relations with South East Asia & Far East | Leave a comment

Indian armed forces have China Syndrome

Posted on October 14, 2011 by Bharat Karnad

Over the years, the Indian Armed Services have become more and more like the Indian government – cautious, defensive, incremental in thought and action, and risk-averse when it comes to China, an adversary that’s, perhaps, better endowed, if not more … Continue reading →

Posted in Great Power imperatives, India's China Policy, India's Pakistan Policy, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Air Force, Indian Army, Indian Navy, Strategic Relations with South East Asia & Far East | 1 Comment

Endless delusion

Posted on October 8, 2011 by Bharat Karnad

Come the annual meeting of the United Nations General Assembly in autumn and there’s India, predictably making the same old pitch for a permanent seat in the Security Council as part of “comprehensive reform” of the UN. As in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Great Power imperatives, India's China Policy, India's Pakistan Policy, India's strategic thinking and policy, Strategic Relations with South East Asia & Far East, Strategic Relations with the US & West | Leave a comment

India’s first line of defence

Posted on October 1, 2011 by Bharat Karnad

Nations establish moral ascendency over other nations only by victory in war. Shrugging off the possibility of American nuclear attack, China crossed the Yalu River in October 1950 and almost brought the United States led-forces in Korea to their knees, … Continue reading →

Posted in Great Power imperatives, India's China Policy, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Navy, Strategic Relations with South East Asia & Far East | 1 Comment

No buckling down to China

Posted on October 1, 2011 by Bharat Karnad

Many years ago, an Indian flotilla out in the Gulf led by Rear Admiral Madanjit Singh (later Vice Admiral and Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Naval Command) was asked by an United States naval ship to identify itself and to its … Continue reading →

Posted in Great Power imperatives, India's China Policy, Indian Navy, Strategic Relations with South East Asia & Far East, Strategic Relations with the US & West | Leave a comment

Can India say “Don’t Mess with us”?

Posted on October 1, 2011 by Bharat Karnad

The significant thing about the successful effort to locate and kill Osama bin Laden, the global symbol of Islamic extremism and head of the al-Qaeda terrorist organization, is its doggedness. Stretching out over three Administrations and some ten years, this … Continue reading →

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Rethinking Pakistan

Posted on October 1, 2011 by Bharat Karnad

“Cricket diplomacy” and the meeting of the Indian and Pakistan Home Secretaries are important because these were approved through the back channel maintained by Delhi with the Chief of Army Staff, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani – the hub of power … Continue reading →

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Nuclear Independence

Posted on October 1, 2011 by Bharat Karnad

At bottom, the unrest in Jaitapur is not about the prospective Areva nuclear park and its perils but rather about angry locals feeling cheated and is akin to the agitations in Singur, Nandigram, and several other locations identified for big … Continue reading →

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