Category Archives: Indian Army

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

Buying out of trouble

Posted on October 14, 2011 by Bharat Karnad

A quick Quiz: what’s common about India’s North-East, Kashmir, and Afghanistan? It’s money. The Indian government’s attitude to any insurgency-infected state and, indeed, its solution to ending rebellion and bring distant communities within the Indian fold, is essentially to tempt … Continue reading →

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Posted on October 13, 2011 by Bharat Karnad

Curious, how Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and visiting Vietnam President Truong Tan Sang talked of piracy, etc as shared threats — that is the text, but did not mention China as the common danger — which is the sub-text!

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Buying out of trouble

Posted on October 8, 2011 by Bharat Karnad

A quick Quiz: what’s common about India’s North-East, Kashmir, and Afghanistan? It’s money. The Indian government’s attitude to any insurgency-infected state and, indeed, its solution to ending rebellion and bring distant communities within the Indian fold, is essentially to tempt … Continue reading →

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Posted on October 6, 2011 by Bharat Karnad

Heard Afghan President Hamid Karzai at the ORF lecture yesterday. Spoke well. He identified the region Afghanistan is in, correctly, as “Central South Asia”.  The strategic partnership he has inked with India, it’s clear, is leverage he means to use to extract … Continue reading →

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Special Command

Posted on October 1, 2011 by Bharat Karnad

Special Forces (SF) are the stuff of legend and military lore. Their derring-do and nerveless actions in the field have time and again rescued the losing side and turned the course of wars. Because the SF are geared to attaining … Continue reading →

Posted in India's Pakistan Policy, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Air Force, Indian Army, Indian Navy, Indian Politics, Internal Security, Special Forces | 1 Comment

Nuclear mind games

Posted on October 1, 2011 by Bharat Karnad

When contemplating Pakistan’s nuclear build-up, Major General Ausaf Ali, an engineer officer and, as Director General – Operations and Plans, arguably the most important man in the Strategic Plans Division, Chaklala, the secretariat for that country’s Nuclear Command Authority, comes … Continue reading →

Posted in India's China Policy, India's Pakistan Policy, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Army, Nuclear Policy & Strategy, Nuclear Weapons | 1 Comment

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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Weak PM, Limp Policy

Posted on October 1, 2011 by Bharat Karnad

Dr. Manmohan Singh, by his own reckoning, is “an accidental prime minister”. That he has no leadership credentials worth talking about, is not a surprise. Install a career economic bureaucrat — he has been successively adviser to the commerce minister, … Continue reading →

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Books & Major Publications

Posted on September 30, 2011 by Bharat Karnad

‘India’s Rise: Why It is not a great power (yet)’ – tentative title, to be published by Potomac Books, Washington, DC in 2012 ‘Strategic Sell-out: Indian-US Nuclear Deal’ [New Delhi: Pentagon Press, 2009], co-authored with P.K. Iyengar, A.N. Prasad, & … Continue reading →

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