Category Archives: India’s strategic thinking and policy

Tediously Needling Kissinger

Posted on March 17, 2012 by Bharat Karnad

At the gala dinner at the India Today Conclave yesterday evening, poor Henry Kissinger was badgered and needled about, what else, Pakistan by the MC/host MJ Akbar. It was more the latter’s insecurities as an Indian Muslim trying to prove his … Continue reading →

Posted in Great Power imperatives, India's China Policy, India's Pakistan Policy, India's strategic thinking and policy, Strategic Relations with the US & West | 2 Comments

The defence budget and getting military priorities right

Posted on March 15, 2012 by Bharat Karnad

The existing year-to-year defence budgeting scheme means that the armed services cannot be sure their capital acquisitions plans will be funded as per their preferred time-frame. This is because the government commits itself financially, but only notionally, to the entire … Continue reading →

Posted in civil-military relations, India's China Policy, India's Pakistan Policy, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Air Force, Indian Army, Indian Navy, Indian Ocean, Military Acquisitions | 1 Comment

Chappell on dot

Posted on March 9, 2012 by Bharat Karnad

Greg Chappell was an obvious failure as  cricket coach to the indian team. But he seems to have read Indian nature and character perfectly well.  Honestly, did he not speak the truth? His take on Indians rings true as much  for … Continue reading →

Posted in civil-military relations, Great Power imperatives, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Politics | Leave a comment

LSE report: platform for Ramachandra Guha’s whole-hearted nonsense

Posted on March 8, 2012 by Bharat Karnad

These are dispiriting times. So soon after the release of that “India as punching bag” foreign policy agenda contained in the quasi-official ‘Nonalignment 2.0’ (NA 2.0) comes an even more enervating collection of opinion-pieces put together by the London Scool of Economics … Continue reading →

Posted in civil-military relations, Great Power imperatives, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Politics, Internal Security | 2 Comments

Roadmap for Second-rate Power Status for India: Response to Quasi-official foreign policy document– ‘Nonalignment 2.0’

Posted on March 4, 2012 by Bharat Karnad

The title, the membership of the group comprising persons with Nehru-vian liberal/neo-liberal bent of mind (Nandan Nilekani, Shyam Saran; four academics – Sunil Khilnani, Pratap Mehta, Rajiv Kumar, Srinath Raghvan; a newspaper editor, S Varadarajan; and a token military-man, retired … 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, Indian Ocean, Indian Politics, Nuclear Policy & Strategy, Nuclear Weapons, Strategic Relations with South East Asia & Far East, Strategic Relations with the US & West | 7 Comments

Smugglers funding Jaitapur N-protest?

Posted on February 24, 2012 by Bharat Karnad

The Kudankulam nuclear complex is stuck at the pre-commissioning stage because of the protest around those parts organized by NGOs whom Manmohan Singh has identified as being funded by cash-rich American NGOs with the agenda of torpedoing the PM’s ambitious … Continue reading →

Posted in India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Politics, Internal Security, Nuclear Policy & Strategy | 1 Comment

Dominoes falling to China

Posted on February 18, 2012 by Bharat Karnad

Does India ever do anything on its 0wn initiative, proactively to protect its interests? Apparently not. Because almost every time you see India doing something in the extended neighborhood, it is in response to counteract what China has done. Take … Continue reading →

Posted in Great Power imperatives, India's China Policy, India's Pakistan Policy, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Ocean | Leave a comment

Steep Challenge

Posted on February 16, 2012 by Bharat Karnad

Bharat Karnad That the Iran-Israel fight has been brought to India’s shores by whosoever wanted to spring a surprise on the Israelis  is a tragedy. The open attack on the Israeli embassy official in highly-policed Lutyens Delhi may be the … Continue reading →

Posted in India's strategic thinking and policy, indian policy -- Israel, Iran and West Asia, Internal Security | 1 Comment

Art of deal-making

Posted on February 2, 2012 by Bharat Karnad

// India and the United States resemble an old, estranged, couple who are too irked by each other’s frets and foibles to stay together but aware of too many shared interests to live apart. Their relations reek of familiarity even … Continue reading →

Posted in Defence Industry, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Air Force, Indian Army, Indian Navy, Military Acquisitions, Strategic Relations with the US & West, Technology transfer | Leave a comment

Talk in Princeton by Bharat Karnad on strategic security issues -video

Posted on January 30, 2012 by Bharat Karnad

Complete Video (in 10 segments) of my talk on India’s strategic security issues at what was billed as a “Jirga” in Princeton on November 13, 2011, arranged by Bharat-rakshak Forum habitues residing in the NY/NJ area may be accessed at http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL31BA8C2D60DA2052 . For some reason various URLs … Continue reading →

Posted in Defence Industry, 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 policy -- Israel, Iran and West Asia, Indian Politics, Internal Security, Military Acquisitions, Nuclear Policy & Strategy, Nuclear Weapons, Relations with Russia, Special Forces, Strategic Relations with South East Asia & Far East, Strategic Relations with the US & West | 3 Comments