Category Archives: Nuclear Policy & Strategy

White elephant — Rafale, and missed opportunity with Su-35 in N-role

Posted on September 15, 2016 by Bharat Karnad

The phrase ‘White elephant’ refers to an acquisition exorbitantly costly to buy, run, and upkeep and is derived from the story of a rare pachyderm that was acquired by the Thai court as a symbol of its Hindu power and … Continue reading →

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“Subcontinental drift?” — an American take on recent writings on India, the US, and South Asia

Posted on September 13, 2016 by Bharat Karnad

Reproduced below is a review article by Daniel Markey, former US State Department official and currently on the faculty of the School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, Washington, DC, published in ‘The American Interest’ and available at:http://www.the-american-interest.com/2016/07/01/subcontinental-drift/ The … Continue reading →

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Mistake upon strategic mistake

Posted on September 12, 2016 by Bharat Karnad

Analysts at home and abroad have noted Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s curious efforts to siddle up to the US president Barack Obama at the recent G-20 summit, as if seeking little pats on the back for finally committing India to … Continue reading →

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More give than take in tie-up with US

Posted on September 2, 2016 by Bharat Karnad

As the standard-bearer of right-of-centre ideology and government, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has, apparently, felt compelled to burnish his personal credentials and the foreign policy tilt of the Bharatiya Janata Party government by forging for India the status of a … Continue reading →

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LEMOA — A most serious strategic mistake, and Consequences

Posted on August 30, 2016 by Bharat Karnad

India has signed the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) with the United States, with Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and Defence Secretary Ashton Carter doing the formalities in Washington. It is, perhaps, the most serious strategic mistake made by the … Continue reading →

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China narrows the South China Sea: Is arming Southeast Asia with strategic impact weapons the answer?

Posted on August 30, 2016 by Bharat Karnad

This piece was published in ‘Policy Forum’, Australian National University, Canberra, 26 August 2016 at http://www.policyforum.net/china-narrows-south-china-sea/ Bharat Karnad analyses China’s strategy in the South China Sea, and proposes a regional military solution, leveraging the power of supersonic cruise missiles, to … Continue reading →

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Why Donald Trump is Good for India

Posted on August 2, 2016 by Bharat Karnad

NOTHING IS MORE dreaded by liberal America than the potential presidency of Donald J Trump. He means to blow up the foundations of the existing global order along with the current set of US foreign and military policies. Notionally ‘Republican’ … Continue reading →

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Arundhati G, RIP

Posted on July 28, 2016 by Bharat Karnad

India was lucky to have Ambassador Arundhati Ghose, as the Indian Representative at the UN Conference on Disarmament (CD), Geneva, in 1995-96 negotiating the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. Her diligence in keeping abreast of the often secret meetings and machinations … Continue reading →

Posted in Asian geopolitics, China, disarmament, domestic politics, Europe, Geopolitics, Great Power imperatives, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian ecobomic situation, Indian Politics, nonproliferation, nuclear industry, Nuclear Policy & Strategy, nuclear power, Nuclear Weapons, society, South Asia, Strategic Forces Command, Strategic Relations with the US & West, United States, Weapons | 23 Comments

Countering the Rogue Nuclear Triad of China, Pakistan and North Korea

Posted on July 25, 2016 by Bharat Karnad

Have advocated nuclear missile arming Vietnam as tit-for-tat policy against China from the time I was a Member of the (First) National Security Advisory Board in 1998-99 when Vajpayee was PM. It has been a regular theme in all my … Continue reading →

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Limits of Modi’s personalised diplomacy

Posted on July 16, 2016 by Bharat Karnad

THE DEFINING CHARACTERISTIC of Narendra Modi’s tenure as Prime Minister are the foreign trips he has racked up—16 in his first year, followed by another 10 in his second year in office. It seems he likes nothing better than jaw-jawing … Continue reading →

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