Category Archives: society

SSN or aircraft carrier — the right choice!

Posted on January 16, 2025 by Bharat Karnad

[Chinese N-powered attack submarine — 093 Shang class] Couple of days ago, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a justly celebratory mood, commissioned three warships in Mumbai — INS Surat (4th and the last of the Project 15B) stealth missile destoyer, … Continue reading →

Posted in asia-Pacific/Indo-Pacific, Asian geopolitics, China, China military, civil-military relations, Culture, Decision-making, Defence Industry, Defence procurement, Europe, Geopolitics, geopolitics/geostrategy, Great Power imperatives, India's China Policy, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Navy, Indian Ocean, Indo-Pacific, Israel, MEA/foreign policy, Military Acquisitions, Military/military advice, Missiles, Nuclear Policy & Strategy, Nuclear Weapons, Pakistan, Pakistan military, Pakistan nuclear forces, Russia, russian assistance, society, South Asia, Technology transfer, technology, self-reliance, Trade with China, US., war & technology, Weapons, Western militaries | Tagged , , , , | 60 Comments

Modi’s good friend — Trump? Really?

Posted on December 12, 2024 by Bharat Karnad

[Uhmm…Smellin’ good, friend!] Come January 20, 2025, Donald J Trump will be re-installed as US President after the Joe Biden interregnum. And leaders all over are wondering what their rank-order will be in his court. The first invitation sent out … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, asia-Pacific/Indo-Pacific, Asian geopolitics, China, corruption, Culture, Cyber & Space, Decision-making, Defence Industry, Defence procurement, domestic politics, Europe, Geopolitics, geopolitics/geostrategy, Great Power imperatives, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian democracy, Indian ecobomic situation, Indian Politics, Indian state/administration, Indo-Pacific, Intelligence, Internal Security, MEA/foreign policy, Military Acquisitions, NRIs, SAARC, society, South Asia, Strategic Relations with South East Asia & Far East, Terrorism, Trade with China, United States, US., Vietnam, war & technology, Weapons, West Asia | 57 Comments

Cornering Modi

Posted on November 23, 2024 by Bharat Karnad

[Adani and the PM] It is said of highly professional intelligence agencies that what they consistently do well is focus on the leaders of countries their government deals with, to try and find some weakness, some sore spot, a well … Continue reading →

Posted in asia-Pacific/Indo-Pacific, Asian geopolitics, Australia, corruption, Culture, Decision-making, Defence Industry, Defence procurement, Europe, Geopolitics, geopolitics/geostrategy, Great Power imperatives, Indian Air Force, Indian Army, Indian Navy, Russia, SAARC, society, South Asia | Tagged , , , , | 51 Comments

Speed up the hypersonic to the FOBS regime

Posted on November 17, 2024 by Bharat Karnad

[Launch of the hypersonic missile from the Kalam test range] The hypersonic test firing took its time coming. From its look, it is a low 6 Mach-end 1,500 km medium range missile. More like the Russian Kinzhal. That it was … Continue reading →

Posted in asia-Pacific/Indo-Pacific, Asian geopolitics, China, China military, civil-military relations, Culture, Decision-making, Defence Industry, DRDO, Geopolitics, geopolitics/geostrategy, Great Power imperatives, India's China Policy, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Air Force, Indo-Pacific, Military Acquisitions, Military/military advice, Missiles, Nuclear Weapons, Russia, russian assistance, russian military, society, Strategic Forces Command, United States, US., war & technology, Weapons, Western militaries | Tagged , , , , | 52 Comments

Trump America will compel India to be self-dependent, a good thing!

Posted on November 6, 2024 by Bharat Karnad

An extraordinary political comeback by Donald J Trump — a convicted felon and an out and out conman who opened his mouth only to spew lies and rubbish, was re-elected 47th President by the bulk of American voters who cared … Continue reading →

Posted in arms exports, asia-Pacific/Indo-Pacific, Asian geopolitics, China, China military, civil-military relations, Decision-making, Defence Industry, Defence procurement, domestic politics, DRDO, Europe, Geopolitics, geopolitics/geostrategy, Great Power imperatives, India's China Policy, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Air Force, Indian Army, Indian ecobomic situation, Indian Navy, Indian Ocean, Indian Politics, Indo-Pacific, Japan, MEA/foreign policy, Military Acquisitions, Military/military advice, Northeast Asia, society, South Asia, Strategic Relations with South East Asia & Far East, Strategic Relations with the US & West, Taiwan, Technology transfer, technology, self-reliance, United States, US., war & technology, Weapons | 44 Comments

No breakthrough! China stringing India along

Posted on October 22, 2024 by Bharat Karnad

[Jaishankar with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi] Woke up this morning, and was startled by Indian newspaper headlines heralding a new dawn in Sino-Indian relations. All the breathless reporting about agreement being reached on the “patrolling points “northeast of the … Continue reading →

Posted in asia-Pacific/Indo-Pacific, Asian geopolitics, Bhutan, China, China military, civil-military relations, Culture, Decision-making, domestic politics, Geopolitics, geopolitics/geostrategy, Great Power imperatives, India's China Policy, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian ecobomic situation, Indo-Pacific, MEA/foreign policy, Military/military advice, nonproliferation, Nuclear Policy & Strategy, Nuclear Weapons, Relations with Russia, Russia, SAARC, society, South Asia, Special Forces, Taiwan, Technology transfer, Tibet, United States, US., war & technology, Weapons | 79 Comments

No Two ways to deal with Canada and terrorists (Augmented)

Posted on October 18, 2024 by Bharat Karnad

[Justin Trudeau courting Sikh constituents] Michael Rubin of the American Enterprise Institute in Washington has suggested something that’s never occurred to us Indians and even less to the Indian government — to lead the charge on branding Canada as “State … Continue reading →

Posted in asia-Pacific/Indo-Pacific, Asian geopolitics, Australia, Decision-making, domestic politics, India's Pakistan Policy, Indo-Pacific, Intelligence, Internal Security, Iran and West Asia, Islamic countries, Israel, MEA/foreign policy, NRIs, Pakistan, Pakistan military, Pakistan nuclear forces, society, South Asia, Special Forces, United States, US. | 34 Comments

Extraordinary tech innovation by IISc, the Indian govt better not screw up!

Posted on September 14, 2024 by Bharat Karnad

[The IISC team: seated in front: Sreetosh Goswami (left) and Navakanta Bhat (right). Standing behind (from left to right): Deepak Sharma, Bidyabhusan Kundu, Santi Prasad Rath, and Harivignesh S ] The Security Wise Blog is doing something unprecedented — reproducing below … Continue reading →

Posted in asia-Pacific/Indo-Pacific, Asian geopolitics, civil-military relations, Culture, Decision-making, Defence procurement, Geopolitics, geopolitics/geostrategy, Great Power imperatives, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Air Force, Indian Army, Indian Navy, Military/military advice, society, space & cyber, Technology transfer, technology, self-reliance, war & technology | 95 Comments

Plan for Partial Theaterisation is Unsatisfactory on Many Counts

Posted on September 10, 2024 by Bharat Karnad

[CDS Gen Anil Chauhan with CAS, ACM VR Chaudhari, CNS Adm Hari Kumar, COAS Gen Manoj Pande — left to right] Earlier this year in June, in an hour-long session with the Chief of Defence Staff in his South Block … Continue reading →

Posted in asia-Pacific/Indo-Pacific, Asian geopolitics, China, China military, civil-military relations, Culture, Decision-making, Defence procurement, domestic politics, Geopolitics, geopolitics/geostrategy, Great Power imperatives, India's China Policy, India's Pakistan Policy, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Air Force, Indian Army, Indian Navy, Indo-Pacific, Intelligence, Military Acquisitions, Military/military advice, Nuclear Policy & Strategy, Nuclear Weapons, Pakistan, Pakistan military, society, South Asia, Special Forces, US., Weapons, Western militaries | 44 Comments

Let Private Sector also produce the Tejas LCA

Posted on August 30, 2024 by Bharat Karnad

[Tejas — up in the air] There’s leadership transition at HAL, and Director (Engineering and R&D) DK Sunil is expected to take over at company HQrs in Bengaluru, replacing CB Ananthakrishnan, a former Chief Finance Officer. However this CFO got … Continue reading →

Posted in arms exports, asia-Pacific/Indo-Pacific, Asian geopolitics, civil-military relations, corruption, Culture, Decision-making, Defence Industry, Defence procurement, domestic politics, DRDO, Europe, Geopolitics, geopolitics/geostrategy, Great Power imperatives, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Air Force, Indian Army, Indian ecobomic situation, Indian Navy, Indo-Pacific, MEA/foreign policy, Military Acquisitions, Military/military advice, Russia, russian assistance, society, South Asia, Technology transfer, technology, self-reliance, United States, war & technology, Weapons, Western militaries | 35 Comments