Category Archives: South Asia

Abusing secularism

Posted on April 23, 2013 by Bharat Karnad

Without getting into the philosophical antecedents of secularism, at its core is the separation of religion and state. In democracies, however, the religious affiliation of voters creates problems if a vocal minority defines its political identity in religious terms, as … Continue reading →

Posted in Indian ecobomic situation, Indian Politics, Internal Security, South Asia | 4 Comments

Scrap Rafale, Viva Tejas!

Posted on April 11, 2013 by Bharat Karnad

The credibility of WikiLeaks has never been questioned. The WikiLeaks documents that reveal Rajiv Gandhi’s role as a commission agent for the Swedish defence major Saab-Scania peddling its Viggen combat aircraft to the Indian Air Force in the mid- to … Continue reading →

Posted in Asian geopolitics, civil-military relations, Defence Industry, DRDO, Great Power imperatives, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Air Force, indian policy -- Israel, Iran and West Asia, Military Acquisitions, Pakistan, Pakistan military, South Asia, Strategic Relations with the US & West | 10 Comments

Messing with Sri Lanka

Posted on April 6, 2013 by Bharat Karnad

It was the early 1980s when, as I recall, Anton Balasingham, “foreign minister” of the “Tamil Eelam” walked into my office, and vehemently protested a piece I had written warning of the dangers of being sucked into the Sri Lankan … Continue reading →

Posted in Asian geopolitics, China, China military, civil-military relations, Geopolitics, guerilla warfare, India's China Policy, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Air Force, Indian Army, Indian Navy, Indian Ocean, Indian Politics, Internal Security, South Asia, Terrorism | 3 Comments

Frog in hot water

Posted on March 29, 2013 by Bharat Karnad

John Garver, a leading American expert on Sino-Indian relations, has likened Beijing’s strategy towards India to the traditional Chinese way of cooking a frog. Plonk the frog in a vessel and turn up the heat slowly. If the water was … Continue reading →

Posted in Asian geopolitics, Central Asia, China, China military, Geopolitics, Great Power imperatives, India's China Policy, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Navy, Indian Ocean, indian policy -- Israel, Iran and West Asia, Japan, Missiles, Northeast Asia, Nuclear Policy & Strategy, Nuclear Weapons, South Asia, Strategic Relations with South East Asia & Far East, West Asia | 11 Comments

MIRV-testing by stealth — II

Posted on March 28, 2013 by Bharat Karnad

Sorry, original blog on the issue of MIRV testing by stealth inadvertently deleted. This augmented replacement blog on the same topic. The PSLV-C 20 launched February 25 carried a payload of seven satellites, which were injected into their separate precise … Continue reading →

Posted in Asian geopolitics, China, China military, Cyber & Space, Defence Industry, DRDO, Geopolitics, Great Power imperatives, Military Acquisitions, Missiles, Nuclear Policy & Strategy, Nuclear Weapons, satellites, South Asia | 16 Comments

Narendra Bhai vs. Rahul Baba

Posted on March 22, 2013 by Bharat Karnad

Democracies are renowned for hoisting kooks and incompetents into power. The Indian democratic system is additionally notorious for electing musclemen, criminals, and worse. So if the choice in the 2014 general elections is between Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi, it … Continue reading →

Posted in Asian geopolitics, India's Pakistan Policy, Indian para-military forces, Indian Politics, Internal Security, Pakistan, Pakistan military, South Asia | 28 Comments

A can-do helmsman

Posted on March 15, 2013 by Bharat Karnad

Nations on the march, or those in the dumps, have sometimes found great leaders to lift their spirits, offer a guiding vision, fuel ambition and help them leap forward. A down and out China found Deng Xiaoping, a fast-declining Britain … Continue reading →

Posted in China, China military, Europe, Indian Army, Indian ecobomic situation, Indian Politics, Internal Security, Military Acquisitions, South Asia, Technology transfer, United States, US. | 8 Comments

Impact of Kerry-Hagel duo

Posted on March 8, 2013 by Bharat Karnad

What can India expect with Senator John Kerry replacing Hillary Clinton at the State Department and former Senator Charles Hagel Leon Panetta at the Pentagon? Do these changes herald change in the US foreign and military policies that’ll hurt India? … Continue reading →

Posted in Afghanistan, Asian geopolitics, Australia, China, China military, disarmament, Europe, Geopolitics, India's China Policy, India's Pakistan Policy, Indian Ocean, indian policy -- Israel, Iran and West Asia, Missiles, nonproliferation, Northeast Asia, Nuclear Policy & Strategy, Nuclear Weapons, Pakistan military, South Asia, Strategic Relations with the US & West, United States | 15 Comments

Arbitrary priorities

Posted on February 28, 2013 by Bharat Karnad

The military variant of that old saw about India being a rich country with poor people owing to god-awful governance is that there is no real dearth of monies allotted defence but every reason to doubt these are always spent … Continue reading →

Posted in China, China military, civil-military relations, Defence Industry, DRDO, India's China Policy, India's Pakistan Policy, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Air Force, Indian Army, Indian Navy, Indian Politics, Military Acquisitions, Pakistan, Pakistan military, South Asia | 1 Comment

Why retraction on NoKo test?

Posted on February 22, 2013 by Bharat Karnad

Very strange things are happening in the aftermath of the fusion-boosted fission (FBF) device tested at the North Korean N-test site in the Hamgyeong mountains. Readers may care to peruse in sequence the stories here ID-ed. There was the story … Continue reading →

Posted in Asian geopolitics, China, China military, civil-military relations, disarmament, Europe, Great Power imperatives, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Army, Indian Politics, Japan, nonproliferation, Northeast Asia, Nuclear Policy & Strategy, Nuclear Weapons, Pakistan, Pakistan military, Pakistan nuclear forces, Russia, South Asia, United States, US. | 27 Comments