Category Archives: Terrorism

A psychological barrier breached with Indian attacks on Muridke and Bahawalpur

Posted on May 7, 2025 by Bharat Karnad

[Strikes on JeM HQ at Bahawalpur] Attacks launched at 1:44 AM this morning on nine terrorist targets within Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, including headquarters of the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba in Muridke outside Lahore and of the Jaish-e-Mohammad in Bahawalpur, both located in … Continue reading →

Posted in Afghanistan, asia-Pacific/Indo-Pacific, Asian geopolitics, civil-military relations, corruption, Culture, Decision-making, domestic politics, Geopolitics, geopolitics/geostrategy, Great Power imperatives, India's Pakistan Policy, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Air Force, Indian Army, Indian Navy, Indo-Pacific, Intelligence, Internal Security, Israel, MEA/foreign policy, Military/military advice, Missiles, Nuclear Policy & Strategy, Nuclear Weapons, Pakistan, Pakistan military, Pakistan nuclear forces, society, South Asia, Terrorism, United States, US. | Tagged , , , , | 66 Comments

Capture of Haji Pir Salient and Skardu — eminently doable, is what the Indian military’s goals ought to be for the retaliatory actions

Posted on April 30, 2025 by Bharat Karnad

[A PAF (ex-Chinese) F-7P taking off from possibly the Lahore-Islamabad motorway] It is despairing to hear and see a string of former generals, RAW, IB officials and the like, prodded by television hosts, daily emitting a lot of nonsense and … Continue reading →

Posted in asia-Pacific/Indo-Pacific, Asian geopolitics, Central Asia, China, China military, civil-military relations, Culture, Cyber & Space, Decision-making, domestic politics, Europe, 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, Indian Ocean, Indian Politics, Indo-Pacific, Intelligence, Internal Security, Israel, MEA/foreign policy, Military/military advice, Nuclear Policy & Strategy, Nuclear Weapons, Pakistan military, Pakistan nuclear forces, satellites, society, South Asia, space & cyber, Special Forces, Strategic Relations with the US & West, Terrorism, Tibet, UN, United States, US., Western militaries | Tagged , , , , | 55 Comments

No plan, No Preparation, No Instant Retaliation — what to do?

Posted on April 22, 2025 by Bharat Karnad

[J&K Police Notice about the Pahalgam terrorists] The terrorists have been identified, their antecedents ascertained, and the J&K Police Intel presently are involved in tracing the family connections, if any, of the above four attackers in Pahalgam who killed 26 … Continue reading →

Posted in asia-Pacific/Indo-Pacific, Asian geopolitics, civil-military relations, Culture, Decision-making, Defence procurement, domestic politics, Geopolitics, geopolitics/geostrategy, Great Power imperatives, Indian Army, indian policy -- Israel, indian policy -- Israel, Iran and West Asia, Indo-Pacific, Intelligence, Internal Security, Islamic countries, Israel, Military Acquisitions, Military/military advice, Nuclear Policy & Strategy, Nuclear Weapons, Pakistan, Pakistan military, Pakistan nuclear forces, society, South Asia, Special Forces, Terrorism, United States, US., war & technology, Weapons, West Asia, Western militaries | Tagged , , , , | 88 Comments

Jaishankar’s foreign policy Vision: NO mention of national security and or the military aspects of international relations — welcome to his brand of “realism”!

Posted on December 30, 2024 by Bharat Karnad

The external affairs minister, S Jaishankar, for some reason, dislikes “polemics”. Derived from the Greek word for war, polemos, and defined by Oxford Dictionary as “a strong verbal or written attack” and as the “practice of engaging in fierce discussion”, … Continue reading →

Posted in arms exports, asia-Pacific/Indo-Pacific, Asian geopolitics, Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brazil, China, China military, civil-military relations, Culture, Cyber & Space, Decision-making, Defence Industry, Defence procurement, DRDO, Europe, Geopolitics, geopolitics/geostrategy, Great Power imperatives, guerilla warfare, India's China Policy, India's Pakistan Policy, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Air Force, Indian Army, Indian ecobomic situation, Indian Navy, Indian Ocean, Indian para-military forces, indian policy -- Israel, Iran and West Asia, Indian state/administration, Indo-Pacific, Intelligence, Internal Security, Japan, Maldives, MEA/foreign policy, Military Acquisitions, Military/military advice, Missiles, Nepal, nonproliferation, North Korea, Northeast Asia, NRIs, Nuclear Policy & Strategy, Nuclear Weapons, Pakistan, Pakistan military, Pakistan nuclear forces, Relations with Russia, Russia, russian assistance, russian military, space & cyber, Strategic Forces Command, Strategic Relations with South East Asia & Far East, Strategic Relations with the US & West, Taiwan, Technology transfer, technology, self-reliance, Terrorism, Tibet, Trade with China, United States, US., Vietnam, war & technology, Weapons, Western militaries | 117 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

The Great Bengal Tragedy

Posted on August 10, 2024 by Bharat Karnad

[Bangladeshi blood lust] Dhaka University students have always been the vanguard of change in a benighted Bangladesh. The massacre by the Pakistan Army of students and select professors — proponents of Bengali nationalism in East Pakistan in March 1971 — … Continue reading →

Posted in Afghanistan, asia-Pacific/Indo-Pacific, Asian geopolitics, Bangladesh, China, civil-military relations, corruption, Culture, domestic politics, Geopolitics, Great Power imperatives, India's Pakistan Policy, Indo-Pacific, Intelligence, Internal Security, Islamic countries, MEA/foreign policy, Pakistan, Pakistan military, society, South Asia, Special Forces, Strategic Relations with the US & West, Terrorism, United States, US. | 38 Comments

Respectfully, Shriman PMji, Rajnathji, will you please shut the f**k up!

Posted on May 1, 2024 by Bharat Karnad

[The Two Amigos — NSAs Ajit Doval and Jake Sullivan] All of a not so sudden, we have news of India covertly creating alleged mayhem all over the map — in Pakistan by supposedly bumping off a bunch of jihadi … Continue reading →

Posted in asia-Pacific/Indo-Pacific, Asian geopolitics, Australia, China, China military, corruption, Culture, Cyber & Space, Decision-making, Europe, Geopolitics, geopolitics/geostrategy, Great Power imperatives, India's China Policy, India's Pakistan Policy, Indo-Pacific, Intelligence, Internal Security, MEA/foreign policy, Pakistan, Pakistan military, South Asia, space & cyber, Strategic Relations with the US & West, Terrorism, United States, US. | 25 Comments

India going down the familiar import route, this time on UAVs

Posted on February 2, 2024 by Bharat Karnad

        [India’s Tapas BH 201 drone] There are good reasons for redoubled skepticism about Narendra Modi’s policy of atmnirbharta (self-sufficiency) in armaments. My books and writings over the past decade have detailed why it seems to be more a political … Continue reading →

Posted in arms exports, asia-Pacific/Indo-Pacific, Asian geopolitics, civil-military relations, corruption, Culture, Cyber & Space, Decision-making, Defence Industry, Defence procurement, DRDO, Europe, Geopolitics, geopolitics/geostrategy, Great Power imperatives, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian Air Force, Indian Army, Indian Navy, Indo-Pacific, Intelligence, Internal Security, MEA/foreign policy, Military Acquisitions, Military/military advice, Russia, russian assistance, society, South Asia, space & cyber, Strategic Relations with the US & West, Technology transfer, technology, self-reliance, Terrorism, United States, US., war & technology, Weapons | Tagged , , , , | 13 Comments

Placating the US has Modi govt in a pickle

Posted on December 11, 2023 by Bharat Karnad

[Putin & Modi] On December 8 at an unrelated event in Moscow, the Russian President Vladimir Putin, out of the blue, praised Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying he “cannot be intimidated, threatened or forced to take any action or … Continue reading →

Posted in asia-Pacific/Indo-Pacific, Asian geopolitics, China, China military, Culture, Cyber & Space, Decision-making, Defence procurement, domestic politics, DRDO, Europe, Geopolitics, geopolitics/geostrategy, Great Power imperatives, Indo-Pacific, Intelligence, Internal Security, Islamic countries, Israel, Japan, MEA/foreign policy, Military Acquisitions, Military/military advice, NRIs, Pakistan, Pakistan military, Relations with Russia, Russia, russian assistance, sanctions, society, South Asia, South East Asia, space & cyber, Strategic Relations with the US & West, Technology transfer, technology, self-reliance, Terrorism, Tibet | 27 Comments

India needs to erect Guardrails in its relations with America

Posted on December 2, 2023 by Bharat Karnad

[Modi with US Secretaries of State and Defence, Anthony Blinken and Lloyd Austin] In international affairs, relationships with friendly states are in greater need of guardrails than ties with adversaries because the worst can be assumed about the latter and … Continue reading →

Posted in asia-Pacific/Indo-Pacific, Asian geopolitics, Central Asia, China, China military, Cyber & Space, Decision-making, Europe, Geopolitics, geopolitics/geostrategy, Great Power imperatives, India's China Policy, India's strategic thinking and policy, Indian democracy, Indian ecobomic situation, Indian Ocean, Indo-Pacific, Intelligence, Internal Security, MEA/foreign policy, NRIs, sanctions, society, South Asia, space & cyber, Strategic Relations with the US & West, Terrorism, Tibet, Trade with China, United States, US. | 10 Comments