It is clear that the Asia Pacific is a platform where various actors can be seen playing wide-ranging roles. The United States is considered one of the existing influential powers playing the role of a security provider, at least partially. On the other hand, an emerging power like India, which is expected to be more responsible and visible in the Asia Pacific region, faces several challenges both at the national and international level. David Brewster’s book discusses India’s ambitions and capabilities as well as its limitations and challenges in becoming an Asia Pacific power.

• Sampa Kundu |
• January 2015 |
• Strategic Analysis

India, the IT nation, did not make a news splash at CyberTech 2014. That is worth a passing thought. Because cyber is the fifth and new domain of warfare, after land, sea, air and space.

• Suryakanthi Tripathi |
• January 2015 |
• Strategic Analysis

The history of the 20th century has for a long time looked at the inhospitable Russian Tundra in winter as the most hostile battleground that armies could experience. Hitler’s defeat at Stalingrad in the bleak winter of 1942 and the decimation of his Panzer divisions by hardy and acclimatised Russian forces remains one of the key turning points of World War II.

• Arjun Subramaniam |
• January 2015 |
• Strategic Analysis

Germany, located in Central Europe, has access to different national and international river basins and lakes, including the Rhine, Elbe, Danube and Lake Constance. Precipitation in Germany differs between comfortable amounts in the Alpine region (1500–2000 mm/a) to moderate amounts in the central and northern regions (600–800 mm/a). In brief, the geological conditions are in favour of successful groundwater storage.

• Martin G. Grambow |
• January 2015 |
• Strategic Analysis

Mark Fitzpatrick’s book Overcoming Pakistan’s Nuclear Dangers makes a courageous attempt in advocating recognition of Pakistan as a ‘normal nuclear state’ (p. 12). The author asserts that the international community must now refrain from making Pakistan pay for its 2004 AQ Khan debacle and recognise that ‘the time has come to offer Pakistan a nuclear cooperation deal akin to India’ (p. 162).

• Reshmi Kazi |
• January 2015 |
• Strategic Analysis

President Barack Obama has detailed his strategy to degrade, defeat and ultimately destroy the Islamic State (IS) (the IS is also referred to as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria [ISIS]) currently considered the most threatening of the various terrorist groups operating primarily in the Middle East. Fundamental to the success of the strategy is military action aimed at degrading the combat capabilities of the fighting elements of the IS.

• Sanu Kainikara |
• January 2015 |
• Strategic Analysis

The Maoist insurgency and the internal security response, which in part flows from India’s security architecture, have become increasingly relevant in the recent past. The Maoist threat has repeatedly been referred to as the gravest internal challenge to India’s security. The impact of this threat, along with terrorism in the hinterland, has exposed the inadequacies of the country’s internal security capacities. Therefore, a book dealing with the two is a timely addition to the literature, in the Indian context.

• Vivek Chadha |
• January 2015 |
• Strategic Analysis

With the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led coalition coming to power in India in May 2014, the issue of illegal immigration from Bangladesh has come to the forefront once again. However, the fear is whether the debate over the issue will shed more light, leading to the resolution of the problem, or whether it will simply degenerate into political rivalry and polarisation. Illegal immigration figured prominently in the run-up to the 2014 parliamentary elections and was often raised by one of the leading political parties, the BJP.

• Anand Kumar |
• January 2015 |
• Strategic Analysis

‘My, I always thought he was the peaceable sort’, remarked Jacqueline Kennedy, sitting next to her husband in the White House in the late evening of October 25, 1962. She had just read a letter written to John F. Kennedy from Jawaharlal Nehru, the first of three crucial letters seeking US military assistance during the Indo-China war in 1962.

• Aniruddh Mohan |
• January 2015 |
• Strategic Analysis

India’s global policy strategy is on the verge of major changes. Non-alignment as a cornerstone of foreign policy has become outdated given the power shifts in a multipolar world, especially through the emergence of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa), which has put India in the position of being perceived as a potential new global player.

• Herbert Wulf , Tobias Debiel |
• January 2015 |
• Strategic Analysis