Comment & Briefs

Sultan Qaboos once observed that “while other Gulf Arabs prefer to get on a camel and go west into the Arab desert, Omanis prefer to be on a boat and drift towards India.”

The trust and comfort factor in the India-Russia relationship still exists. Modi needs to find more diligent ways to reboot the relationship with Russia and make it more relevant for changing times.

India’s Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act has emerged as an appropriate template that could rekindle the nuclear energy sector while also safeguarding the public interest.

Is India now looking at energy through the strategic prism? Its recent signing of the TAPI deal is certainly indicative of that.

It is necessary to evolve a long term strategy keeping in mind all the aircraft acquisition programmes, review the factors that contribute to determining the right numbers and begin the process of building a long term partnership with the private industry.

Is the Eurasian Economic Union aimed at reincarnating the Soviet Union minus the Marxist ideology? While some in Russia assert that the term “union” symbolically harkens back to the Soviet Union, many outside Russia fear that it could be so.

If the Sinhala opposition parties, the Tamil TNA, and the Muslim parties support the common candidate, there is a possibility that they may be able to defeat Mahinda Rajapaksa. But will these political forces come together?

The time has perhaps come to restructure, even partition, SAARC to make it more effective. This is something that might also be required to be done in the likely event that Pakistan fosters the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Despite the lessons learnt during the Kargil conflict, where artillery firepower paved the way for victory, modernisation of the artillery continued to be neglected. The recent acquisition of 814 truck-mounted 155 mm/52-calibre guns is a step in the right direction.

Given that marine police has been exclusively created for coastal security, it is imperative that the force is adequately strengthened and for this to happen, it is incumbent upon the respective state governments to recognize the severity of sea-borne threats.