Comment & Briefs

The review shows a remarkable shift in the strategic thinking of UK from that of the Cold War frame to a more independent contemporary assessment with a focus on non-conventional threats.

The US needs to take direct charge of the peace talks prong of strategy to meet the mid-2011 deadline of beginning its troops withdrawal as well as to enable NATO departure by 2014.

The most important though understated aspect of Obama’s visit to India was the forward movement on almost all facets of defence cooperation.

During the course of their sixty year-old bilateral relationship, Indonesia and China have gone through many ups and downs. A great part of the formative years of this relationship was marred by mutual apathy, if not distrust.

Japan needs to structurally transform domestic demand by focusing on its service sector – medical services, education, environment, and health.

As long as the sub-conventional deterrence holds, the enunciation of the Cold Start doctrine actually introduces a degree of strategic stability in the region.

In the latest game of one-upmanship, North Korea has up the ante by announcing to the world that there is no stopping its nuclear development programme.

International security analysts must begin a discussion on how reductions in the U.S. defence budget will influence the nature of bilateral security relationships across Asia

The importance of the RIC trilateral initiative lies in the fact that India, Russia and China, as countries with growing international influence, can make substantive contributions to global peace, security and stability.

As an island country deep down in the Pacific, New Zealand’s security is under no great direct threat from any external source, though turbulence in the neighbourhood would be a matter of concern.