Issue Brief

The culmination of the unprovoked Chinese intrusion in the Depsang Sector of Ladakh is a breather and a warning to India. It is a breather because it saves the country the embarrassment of justifying its inaction in dealing with the intrusion. Warning because, it gives yet another chance to set right the existing short comings in border management and deficiencies in the defence operational capabilities.

• V. Mahalingam
• May 22, 2013 |
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The recent visit by the external affairs minister can be viewed as continuation of new diplomatic push to strengthen bilateral cooperation with Iran despite the difficulties of economic sanctions imposed by the US and EU. However, the real test for both the countries is to maintain and sustain the current momentum.

• Meena Singh Roy
• May 20, 2013 |
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Timely as it was, the Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s five-day China visit may be considered a success on all fronts. Leading the ‘strongest Australian delegation ever’ to China, Gillard pledged to give the relationship a ‘concrete shape’, which in Chinese Premier Li Kequing’s words, is already ‘comprehensive, constructive and cooperative’. This issue brief analyses Julia Gillard’s China visit in the context of rising Australia-China bonhomie.

• Rahul Mishra
• May 13, 2013 |
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On April 20th, the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) of the Ministry of Defence announced 15 major amendments to the defence procurement and production policies, with the hope to incentivise indigenous defence manufacturing while promoting transparency and efficiency in the procurement process.

• Laxman Kumar Behera
• May 06, 2013 |
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Defence acquisitions are always much debated and scrutinised. The criticism ranges from a lack of direction in procurements to needles procedural complexities and from corruption in defence deals to bureaucratic apathy. The Defence Acquisition Council, chaired by the Defence Minister, has taken some bold and much needed decisions on April 20, 2013 in an attempt to address some of these issues.

• Amit Cowshish
• May 06, 2013 |
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In the aftermath of recent North Korean actions and threats, there has been in recent times some open debates and discussions about the prospects of South Korea “going nuclear” i.e. developing its own nuclear weapons. This brief argues that short of abrogating all its bilateral and multilateral treaties and obligations with heavy costs, the prospects of it doing so in the short/medium term are not that easy and may not be cost effective.

• G. Balachandran , Rukmani Gupta
• May 01, 2013 |
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This issue brief looks at the growing China-Russia relationship in the backdrop of a volatile North East Asia and the US ‘rebalancing’ to Asia –Pacific. While China-Russia relations have not always been cordial, this time it’s a win-win for both-at least for the present.

• Mandip Singh
• April 18, 2013 |
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The Tibetan issue is primarily a political one and less an economic one as China projects it to be. China should talk to the Tibetan diaspora and India for a final solution. That would be in the true interests of the peoples, bilateral relations and regional stability.

• Bijoy Das
• March 26, 2013 |
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Though its goal of securing a permanent seat in the Council during the 2011-12 term was ambitious, the efforts that it put in over the last two years were steered in that direction and have yielded favourable results.

• Saurabh Mishra , Keerthi Sampath Kumar
• March 08, 2013 |
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Nuclear force development is at present an attractive means for Pakistan to attract international political and financial assistance, while salving the paranoias of its security establishment. Improvement in the state-society relationship could reduce the domestic appeal of endless nuclear expansion as other, more sustainable, resources become available to the state for building economic growth and security.

• Yogesh Joshi , Frank O’Donnell
• March 08, 2013 |
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