Comment & Briefs

While the attack on the chemical warehouse in France and the accident in the Taiwanese park are not cases of chemical terrorism in a classical sense, they can be analysed against the backdrop of a ‘chemical incident’.

In China’s foreign policy setting, the logic of ‘sovereignty’ and ‘history’ are employed or applied selectively as is evident from its reservation on India’s oil exploration in the South China Sea and its own plans to implement the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor through Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir despite India’s reservations.

Do the successors of Monnet have the moral strength to move in the right direction rather than act like petty minded accountants who want to balance the books at any cost?

If the experience of the Afghan–trained mujahids is anything to go by, the threat posed by returnees from Syria and Iraq has the potential to be far more lethal especially since the numbers involved are much higher.

Modi’s activism is welcomed in Central Asian countries, though they know that India has already missed the bus and it has a lot of catching up to do.

While the Indonesian military played a crucial role in counter-terrorism since the late 1940s, the fall of Suharto in 1998 and democratisation led to the Police dominating this task, especially after the first Bali bombings in 2002. Lately, however, the Indonesian military has reclaimed part of this role, mainly due to the rising threat from the Islamic State.

Time and again, civilian masses the world over have been at the receiving end of legions of conventional weapons systems leaving destructive direct and indirect consequences in their wake. The copious arms -and their ammunition- currently in circulation range from assault rifles, rocket launchers, anti-aircraft weapons to pistols, machine guns as well as missiles, grenades and other explosive ordnances.

Converting the Services` HQs as departments of the government within the scope of Allocation of Business Rules, with responsibility to Parliament for obtaining defence appropriations, may be in the long-term interests of the country.

Iran has lent some support to the Houthis, but its support is not a decisive factor. The Saudis have for exaggerated Iran’s role and have in the process made it difficult for themselves to see the reality.

The BBIN-MVA would enable seamless sub-regional connectivity, deeper integration on economic issues and people-to-people contact between the four counties.