Comments & Briefs

The ISI threat assessment may be received with great enthusiasm in Western capitals and policy circles, but for observers from the subcontinent it is neither ‘fundamental’ nor a ‘shift’.

Apart from alleviating the material plight of the people, transforming the feudal mindset and operationalising reforms to induce fair play and social justice should be one of the long term priority areas for the civilian government in Pakistan.

India has to calibrate its relationship with China, the US, and countries of East Asia with great circumspection in the wake of the resurfacing of tensions in the South China Sea.

On one hand the military Junta is wary of the international backlash in case it tampers with the election process, and on the other it knows what its fate would be if ‘truly fair and democratic elections’ are held.

Politically isolated in the international community both at the regional and multi-lateral levels, Fiji has found an apt ally in China to ward off any further pressure.

India needs to chalk out a new paradigm of engagement with the emerging Nepal in which economic and border management issues are prioritised over political issues.

In international conflict resolution, there is a term called ‘disaster diplomacy’, which explains how a disaster in one country may open new ways of interaction and how it brings a new perspective to persisting issues.

A clean-up operation by the Pakistan Army could actually end up sharpening the ethnic polarisation in the city, which in turn could lead to the conflagration that everyone in Karachi fears.

While there are many positive developments between Vietnam and the US, it is still to be seen how the elites and military in Vietnam interpret US overtures.

The Services have been doctrinally fecund over the past decade, with each Service bidding to pursue relatively distinct campaigns, which would amount to lack of synergy and the whole failing to rise higher than the sum of its parts.