Comment & Briefs

The Uzbek approach to dealing with radicalisation and extremism has evolved from tough and uncompromising measures to a flexible and accommodative approach.

India appears to be failing to consider the geopolitical and foreign policy fallouts from signing the so-called foundational military pacts with the United States.

While the US may be able to ensure the security of its homeland, it is bound to gradually yield strategic space to China in the region. All said, prevailing alignments in the region are in for a definite reset.

The summit brought out ambiguities in America’s policy towards denuclearisation of Korean Peninsula. To translate outcomes of the summit into concrete deliverables, Trump administration would not only have to clearly define its denuclearisation action plan in terms of goals, methodology and timeline but also bolster its alliance with South Korea and Japan.

An unstable Jordan will undermine India’s newly found nuanced and balanced approach towards the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and push it back to the insipid, ineffective and routine of yester years.

Mutual and shared interests between India and the US must form the basis of an enduring solution to the quandary presented by the provisions of the Countering America’s Adversaries through Sanctions Act.

The government needs to focus on meeting the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard’s urgent requirements for fuel so that their existing assets could be put to optimal use rather than squander funds on procuring an additional patrol boat from an Australian company.

Despite the easing of international crude prices, the central government is unlikely to cut central excise duties since a cut of Re 1 would result in a loss of revenue of Rs. 10,725 crore.

This Brief offers an overview of India’s long established as well as more recent external defence and security priorities, and delineates the three options available to the Defence Planning Committee under the extant economic and geopolitical circumstances.

While Iran and its European interlocutors (along with Russia and China) can be expected to mount a tough challenge to continue to make the JCPOA work in the light of Trump’s May 8 decision to ‘withdraw’ from the agreement, it remains to be seen to what extent they can succeed.