Water Issues in the Near East and South Asia Region: Risks and Solutions With water concerns growing increasingly urgent, the global community will benefit from a treatment of the lessons learned and best practices in water dispute resolutions and approaches to water management. This report discusses the outcome of a working group of water experts from the Near East and South Asia (NESA) region,1 set up by the Strategic Studies Network, National Defense University, Washington DC. Uttam Kumar Sinha | September 2014 | Strategic Analysis
Japan’s white paper on defence: An overview The dominant challenges for Japan apart from China remain North Korea. The document expresses concerns on the launching of multiple ballistic missiles towards the Sea of Japan along with the possibility, for the first time, that the North Koreans may have acquired nuclear warheads. Naval Jagota | September 01, 2014 | IDSA Comments
Nehru, Patel and China On November 7, 1950, Vallabhbhai Patel wrote his celebrated letter to Jawaharlal Nehru on India’s China policy. ‘The Chinese Government has tried to delude us by professions of peaceful intention’, he stated, referring to Beijing’s decision to move troops into Tibet. A new challenge confronted India as a result of the ‘disappearance of Tibet, as we knew it, and the expansion of China almost up to our gates’. ‘Chinese ambitions … not only cover the Himalayan slopes on our side but also include the important part of Assam. Chandrashekhar Dasgupta | September 2014 | Strategic Analysis
India’s Revised Defence FDI Policy Under the earlier policy, the foreign portfolio investment in Indian defence industry was either banned, or capped at an arbitrary level for certain companies, causing a lot of dissatisfaction among several listed Indian companies which had pleaded their genuine helplessness in controlling such investments given their nature of flow. Laxman Kumar Behera | September 01, 2014 | IDSA Comments
Indo–US Cooperation in Countering Cyber Terrorism: Challenges and Limitations The increasing dependence on Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) has unleashed a whole new genre of cyber terrorism. Cyber attacks on critical infrastructure, online hate propaganda and use of the internet for recruiting, planning and effecting terrorist attacks have become new frontiers of terrorism. The ubiquitous cyberspace has expanded terrorism structures and transformed their operations. Swaran Singh , Jayanna Krupakar | September 2014 | Strategic Analysis
Kautilya: The True Founder of Economics by Balbir Singh Sihag Kautilya: The True Founder of Economics is a unique contribution to the subject of Kautilya’s Arthashastra (KA). Arthashastradiscusses at length governance, diplomacy, military science and political economy.1 However, never has such a strong case been presented for Kautilya’s inclusion in the economic community. Given the degree of quantitative sophistication that economic science has achieved in the 21st century, it is all the more difficult to introduce abstractions of Kautilyan thought within the modern economic framework. Divya Malhotra | September 2014 | Strategic Analysis
‘Politicised Safeguards’: Iran–IAEA Contentions, Drivers and Policy Implications This article examines Iranian contentions on three issue areas that exemplify the politicised nature of its interactions with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). These include access to military facilities, information credibility and the ‘nuclear activism’ of US-based non-governmental organisations (NGOs). S. Samuel C. Rajiv | September 2014 | Strategic Analysis
An enigma called defence technology fund There has been much speculation since 2011 about who is going to manage the proposed fund, how is it to be different from the already existing technology related heads in the defence budget, and how will the amount set aside for the purpose be utilized. Amit Cowshish | August 27, 2014 | IDSA Comments
National Security Decision Making: Overhaul Needed A sub-committee of the CCS must devote time and effort to make substantive recommendations to improve the structures for higher defence management, defence research and development, self-reliance in defence production and the improvement of civil-military relations. Gurmeet Kanwal | August 26, 2014 | IDSA Comments
Ukraine: where is it going? It is possible, if there is political will, to find a negotiated settlement on the basis of a new constitution giving greater say to regions in foreign policy. In brief, the US should agree to a sort of Finlandization of Ukraine. K. P. Fabian | August 25, 2014 | IDSA Comments
