Afghan Endgames: Strategy and Policy Choices for America’s Longest War, edited by Hy Rothstein and John Arquilla, New Delhi: Foundation Books, 2013, pp. 244, INR 895 This book has been published at a critical juncture: the United States (US) and its North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies are preparing to wind up their combat mission in Afghanistan by the end of 2014 and are engaged in charting out the best possible exit strategy. The US and its NATO allies, along with regional nations around Afghanistan, are deliberating over the best possible way to deal with the Afghan situation after 2014. Sanjeev Kumar Shrivastav | July 2014 | Journal of Defence Studies
Strategies to Counter Bioterrorism Introduction There is a shared global concern that biological warfare (BW) or bioterror can be initiated in a deliberate use of microbes and toxins aimed at killing or incapacitating people,… Continue reading Strategies to Counter Bioterrorism Ram Kumar Dhaked | July-December 2014 | CBW Magazine
Indians, Anzacs and Gallipoli, 1915 As one of the world’s most populous nations, India today has one of its largest armies, which stands ready to defend the nation. A century ago, India’s army was similarly large but was used to defend the British empire as well as Britain’s Indian possessions. In 1914, the Indian Army (a force of about 200,000 men) provided a vast reservoir of trained military manpower, one immediately used by Britain as it entered the Great War. Peter Stanley | July 2014 | Journal of Defence Studies
Reviewing Defence Offset Guidelines: A Recap The Guidelines of 2012 have been under review for some time. While a drastic shift in the policy is unlikely, some changes in the policy, clarity about some of the existing provisions and simplification of the procedure seem necessary to make the policy work better. Amit Cowshish | July 17, 2014 | IDSA Comments
Saga of Chemical Weapons in Syrian Civil War 23 July 2012 was an important landmark in the Syrian conflict as on that date the Syrian Government officially acknowledged possessing chemical weapons. However, the spokesperson, Jihad Mikdassi, said that… Continue reading Saga of Chemical Weapons in Syrian Civil War Zaki Zaidi | July-December 2014 | CBW Magazine
Iraq crisis: Lessons for India Given India’s vulnerability to a rise in global crude oil prices as a result of its 75-80 per cent of its crude import dependency, the Iraq crisis could widen its current account deficit, while putting pressure on exchange rate, impeding government’s fiscal consolidation goal and putting off any nudge on interest rates by the Reserve Bank of India. Manish Vaid , Tushar Shah | July 16, 2014 | IDSA Comments
China’s Maritime Silk Route: Implications for India China’s announcement of a 10 billion Yuan ($1.6 billion) fund to finance the “maritime silk road plan” is a clear sign that it is serious about moving ahead with its stated plans. For India, it is instructive that the sales pitch of shared economic gains does not conceal the MSR’s real purpose: ensuring the security of sea lines of communications (SLOCs) in the Indian and Pacific oceans. Abhijit Singh | July 16, 2014 | IDSA Comments
Ebola Threat: Global Challenge and India’s Preparedness Ebola virus has been spreading exponentially. As of October 23, 2014, the total number of confirmed, probable, and suspected cases of Ebola infection stood at 10,141 including 4,922 reported deaths.1… Continue reading Ebola Threat: Global Challenge and India’s Preparedness Reshmi Kazi | July-December 2014 | CBW Magazine
Distortions in the Discourse on Modernization of Armed Forces The strategic discourse on defence and security matters in India revolves around familiar themes and sub-themes, ranging from larger issues such as the absence of a clearly articulated national security policy to somewhat fractious issues such as the higher defence management, civil-military relations and modernization of the armed forces. Amit Cowshish | July 2014 | Journal of Defence Studies
Twists and Turns in Zimbabwe’s Succession Debate The succession debate has haunted the ZANU PF right from its foundation in the 1950s. Given the fact that the leader of the party is well into his 90s, and oldage ailments are fast catching up with him, factionalism within the party has been the order of the day. Frederick Chakupa Sadomba | July-September 2014 | Africa Trends
