Russia and Japan Clash over the Kuriles in the North Pacific The clash between Russia and Japan over the Southern Kurils in the North Pacific highlight Russia’s emerging role in the Asia Pacific Region and its relations with China and Japan. Smita Purushottam | November 03, 2010 | Special Feature
Revisiting China’s Kashmir Policy China’s moves concerning Kashmir evoke apprehension regarding retrogressive changes in its Kashmir policy, designed to give it a hold over India. The best case scenario for China is that the Kashmir issue is never resolved; and if this issue inches towards any kind of resolution, that China should be considered a party to the Kashmir dispute. Prashant Kumar Singh | November 01, 2010 | IDSA Comments
Russia Abandons the ‘Energy Super-Power’ Idea but Lacks Energy for ‘Modernisation’ The energy sector since the mid-2000s has acquired top priority in Russian state affairs, but since late 2008 it has also become the epicentre of the economic disaster that still continues to affect Russia. President Medvedev has effectively discarded the notion of Russia as an 'energy super-power' and is now focusing on 'modernisation' for Russia's development. But coherence of this course is problematic because the bulk of new investments must go into the energy sector in order to sustain the high revenues. Pavel K. Baev | November 2010 | Strategic Analysis
Probity in the Armed Forces People in India have traditionally looked up to the Armed Forces. Corruption in the Armed Forces therefore militates against the spirit of service to the nation. It has to be cleansed wholesale, with effective mechanisms for protecting whistleblowers and taking swift action against the guilty put in place. Caesar’s wife must be beyond reproach. Rumel Dahiya | November 01, 2010 | IDSA Comments
Energy-Related Border Trade Measures: Can They Lead to Trade Wars? Following the recent economic crisis, concerns over the revival of trade protectionism have surfaced, with some countries imposing or threatening to impose highly trade-distorting legislation to help their domestic industries compete in world markets, raising the spectre of a potential trade war. This paper looks at the attempts by some of the developed countries to introduce trade measures using the issue of climate change as a Trojan horse, to ensure that they do not lose out to the emerging economies. Shebonti Ray Dadwal | November 2010 | Strategic Analysis
Review Essay Katherine T. Harris (ed.), Geopolitics of Oil , Nova Science Publishers, Hauppauge, New York, 2009, pp. 165, US$69, ISBN 978-1606928103 Peter Maass, Crude World: The Violent Twilight of Oil , Allen Lane, London, pp. 228, £20, ISBN 978-1846142468 Prashant Hosur | November 2010 | Strategic Analysis
Climate Change: Process and Politics With the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol expiring in 2012, time seems to be running out for a new successor agreement. The Protocol remains the most comprehensive attempt to negotiate binding limits on anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The long-term challenge, defined by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), is to stabilise GHG concentration in the atmosphere at levels that would prevent interference with the climate system. There are, however, economic and social realities that drive anthropogenic GHG emissions. Uttam Kumar Sinha | November 2010 | Strategic Analysis
Oil in China: Reserves, Production and Export Potential The latest addition to the Chinese ‘enigma’ is its oil potential. There have been various accounts, of late, in influential journals and important documents attempting to unravel the mystery surrounding Chinese oil. As it happens, most of them have helped only to further deepen it. P. K. S. Namboodiri | November 2010 | Strategic Analysis
The Quest for Nuclear Energy in West Asia: Energy Security or Strategic Necessity Most of the countries in West Asia have expressed an interest in developing nuclear energy. For them their growing demand of electricity owing to the increasing population, growing industries, their eternal reliance on the desalinated water and environmental protection are the major drivers of their decision to produce nuclear energy. Importantly, they would like to use nuclear energy for domestic consumption and supply oil and gas to earn more revenues. Prasanta Kumar Pradhan | November 2010 | Strategic Analysis
European Energy Security: Facing a Future of Increasing Dependency by Peter Truscott Alok Rashmi Mukhopadhyay | November 2010 | Strategic Analysis
