Power vacuum and impending regional race in Iraq President Barack Obama’s announcement that the “American combat role in Iraq has ended” has created fresh challenges for the region. Iraq needs to meet the daunting internal and external challenges in the wake of the American withdrawal to ensure stability. Prasanta Kumar Pradhan | September 09, 2010 | IDSA Comments
Indonesia’s Protracted War on Terrorism: The Importance of Abu Bakar Ba’asyir’s Arrest Indonesia, which has been taking significant measures to curb terrorism, scored another success with the arrest of Abu Bakar Ba'asyir aka ABB, suspected of having funded and ideologically motivated Al Qaeda Aceh, in early August 2010. The arrest is just one of the steps in a long, consistent and protracted fight to maintain Indonesia’s secular, democratic and republican credentials. Rahul Mishra , Irfa Puspitasari | September 09, 2010 | IDSA Comments
As Dragon flexes muscle, the Rising Sun goes defensive China’s rise has become a matter of concern throughout Asia and led to changes in the strategic postures of its neighbours. Japan has begun to rethink its own defence strategy and security policy in response to China’s military modernization. Pranamita Baruah , Rajaram Panda , Shamshad A. Khan | September 09, 2010 | Issue Brief
Fruits of Antony’s visit to South Korea: Defence Ties Strengthen further Converging interests between India and South Korea is leading them to position themselves to work closely in the emerging Asian security architecture. Rajaram Panda | September 07, 2010 | IDSA Comments
Political Culture in Bhutan: A Lost Narrative Creating levers of influence and pursuing a pro-active engagement with Bhutan’s decision-makers is the most effective way of shaping political will to engage the Bhutanese establishment over the issue of refugee repatriation. Medha Bisht | September 07, 2010 | IDSA Comments
China’s High Risk India Gamble Indian decision makers played down the problems in the India-China relationship for the past decade in the expectation that deepening engagement would influence attitudes at the top level in China and thereby enable hardened positions to soften. Sujit Dutta | September 03, 2010 | IDSA Comments
Non-lethal Weapons and Crowd Control There is a need to appreciate the medical, social and ethical consequences and liabilities of the use of non-lethal weapons before putting them to use. Ajey Lele | September 03, 2010 | IDSA Comments
Internal Security: The Indian Way There is a view that India's approach to national security is largely ad hoc and marked by incompetence. Indians as well as foreign commentators on the country's security policies seem to share this perception. However, India does have a security approach that has a discernible pattern and arguably has been a success. This comment focuses on how India has dealt with internal security since independence. Kanti Bajpai | September 2010 | Strategic Analysis
Power Realignments in Asia: China, India, and the United States by Alyssa Ayres and C. Raja Mohan Rahul Mishra | September 2010 | Strategic Analysis
One Year After Terrorism: Sri Lanka Needs to Demilitarise Reconstruction and Development for Sustainable Peace On April 12, 2010 the majority of citizens of the island of Sri Lanka's two main linguistic communities celebrated the Sinhala and Tamil new year and the categorical end of war and terrorism with considerable optimism, despite the lack of a clear political solution to the ‘ethnic conflict’. The new year celebrations, the first since the end of the state's 30 year war with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), were in the wake of recently concluded parliamentary elections that returned the ruling party to power. Darini Rajasingham Senanayake | September 2010 | Strategic Analysis
