India’s Response to CBW attack Acardinal principle of India’s nuclear doctrine is No First Use (NFU). It is articulated in a press release of January 4, 2003 on the review of operationalisation of India’s nuclear… Continue reading India’s Response to CBW attack Ali Ahmed October-December 2008 CBW Magazine
Is India on the Path to Vibrant Defence Industry? What does it take to be ‘a vibrant industry’ or more specifically ‘vibrant defence industry’? Broadly, it would demand that the industry should be innovative in terms of processes and products, its base and structure should have large dimensions horizontally, vertically, and technologically to be responsive enough to keep pace with the changing strategic expectations of the nation. Defence exports and imports should be a matter of deliberate political or commercial policy choices and not a result of security compulsions. N. Neihsial October 08, 2008 IDSA Comments
Prachanda’s Visit to India: Beginning of a New Dawn No other recent visit to India has been so eagerly awaited as that of Pushpa Kumar Dahal, alias Prachanda, the Maoist revolutionary turned democrat and Prime Minister of ‘New Nepal’. His party received a thumping mandate from the electorate in the last elections and but for the fact that 50 per cent of the seats were to be filled up by proportional representation, it could have easily crossed the half way mark in the constituent assembly. Thus, under the existing electoral procedure, the Maoists were forced to bank on other political parties to form a government. Alok Bansal October 08, 2008 IDSA Comments
Update on the Meeting of Experts for BWTC (18-22 August 2008) The Meeting of Experts for the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BTWC/BWC) was held from August 18 to 22, 2008 in Geneva. As a part of the intersessional process for… Continue reading Update on the Meeting of Experts for BWTC (18-22 August 2008) Monalisa Joshi October-December 2008 CBW Magazine
Violence in Pakistan: Trend Analysis for August 2008 The recent suicide attack on Mariott Hotel in Islamabad has once again focussed international attention on Pakistan. Violence in Pakistan is now moving from the periphery to the heartland. The level of violence has been rising continuously for the last few months. Drawing upon media reports, an attempt is made here to analyse violence in Pakistan during August 2008. T. Khurshchev Singh , Alok Bansal September 30, 2008 IDSA Comments
Averting Terror Attacks On September 13, five serial bombs shattered the weekend peace across several popular market complexes in New Delhi, killing 30 innocent civilians and injuring nearly 90. An elusive outfit calling itself “Indian Mujahideen” (IM) claimed responsibility for the bombings via an email sent to national media houses 10 minutes after the first blast at Karol Bagh. Namrata Goswami September 25, 2008 IDSA Comments
An Overview of the Russo-Georgian Conflict Georgia was a constituent republic of the former USSR. In 1991, the dissolution of the Soviet Union led to the independence of Georgia. In turn, the autonomous regions of Georgia, namely South Ossetia and Abkhazia, attempted to break away from Georgia, resulting in civil strife in the early Nineties. These conflicts were settled with Russian involvement with the United Nations Mission in Georgia deploying in a peacekeeping role in Abkhazia and a Russian peacekeeping force deploying under a Joint Control Commission in South Ossetia. Ali Ahmed September 25, 2008 IDSA Comments
Taiwan’s Failure at the UN Will Taiwan ever participate in the United Nations? Pessimist views have started flowing after the rejection of Taiwan’s fresh bid for ‘meaningful participation in international agencies’ at the UN on September 18, 2008. This proposal was submitted by sixteen “diplomatic allies” of Taiwan to the UN Secretariat on August 14, 2008. Blocking Taiwan’s new attempt, a UN subcommittee decided that it would not let the 63rd UN General Assembly (UNGA) consider their request for permission to join ‘UN activities’. Jagannath P. Panda September 24, 2008 IDSA Comments
Iraq beyond the Troop Surge: Fragile Security Gains, Tenuous Political Stability The military commander most associated with executing President George Bush’s ‘troop surge’ in Iraq, Gen. David H. Petraeus, handed over command of US forces to Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno on September 16, after completing nearly 18 months of duty at the helm. He had taken over from the then commander Gen. George Casey in early February 2007, at a time when rising American and Iraqi civilian casualties threatened to engulf the whole region with its attendant negative consequences. S. Samuel C. Rajiv September 24, 2008 IDSA Comments
Revisiting the Kosi Agreement: Lessons for Indo-Nepal Water Diplomacy The year 2008 has witnessed yet another disastrous flood in North Bihar. Floods in Bihar have been almost an annual phenomenon. Though the capacity of the river flow was well below the danger line this time around, the situation was in fact aggravated by a breach in the Eastern embankment. Estimates indicate that around thirty lakh people have been displaced and their livelihoods devastated in sixteen districts of north-eastern Bihar. At the same time, around 50,000 people have been affected in Sunsari district of Nepal. Medha Bisht September 22, 2008 IDSA Comments
