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Indications are that the stalled six-party talks on the North Korean nuclear issue will resume in the coming months. While North Korea has let it be known that it is willing to return to the negotiating table, the United States showed its willingness to hold one-to-one talks with North Korea. This time, the North Korean capability/status of uranium enrichment programme would, among other things, dominate the negotiations.

• Ch. Viyyanna Sastry |
• September 23, 2009 |
• IDSA Comments

Once an exporter of Chinese style Communism and isolated internationally, today’s China is the mainstay of the capitalist world exporting a large quantity of what the world imports.

• Avinash Godbole |
• September 23, 2009 |
• IDSA Comments

Pakistan has yet again shown its proclivity to raise tensions with India. This time, the Pakistan Army or its proxies have fired three rockets across the International Border (IB) near Wagha in Punjab. Although no injuries were reported, such attacks pose a major danger to the people living in areas adjacent to the border, and some 150 farmers of the area indeed protested. This is the second time that rockets have been fired from Pakistan in the recent past.

• Ramesh Phadke |
• September 14, 2009 |
• IDSA Comments

In a surprise move the Iranian parliament (Majles) approved 18 of the 21 nominees including that of a woman proposed by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as members of his cabinet. Although Ahmadinejad had nominated three women candidates, parliament approved only one, that of Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi as the health minister. This is the first time that a woman has acquired a ministerial position in the Islamic Republic since the 1979 revolution. Marzieh Vahid is a gynaecologist and obstetrician by profession.

• M. Mahtab Alam Rizvi |
• September 11, 2009 |
• IDSA Comments

A number of Chinese border intrusions across the Line of Actual Control have been reported in recent months. One such event near Mount Gya in the Chumar sector of Ladakh saw Chinese troops intruding 1.5 kilometres inside Indian territory and writing “China” on the rocks with red paint. The intrusion was first noticed by an Indian patrol team on July 31, 2009. An earlier incident of Chinese intrusion in this area reportedly took place on June 21st, when two Chinese M1 helicopters violated the Indian airspace and air dropped canned food at Chumar.

• Pushpita Das |
• September 10, 2009 |
• IDSA Comments

In a new book Nuclear Strategy: India’s March Towards a Credible Deterrent, Dr. Manpreet Sethi has recommended a restructuring of India’s Nuclear Command Authority. Since India’s nuclear doctrine is premised on ‘Assured Retaliation’, nuclear retaliatory attacks can only be authorised by the civilian political leadership through the Nuclear Command Authority. Presently, the Nuclear Command Authority, as approved by the Cabinet Committee on Security on 04 January 2003, stipulates:

• Ali Ahmed |
• September 09, 2009 |
• IDSA Comments

A few weeks ago Sunday Express reported that the Madhya Pradesh Hunger Index at 30.9 was worse than that of Ethiopia. Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh, its two neighbours, were only marginally better at 28.7 and 26.6 respectively. BBC had also brought out a similar report in October 2008. According to the report, the statistics came from the country’s Planning Commission and not from a local NGO and that the authorities were extremely alarmed. The state was ranked 11 in 1994 but has fallen to 17 in 2008.

• Ramesh Phadke |
• September 04, 2009 |
• IDSA Comments

The month of May 2009 was the most violent month in Pakistan in the last five years. As the security forces launched a concerted operation against the Taliban in Malakand Division, the casualties shot up almost five times. The month recorded 504 violent incidents against 332 in April, which resulted in the loss of 2,585 lives. Most of the casualties were due to Operation Rah-e-Rast launched by the security forces in Swat and adjacent districts.

• T. Khurshchev Singh , Alok Bansal |
• September 02, 2009 |
• IDSA Comments

The Road to Copenhagen in December 2009 has two visible signposts. One that reads, ‘The time for climate change action is now’, the other that warns, ‘The road is bumpy’. The first signpost expresses the apocalyptic language that the earth's rising temperatures are poised to set off irreversible consequences if concrete steps are not taken quickly. It suggests that the climate is nearing tipping point. The second signpost forewarns that arriving at a bold, equitable, and binding treaty will not be easy and that the politics of climate change will undermine the science of climate change.

• Uttam Kumar Sinha |
• September 2009 |
• Strategic Analysis

The Union Government took notice of the current phase of the Naxalite challenge with concern, for the first time, in 1998. Since then, it has been playing a coordinating role among the various affected states to address the challenge. It has also been advising the affected states on ways to deal with the challenge. By 2003, the Union Government had put in place a two-pronged approach to address the Maoist challenge - that of a development response and a security response. However, all along, the Union Government's response has largely been security-centric.

• P. V. Ramana |
• September 2009 |
• Strategic Analysis