IDSA Comments

Nouri al-Maliki, the Shiite PM, seeking a third term in office, is facing growing opposition at home, including from his powerful Shia allies. There is also a growing rift within Maliki’s party members that his third consecutive political victory could marginalize them and strengthen his monopoly in the party as well as national politics.

• Agarwal, Rajeev , Divya Malhotra
• March 06, 2014
• IDSA Comments

The situation in Pakistan today is very fragile. Despite the progress on the democratic front, there is a sense of helplessness on how to tackle the menace of terrorism. Unlike in the past, Islamabad appears quite weak vis-à-vis Taliban while it keeps chanting its commitment to talks with TTP, despite the provocation and retaliation from the army.

• Yaqoob-ul-Hassan
• March 03, 2014
• IDSA Comments

Soft border is neither an option nor a means to resolve the India-China border dispute. In Chinese conceptualization where borders are innately strategic frontiers, the idea of soft border is a misnomer. India should keep a distinction between the notions of soft border and boundary resolution.

• Abanti Bhattacharya
• March 03, 2014
• IDSA Comments

Russia has signalled its intentions in Crimea. With neither the US nor Europe willing to be engaged in another crisis in Eastern Europe, the Russian strategy would be to re-enter the scenario not as a junior partner of the West but as a recognized primary power in the region, without whom Ukraine cannot be stabilised.

• Gulshan Sachdeva
• March 02, 2014
• IDSA Comments

The recent violent incidents carried out by the Kamtapur Liberation Organisation (KLO) in the sensitive eastern and north-eastern parts India have serious security implications. Conscious intervention of the centre in concert with the state governments of West Bengal and Assam and even Sikkim, as well as with cooperation of the Bhutan government is required at the earliest.

• Gautam Sen
• February 28, 2014
• IDSA Comments

Japanese prime minister Abe realises that solely relying on the US-Japan security alliance might not serve national interest in the fast evolving regional security architecture. So the leadership is diversifying its options and strengthening cooperation with countries like India and Australia.

• Titli Basu
• February 27, 2014
• IDSA Comments

The 10 per cent growth in the interim defence budget although looks impressive from outside, it has a poor outlook on the modernisation front. Much of the hike in the interim budget is consumed by the increase in salary, leaving very little to meet the defence modernisation requirements.

• Laxman Kumar Behera
• February 23, 2014
• IDSA Comments

The BNP has urged the government to arrange for dialogue. The AL says the BNP must snap ties with the Jamaat before engaging in negotiation. The uncompromising attitude of the two leaders is the main hurdle to initiate concrete steps for resolving the ongoing political impasse. Many Bangladeshis feel that it would take at least another year to reach an agreement.

• Rupak Bhattacharjee
• February 19, 2014
• IDSA Comments

Citing IDSA Report, the Minister of State for Home Affairs, RSN Singh said in the Rajya Sabha recently that “…the CPI(Maoist) party has been collecting not less than Rs 140 crores annually from a variety of sources. Further, the possibility of certain front organizations of the CPI (Maoist) … clandestinely getting foreign funds cannot be ruled out.”

• P. V. Ramana
• February 17, 2014
• IDSA Comments

The new optical fibre network being laid as an alternative to the 3G spectrum surrendered by the armed forces will go a long way in providing modern land-line communications in peace stations and to limited extent up to the war-time locations of higher formation HQ.

• Gurmeet Kanwal
• February 14, 2014
• IDSA Comments