Strategic Analysis


The US Navy in Distress

In February 2009, the Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser U.S.S. Port Royal ran aground about a half mile south of the Honolulu airport. The Navy's investigation found that the ship's navigational gear was broken and that the ship's fathometer wasn't functioning. In simple terms the bridge didn't know where the ship was. The investigation subsequently discovered that the commanding officer was exhausted, sleep-deprived, and that sailors who were nominally assigned to stand watch against such incidents were assigned elsewhere in the ship to cover manning shortages.

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The Obama Administration’s Approach to the Palestinian–Israeli Conflict: Opportunities and Constraints

President George W. Bush was the first US president to propose a two-state solution to the Palestinian–Israeli conflict when he addressed the UN General Assembly in November 2001. His administration also launched the road-map to help achieve this goal in April 2003 in collaboration with the United Nations, the European Union, and Russia, also known as the quartet.

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India’s Renewable Energy Challenge

India is being subjected to increasing pressure from the developed countries to cut down on its carbon emissions on the grounds that it is the fifth largest consumer of energy. This comes even as there are forecasts that India's energy consumption will increase incrementally as it tries to address the challenges of its social and development goals by increasing and sustaining economic growth at around 8–10 per cent of its GDP.

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Indo-US Relations

That two countries, India and the United States of America, with so much in common should have drifted apart for so long has baffled many. Of course, there are reasons for it, but there are equally compelling arguments in favour of forging better ties. Perhaps the most important factor contributing to the drift has been the inability of the two to identify common interests. Both have been seized by many misconceptions; both have tended to look upon their mutual relations in the context of third countries.

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