Thirteen years ago to the day, on May 13, 1998 India conducted its second nuclear test - the first series having been conducted on May 11 that year.
Finally, after 24 years of ambivalence,...
Expert's View
In the wake of the turbulence triggered after the Osama bin Laden fiasco that shamed the Pakistani military as an institution, May 13 will be remembered as a day when Pakistan's civilian...
PM Manmohan Singh’s visit to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on Monday (May 23 ) for the second Africa-India Forum Summit is an opportunity for Delhi to...
The current response from Pak is one of bewilderment, though slowly the chutzpah is returning
The elimination of Osama bin Laden (OBL) on Monday, May 2, 2011 – till then the most...
My recent visit to Canada and the United States coincided with the assassination of the al-Qaeda chief, Osama bin Laden, in Abbotabad by US Special Forces, and its aftermath. Anger over Pakistan...
The reported death of terrorist leader Ilyas Kashmiri in a US drone attack near the Pak-Afghan border has now been confirmed as "98% sure" by Pak Interior Minister Rehman Malik. The...
Pakistan is reeling under the impact of the Taliban strike on its naval base PNS Mehran. In an audacious attack on May 23, 2011, militants infiltrated the high security facility in Karachi,...
As the United States reviews its troubled relationship with its meretricious ally after the killing of Osama bin Laden, a number of thoughtful voices -- including those in the opinion pages of the...
The Pakistan Navy‟s (PN) latest possession, the frigate PNS Alamgir made its maiden entry into Karachi Port on May 13, 2011. The Alamgir, ex-USS McInerney, is an Oliver Hazard Perry class frigate...
Why does China need an aircraft carrier?
China’s new aircraft carrier should surprise only those who were not looking—it has been China’s largest open...
Beijing, June 3, 2011
It is one of those paradoxes of the troubled India-China bi-lateral relationship that the two sides have had little or no formal contact or dialogue on the very...
Other than the fact that six of its 22 sailors were Indian nationals, the MV Suez, an Egyptian-owned, Panamanian-flagged ship, was more about Pakistan.
It was captained by a...
At about 4 AM on the morning of 12th September 2010, just a few hours after she departed the Kenyan port of Mombasa for Durban in South Africa, the Motor Tanker Asphalt Venture...
Developments in the Arctic Ocean will redraw the geopolitical map of the world, and emerging countries like India and China should place this region on the international agenda.
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On the morning of 12th August 2000, the flagship of Russia’s Northern Fleet, battle-cruiser Peter the Great was conducting exercises in the southern Arctic Ocean,...
Both books are valuable additions to the existing scholarship on nuclear weapons and the fine-print of deterrence
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The Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) of the IMO which met for its 89th session from 11 to 20 May 11 has promulgated new guidelines for flag states, ship-owners, operators and Masters on...
It is time we made our border regions full stakeholders in the country's development
The conventional view of national territorial boundaries is that these are, or ought to be, strong...
Twelve years ago, on July 4, 1999, even as the U.S. was celebrating Independence Day, the White House was quietly but hastily preparing to receive Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif at Blair...
As the war in Afghanistan enters what might be an endgame, it remains clear that there is broad convergence of geopolitical interests between two sets of players: Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and China...
The tragic yet audacious multiple terrorist attacks that killed at least 18 people and injured over 100 on Wednesday in Mumbai is a stark and blood-splattered reminder that India remains...
The Indian Ocean community can, like the EU, transform itself into a free trade zone, and can even work towards adopting a common currency. The 59 countries in the region constitute a $6...
US secretary of state Hillary Clinton will arrive in New Delhi late Monday for the second India- US Strategic Dialogue with external...
Apart from the considerable casualties they left in their wake, if anything the multiple blasts of July 13 in Mumbai called attention to, it was to the fact that the city continues to be as...
The MV Pavit, a 1,000 tonne merchant ship that had been abandoned at sea for about a...
India and Pakistan, once nurtured in the same civilizational womb have differently celebrated their modern identity. For India , August 15 marked freedom from the rapacious colonial yoke and the...
Although Indians try to shrug off appellations like “emerging superpower” or “regional power”, which foreigners are apt to use, we often exhaust our small reserve of...
Afghan President Hamid Karzai's purported statement, in an interview to Geo TV...
This year's Halloween (Oct 31) has been horrific for the US and NATO forces. The deadly suicide car bomb attack on an armor-plated US military bus in Kabul on...
The 10th anniversary of 9/11 is a somber moment, tinged in deep tragedy for those who have lost loved ones – either killed or maimed. The total cost in human lives may be over a quarter of a...
The tenth anniversary of September 11, 2001, or what in the American lexicon has become '9/11' is unspooling against the backdrop...
The visit of External Affairs Minister SM Krishna to Vietnam (Friday, Sep 16) and the reiteration that the Indian public sector oil company, ONGC intends to go ahead with its hydrocarbon...
“What ship; where bound?”is the traditional nautical challenge that instantly rings out on the international marine radio channel when a warship happens to meet a...
A hundred years may be a temporal punctuation for an ancient civilisation like China or India but the commemoration of the 1911...
Recent developments in the Indian Ocean region demand attention. Look at a sample collection: Somali pirates, operating in waters off the Horn of Africa with impunity, are now coming...
October 20, 1962 was the day India was shocked and humiliated by the 'lesson' that China under
Chairman Mao administered to India with Prime Minister Nehru at the helm. Even as the...
On September 27, 2011, Japan received bids from Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and BAE Systems to replace the outdated F-4fighter jets. Japan...
Recent developments in the Indian Ocean region demand attention. Look at a sample collection: Somali pirates, operating in waters off the Horn of Africa with impunity, are now coming closer to our...
Navy takes a refreshing tack
MILITARY parlance would tend to have the term “assets” refer to weapons and systems, back-up equipment etc. These items figure...
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made a little publicized visit to Pakistan on Friday (Oct 21) after visiting Kabul in the wake of increasing tension in the US-Pak bi-lateral relationship and...
Conflicting claims over islands and maritime zones in the South China Sea (SCS) has been a longstanding security issue between China, Taiwan and...
In 1962, as tension began to mount, with an increase in Chinese Army intrusions on the Indo-China border, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru...
The third anniversary of the terrorist-fidayeen attack that scorched Mumbai on November 26, 2008 resulting in the...
I AM 40 years old... and have been part of the Indian armed forces for 40 years. I am a retired fauji, with an active...
WHAT does the Navy give you that other employers can’t or don’t?” I ask myself this question, as I stand on the bridge wings, looking out towards an endless expanse...
Geography, it is said, is the handmaiden of strategy, and geography has been kind to India. Our vantage position, atop an ocean named after us, provides us the ideal leverage to...
THE word ‘pirate’ has this misleading habit of conjuring up illusions of a colorful character, perhaps even a lovable rogue with a salty tongue and a jaunty air. The...
While the Navy has made progress in ship building and weapon-sensor development, some critical weapons have yet to be designed and produced in India....
A capable maritime force could play a decisive role in any face-off
Navy Week 2011 will see the Indian Navy reliving its memorable exploits in the...
China has found a near justifiable way of modernising its defence...
(This article which had originally been written for and appeared on this website in February 2010 is reproduced on account of its current relevance.)
...What do you call the water body between Japan, Russia and the Korean Peninsula – Sea of Japan, Sea of Korea, Sea of Russia, none of these or a combination of these? Naming places or seas is...
Developments in the Persian Gulf in the last week of December 2011 point to an escalation of tensions between Iran and the US. Iran has threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz if Western...
The release of the US’ new strategy guidance review on January 3, 2012 is a development of far-reaching strategic consequence for South-East Asia and its immediate...
Subbu Forum Memorial Lecture
19 January 2012
...The on-going political crisis in the small Indian Ocean island nation of Maldives which erupted on February 7 (Tuesday) and led to the ouster of former President Mohamed Nasheed...
