THE BIG SINO-INDIAN LOGJAM: AFTER THE WINTER FREEZE

January 19, 2021

The Sino-Indian logjam continues as the world’s largest vaccination drive has got underway. The Indian economy has started firing on some cylinders as the rest are warming up. A question on everyone’s mind is: Will the Chinese resume their aggression along the LAC after the winter freeze? While we can...

Pakistan at the dawn of 2021

January 18, 2021

I have picked some opinion pieces from the first three days of January 2021 of Dawn. Barring one article on “Kashmir’s Future” by A.G. Noorani there is no anti-India rant at the beginning of 2021. In fact, in all the articles I have read, I sense a grudging admiration for...

LOOTERS OF FIFTH REICH IN PAKISTAN

January 12, 2021

If wishes were horses! Lt General Ghulam Mustafa (Retd) tweeted this in reply to my article, “The State of Pakistan”. It surprised me and left me wondering. Was I shooting in the air to think of Pakistan as a failed and jailed state? Was it a dare? I was curious....

OUTLINES OF A TIBET POLICY

January 7, 2021

When Indian and Tibetan flags were waved at the funeral of Company Leader Nyima Tenzin of Special Frontier Force, there was widespread belief that Tibet would be leveraged. Since then things have moved forward. Tibet is gaining weight in international relations. In the previous articles we had examined the India,...

INDIA AND US SHOULD PURSUE THE ‘NEEDLES IN HAYSTACKS’ POLICY

January 2, 2021

If focused upon systematically, China will be auto contained. So far the world has chosen to overlook them. We fell for ‘One China’ when there was none. We fell for ‘One China Two Systems’ when it was promised and violated. Time to change equations. When Indian and Tibetan flags were...

CHINA’S STRATEGIC MISCALCULATION: WAR AVOIDANCE TO WAR EMBRACEMENT

January 1, 2021

In 2001, I was working on my dissertation during my Higher Command course. I came upon this farsighted thought of Deng Xiaoping. He had said in 1984, “We hope that for at least twenty years there will not be a war, and hope even more for no war in the...

INDIA, TIBET & CHINA: HELPLESS AND COMPLETELY TANGLED

December 30, 2020

When Indian and Tibetan flags were waved at the funeral of Company Leader Nyima Tenzin of the Special Frontier Force who died during the Kailash Range operations, there was widespread belief that the ‘Tibet’ issue will be leveraged. It was short-lived due to haziness in Indian thinking, absolute clarity in...

India, Tibet and China: The way forward

December 28, 2020

When Indian and Tibetan flags were waved at the funeral of Company Leader Nyima Tenzin of the Special Frontier Force who died during the Kailash Range operations, there was widespread belief that the ‘Tibet’ issue will be leveraged. It was short-lived due to haziness in Indian thinking, absolute clarity in...

CHINA’S FIVE MAJOR FAULT LINES

December 24, 2020

The emerging view in the US is that PRC poses the greatest threat to democracy and freedom. It intends to dominate the US and the rest of the planet economically, militarily and technologically. The view emerging from the EU through NATO is that the scale of Chinese power and global...

LESSONS TO LEARN FROM THE GOLDWATER-NICHOLS ACT

December 22, 2020

The theatrisation of commands will be transformative, if done sensibly. We need a base to work with. Most advanced forces have adopted the joint system. The US, Russia and China have transitioned to theatrisation. Very clearly, jointness is the priority. So, theatrisation is next. I am now taking a dive...