tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15741297Wed, 22 May 2013 08:44:48 +0000Nuclear Nonproliferation TreatyUPAminimum credible deterrentNational Security Council SecretariatSanthanamChinaMalegaonThomas C ReedGlobal WarmingJammuextrajudicial killingsterrorist tacticsArun ShourieMohammed Muarif QamarIvan OelrichKakodkarHenry M. PaulsonFMCTLarkins brothersKing CrimsonMaloy Krishna DharHasina Wajedsynthetic aperture radar satelliteMayawatiIndian MujahideenBusiness process outsourcingSameer Khan PathanHyde ActResearch and Analysis WingMuhammad Ali Bograknee surgeryHigh Temperature ReactorIbrahim GambariIndian Space Research OrganisationIndia's povertyRaj ThackerayUnited StatesGroup of MinistersNatgridLockheed Martin F-16POTAChennaiUS Atomic Energy ActBabri MasjidBurmaParbhaniEvgeni YevtushenkoMyanmarultranationalismAmarnathUnited Progressive AllianceGolwalkerGodhraDeng Xiaopingmilitaryadditional protocolIrshad AliPML(Q)Shwe project Hangyi IslandNational Democratic AllianceMarxism-LeninismNATOOmar AbdullahFATAF-22 RaptorDalai LamaIndiamilitary dictatorsFDRMaharashtra Anti-Terrorist SquadUNIndia's foreign policyLalu Prasad YadavJammu and KashmirOPECPakistan electionsBombay blastsZia ul HaqDanny StillmanNuclear Suppliers GroupAsif Ali ZardariPML(N)Agni IIHezbollahBIMSTECRampurEnergy Securitynuclear weaponsAgni IIIThailandVladimir PutinSharad PawarGujarat massacresPakistan ArmyJalnaIndia's economyJoseph NyeIntelligence BureaukowtowPeople's DailyCIRUSDefence budgetKhwaja NazimuddinAgni Inuclear testLal MasjidIndo-US relationscrowd controlIslamabadRahul GandhiMumbai attackGansuSonia GandhiSarabjit SinghBangaru LaxmansafeguardsHu JintaoJyoti BasuNTROoilBangladesh WarComprehensive Test Ban TreatySukhoi 30MKICentral CommitteeSohrabuddin sheikhDedhun Choekyi NyimaSino-IndianNon Aligned MovementMasood AzharJoe BidenJohn McCainUS CongressBhonsala military schoolHamoodur Rehman reportNCTCPakistanDRDOYasin MalikVajpayeeSuicide bomberscorrective measuresKapil SibalISIPokhran IIJawharlal NehruSavarkarMilbusPurnaIndia-US 123 AgreementRDXespionageterrorist attackUnited States of AmericaMohammed El BaradeienrichmentMumbai blastspolice commissionroots of terrorismFederation of American ScientistsRed Fort attackpolice high-handednessCTBTSachin Vazeworld orderIndian ArmyBill ClintonNarasimha RaoSoodFriedrich TinnerMoscowNine ElevenseparatismKhaleda ZiaGSLVBert Parksmajoritarian communalismCartosat 2Aterrorism. WaziristanTehreek-e-Taliban PakistanP. ChidambaramRabinder SinghHegdewarterroristsJawaharlal NehrufestivalsShah BanoThan ShweM. KarunanidhiDaya NaikSangh ParivarRamanKashmirA.Q.KhanEurofighter Typhoonoffshore balancingencounter killingsMuslim LeagueChadrel RimpocheTerrorismInternational Criminal CourtIndian Police ServiceCongress partyGujjarChief of Defence StaffIsraelSir CreekM.K. NarayananIAFKhushwant SinghBharat RatnaRepublican Rightdemographic dividendMohammed Akram KhanIndian PoliceRed Fort attack caseRosanna MinchewRashtriya Swyamsevak SanghtortureIshrat Jahan Razasupply assurancesPSLVNepali CongressGeorgiaRafalehegemonyUSS NimitzIran-Pakistan-India PipelineMumbai massacreRam MandirRoyal Nepal Armyuranium shortage in IndiaL K AdvaniBrajesh MishraprostateGOMMukesh SainiPrachandaSiachenMMRCAGolwalkarUN Convention on the Law of the SeasHindutvaHindutva terrorismKausar BiIntelligence ReformNon-alignmentIB M.K. NarayananHathung LaArunachalIndo-US Cybersecurity ForumShiv Shankar MenonelectricityBenazir BhuttoPragya Singh ThakurIfthikar Muhammad ChaudhryJamiat ul ulema-e-Hindzero tolerancePakistan. Ayesha SiddiqaPokhranLal Kishen AdvaniPPPAnil KakodkarJammu Mukti MorchaAfsandyar Wali Khancarbon emissionsBJPChina and the nuclear dealKirpal SinghTADARMAInternational Atomic Energy AgencyUnited NationsBBC ChinaGWOTAndre BeteillePanchen LamaNick BurnsLahoreIndian nuclear scientistsIAEACPI(M)Susanne and Lloyd RudolphCounter-terror strategyMalacca StraitsHillary ClintonNawaz SharifJAS39 GripenPrabhu ChawlaPrakash KarathegemonMani Shankar Aiyarnational securityGrand Coco IslandNSGL.K. AdvaniPutinnuclear weapons designLine of Actual ControlillnessBharatiya Janata PartyRichard StratfordIBAfghanistanBuranBoeing FA 18Constituent AssemblyBlack SwanIndira GandhiThag LaPervez Musharrafsigning statementsDovalTarapurTibetSyed Ali Shah GeelaniRajiv Gandhifertiliser bombsocialismCommunist Party of Nepal(Maoist)JayalalithaSheikh Mujibur RehmanDMKSardar Patelreprocessing rightsCRPFBreeder reactorsDefence ManagementKosovoSitaram YechuryBalochistanAIDMKLashkar-e-TaibaJohn F. KennedyMaoistsHyderabadRJDspiesSamjhauta ExpressMehbooba MuftiBarack ObamaDelhi blastsNew DealBhattaraiDAEManmohan SinghPolitburoSikh massacresVienna Convention on Law of TreatiesAtal Bihari VajpayeeCDSNarendra ModiRehman MalikNicholas BurnsAung San Suu KyiiTawang tractRaj DharmaAmbedkarSadhvi PragyaShiv SenaViking engineMcMahon LineJamaat-ud-dawaMig-29OVT/35Presidential systemAbdul Naseer MahdanySadiq JamalConstitutional moralityTikka KhanNew DelhiOlympicsPLABelgiumGeorge W BushKashmir Singhriot controlAftab Alam AnsariShib Shankar PaulPervez Ashfaq Kayanifake encountersIndo-US nuclear dealIranMusharrafRAWDhruvaF-35 Joint Strike FighterSichuanUSUjjal Das GuptaBrahma ChellaneyArchival blog on national and geopoliticshttp://mjoshi.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (manoj joshi)Blogger400125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15741297.post-4995041806800308797Wed, 15 May 2013 07:16:00 +00002013-05-15T12:46:08.991+05:30<!--[if gte mso 9]> <![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]> http://mjoshi.blogspot.com/2013/05/three-articles-on-chinese-incursion-in.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (manoj joshi)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15741297.post-9123025161124579932Fri, 03 May 2013 04:53:00 +00002013-05-03T10:23:14.603+05:30The tea leaves in the BJP cup are swirling far too fast to enable a tasseographer to read them. On one hand we are witnessing a ground swell of support for Narendra Modi across the party. On the other, we have key party allies like Nitish Kumar of the JD(U) making it clear that they could not accept the BJP's hriday samrat (emperor of hearts) as a future prime minister. Even more striking http://mjoshi.blogspot.com/2013/05/modi-needs-to-partner-advani.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (manoj joshi)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15741297.post-5908115538815388541Fri, 03 May 2013 04:47:00 +00002013-05-03T10:19:45.767+05:30The report that Rajiv Gandhi was involved in promoting a Swedish fighter during the Emergency (1975-1977) should not surprise. Thirty five years down the line it helps us locate the beginnings of the dysfunctionality of the country's military industrial complex which depends 70 per cent or more on imported products and components. In themselves, the Wikileaks documents do not prove much, buthttp://mjoshi.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-record-of-our-arms-industry-remains.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (manoj joshi)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15741297.post-5515520863752565787Sun, 28 Apr 2013 06:32:00 +00002013-04-28T12:02:11.101+05:30 The competitive populism in Tamil Nadu over the situation of Tamils in Sri Lanka has generated a great deal of alarm in New Delhi over the manner in which political issues relating to a State have begun impinging on India’s foreign and security policies. Though somewhat over the top, the Dravidian parties have a point, but a general one rather than the specific case they are advocating. http://mjoshi.blogspot.com/2013/04/india-needs-federal-foreign-policy.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (manoj joshi)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15741297.post-128447214776715474Sun, 14 Apr 2013 05:36:00 +00002013-04-14T11:06:00.764+05:30The new Chinese President Xi Jinping has wasted little time in conducting his own pivot - to Russia - in response to the much heralded American turn towards Asia. Geopolitically, the new Chinese-Russian entente harkens to the World Island of Sir Halford McKinder, which would dominate the world because of its location and command of the world's resources. And which would more than offset thehttp://mjoshi.blogspot.com/2013/04/china-pivots-to-russia.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (manoj joshi)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15741297.post-4540585983559252535Fri, 29 Mar 2013 10:39:00 +00002013-03-29T16:09:13.920+05:30On Saturday, China completed the process of its once in- a-decade leadership transition. It has been one of the smoothest transitions of leadership in recent decades. Xi Jinping, who was elected General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and Chairman of its Central Military Commission in November, has taken over as the President of the country, along with a new prime minister http://mjoshi.blogspot.com/2013/03/chinese-dream-will-haunt-new-world.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (manoj joshi)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15741297.post-8409445273571619931Tue, 19 Mar 2013 07:21:00 +00002013-03-19T12:51:21.091+05:30(I had written this is January, but forgot to post it) When  Swedish economist Gunnar Myrdal coined the phrase "soft state" in the early 1960s, he did have countries such as India in mind. What he was speaking of was states that had low expectations from its citizens. Today, the phrase is used to refer to countries like India in a different way - as states which, despite their size and http://mjoshi.blogspot.com/2013/03/india-soft-state.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (manoj joshi)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15741297.post-6938569737417690119Sat, 16 Mar 2013 08:06:00 +00002013-03-16T13:36:40.194+05:30 However else it is dressed up, the reality is that the world is about to witness a U.S. retreat from Afghanistan, one that can have disastrous consequences for the region It is well known that of all military operations, retreat is the most difficult and complicated. A victorious march that takes a wrong turn can end in a stalemate, but a retreat gone wrong will most likely turn into http://mjoshi.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-great-american-betrayal.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (manoj joshi)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15741297.post-2069110796231548643Tue, 12 Mar 2013 11:44:00 +00002013-03-12T17:14:55.584+05:30By now it should be clear that the general elections are not around the corner. If there were any lingering doubts, they have been dispelled by the Union Budget. It was neither here nor there, but it was certainly not a populist Budget, which is usually a harbinger of elections. The Congress will have to show uncommon courage were it to call an election after socking it to the middle class http://mjoshi.blogspot.com/2013/03/what-electoral-tea-leaves-say.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (manoj joshi)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15741297.post-4484583298881876521Wed, 06 Mar 2013 09:39:00 +00002013-03-06T15:09:56.470+05:30What is striking about the back-to-back visits of President Francois Hollande of France and Prime Minister David Cameron of UK is their differing texture. Hollande's visit spoke of the future, a French pivot to South Asia, if you will. But Cameron seems to be stuck in a groove of the past, which is best encapsulated by an essay in The Economist titled "Ties that no longer bind" with a http://mjoshi.blogspot.com/2013/03/turning-from-london-to-paris-visits-of.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (manoj joshi)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15741297.post-3271834783118671191Sun, 03 Mar 2013 12:52:00 +00002013-03-03T18:22:14.727+05:30One of the unintended consequences of the VVIP helicopter deal revelations is that defence acquisitions, already clogged up because of lengthy procedures and processes, are likely to get slowed down further. What the episode shows is the insidious role of shadowy players like Christian Michel and Abhishek Verma in virtually every defence purchase that takes place. The government of Indiahttp://mjoshi.blogspot.com/2013/03/corruption-more-than-anything-else-is.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (manoj joshi)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15741297.post-3534595298243166752Tue, 19 Feb 2013 11:46:00 +00002013-02-19T17:16:32.059+05:30Many commentators have seen the controversy over Ashis Nandy and the Dalits, Salman Rushdie and Kolkata and Vishwaroopam's ban in Tamil Nadu, as attempts to muzzle India's culture of free speech and expression. Others see it as a clash between the freedom of speech and the sense of grievance and, often, outrage, it seems to unleash in certain instances. But it is also possible to see thehttp://mjoshi.blogspot.com/2013/02/tolerance-from-bottom-up.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (manoj joshi)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15741297.post-3109549704526517851Wed, 06 Feb 2013 12:00:00 +00002013-02-06T17:30:31.880+05:30The outsider has a long tradition in American politics. Anyone who can sell himself as being one is assured of making it to the White House, other things being equal. The most recent in the category is the present incumbent Barack Obama, a one-term Senator who used his soaring "outsider" rhetoric to storm Washington's bastions. But there have been notables of the past - George W Bush, Billhttp://mjoshi.blogspot.com/2013/02/rahul-gandhi-insider-as-outsider.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (manoj joshi)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15741297.post-8461026770208945814Thu, 31 Jan 2013 10:26:00 +00002013-01-31T15:56:08.920+05:30As the dust clears from the crash that brought down Nitin Gadkari from his perch as the president of the Bharatiya Janata Party, it is likely that the big unhappy Sangh parivar could become a little unhappier. True, on the day after Gadkari's surprise exit as a candidate for a second term as president, the party closed ranks behind his successor Rajnath Singh. But the faultlines in the http://mjoshi.blogspot.com/2013/01/rajnath-singhs-election-as-president-is.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (manoj joshi)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15741297.post-8948214755405548512Fri, 25 Jan 2013 05:27:00 +00002013-01-25T10:57:38.420+05:30More than four years after the horrific Lashkar-e- Tayyeba (LeT) attack on Mumbai, American-Pakistani Daood Gilani, better known as David Coleman Headley, is set to be sentenced by a US court on Thursday. Prosecutors are demanding a 30-35 year jail term for him. This is considerably less than the life imprisonment or even death sentence they could have sought, considering that Headley's http://mjoshi.blogspot.com/2013/01/analysis-on-eve-of-headleys-sentencing.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (manoj joshi)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15741297.post-6813533826586464011Wed, 23 Jan 2013 12:02:00 +00002013-01-23T17:32:25.753+05:30A way to benchmark the seriousness of the present India-Pakistan crisis is to imagine the consequences of a Mumbai-type mass-casualty attack by Pakistan-backed, or Pakistani, terrorists in India today. Given the national mood, it would be difficult to rule out anything then, even war. So, in this context, Army chief Bikram Singh's level-headed remarks in his Army Day eve press conference http://mjoshi.blogspot.com/2013/01/no-easy-options-on-pakistan.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (manoj joshi)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15741297.post-1240418643234415705Thu, 17 Jan 2013 10:12:00 +00002013-01-17T15:42:55.199+05:30  At first sight it is nothing short of a paradigm shift. According to a news report, the Pakistan Army now believes that the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), and a host of assorted militants within, are a bigger security threat than India. This has been outlined in the new Pakistan Army doctrine which deals with operational preparedness.  The shift in the Pakistani doctrine poseshttp://mjoshi.blogspot.com/2013/01/pakistans-army-finally-sees-enemy.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (manoj joshi)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15741297.post-8169423970611496272Mon, 14 Jan 2013 05:46:00 +00002013-01-14T11:16:52.391+05:30Amidst the sound and fury of immediate events, not least the massive protests against the rape and assault of a young woman in Delhi, the geopolitical landscape of Asia is shifting. This is the message sent out by the recently concluded Asean Commemorative Summit marking the 20th year of the Asean-India partnership. But there is a message, too, coming out from political changes in a vasthttp://mjoshi.blogspot.com/2013/01/making-most-of-flux-in-asia.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (manoj joshi)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15741297.post-4020635595153841874Mon, 31 Dec 2012 05:19:00 +00002012-12-31T10:49:23.829+05:30What is the connection between Mayawati's tirade against Rajya Sabha chairman Vice President Hamid Ansari, and a report by the US National Intelligence Council (NIC)? Nothing direct, except that the report on Global Trends 2030: Alternate Worlds tells us that India's time as an economic superpower is coming, and why, while the BSP leader's dysfunctional ways could illustrate why the heady http://mjoshi.blogspot.com/2012/12/our-future-bright-but-uncertain.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (manoj joshi)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15741297.post-1391205286003743690Sat, 22 Dec 2012 12:38:00 +00002012-12-22T18:08:58.896+05:30In the past two years, as the ruling Congress-led UPA has faced the anti-corruption agitation, stumbled on the economy, and then managed to pull itself up again, political observers have been struck by the response of the BJP. The country's leading Opposition party has appeared divided, incoherent and bereft of any policy ideas to offer to the bemused electorate. Narendra Modi's massive http://mjoshi.blogspot.com/2012/12/the-saffron-dilemma-on-narendra-modi.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (manoj joshi)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15741297.post-3232072792407504538Sun, 16 Dec 2012 08:39:00 +00002012-12-16T14:09:20.190+05:30For the past few months, it has been fashionable to speak of the disarray in the Bharatiya Janata Party and its inability to do anything else but oppose everything that is proposed by the ruling Congress-led United Progressive Alliance. But this week we may have seen a riposte-Narendra Modi's manifesto for the Gujarat state assembly polls. As has been reported, the manifesto focuses on whathttp://mjoshi.blogspot.com/2012/12/modi-has-plan-for-bjp.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (manoj joshi)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15741297.post-6399971567015794841Mon, 10 Dec 2012 04:48:00 +00002012-12-10T10:18:54.300+05:30 The last week has been a busy one for the death penalty. On Monday, India joined the US, China and 39 other countries to oppose a UN General Assembly resolution calling for the end of death penalty. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court declared that there was need to revisit the death penalty issue because of the lack of "uniformity in the application" of the "rarest of rare" principle http://mjoshi.blogspot.com/2012/12/death-demands-uniform-penalty.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (manoj joshi)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15741297.post-7061532069256473544Sat, 17 Nov 2012 13:18:00 +00002012-11-17T18:50:51.613+05:30<!--[if gte mso 9]> Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 <![endif]--> <!--[if gte mso 9]> http://mjoshi.blogspot.com/2012/11/a-new-red-star-over-china.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (manoj joshi)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15741297.post-4110849019208510953Wed, 14 Nov 2012 05:04:00 +00002012-11-14T10:34:21.478+05:30There are many ways to parse Barack Obama's victory in the United States general elections. He won handsomely in terms of what matters-the number of electoral votes in his favour as compared to those for Mitt Romney. But if you look at the popular vote, the victory is tight. Another measure, the outcome in counties (like India's districts) will show that the bulk of them have gone in http://mjoshi.blogspot.com/2012/11/it-is-by-no-means-mandate.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (manoj joshi)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15741297.post-9098080623636402440Thu, 08 Nov 2012 05:26:00 +00002012-11-08T10:56:39.354+05:30In India, the political paradigm seems to shift with general elections; be it 1967, 1971, or the more recent 2004, at the time you could almost hear the political cosmic clock go 'tick'. Given the many variables at play during a general election in a country of the size of India, no one person or event determines that shift of belief systems, yet after the event you know that you are now http://mjoshi.blogspot.com/2012/11/not-what-country-had-hoped-for.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (manoj joshi)0