Defence expenditure is the premium paid to insure against the failure of foreign policy
A good defence strategy is one that manages the risks of foreign policy going wrong for one reason or the other. It might turn out that foreign policy was based on the wrong presumptions, or unexpected events might upset the geopolitical balance [...]
Perspectives on foreign policy, defence, strategic affairs and governance
Rohan Joshi joins us on INI with The Filter Coffee, a blog “dedicated to raising awareness of issues relating to foreign policy, defense, strategic affairs and governance so that India’s citizens can demand the accountability they deserve from their elected representatives on the pursuit of India’s national [...]
India’s national security reform is in the second stage
Going by most media reports, you will be forgiven for believing that M K Narayanan’s movement to West Bengal as governor has got entirely to do with an energetic home minister winning turf battles and the Congress party president going one up on the prime minister. Or [...]
Mountbatten, Ismay and their outdated legacy
My article in this month’s issue of Pragati, on reforming India’s national security policy, is titled “Start by burying Lord Ismay“.
But who was Lord Ismay and why does he need to be buried? Well, General Hastings Lionel Ismay was a British general and post retirement from the British Army, served [...]
India needs to rethink its defence decisionmaking system
It is usual to conduct navel gazing after failures and fiascos. But it is good to do so after little successes. Even as the Indian Navy demonstrated the utility of its deployment in anti-piracy operations far from Indian shores, it is opportune to examine a debate that has [...]
The navy shouldn’t have its hands tied in the fight against pirates
That the Indian government is ‘finalising’ a strategy against piracy in the high seas is good news, although that a special strategy is being contemplated suggests an absence of an effective, comprehensive maritime strategy. Pirates, after all, have been around for almost as long [...]
The case for India to scale down its UN peacekeeping contributions
Sushant K Singh and I argue that controversy in Congo is a wake-up call for India to review its policy on UN peacekeeping. A slightly edited version of the following appears in today’s Indian Express.
A recent investigation by the BBC’s Panorama found that Indian [...]
India’s political establishment and its shabby treatment of a national hero
By Commodore C Uday Bhaskar (retd)
Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw whose mortal remains were laid to rest with military honours on Friday, June 27, 2008 in his beloved Nilgiri Hills will remain a legendary figure for the Indian ‘fauj’ and the manner of his [...]
Issue Contents
PERSPECTIVE
“Adamant for drift, solid for fluidity”
India needs leadership and a renaissance in its foreign policy
Harsh V Pant
Business interests vs national interests
As Indian companies grow abroad
Sameer Wagle & Gaurav Sabnis
The myth of illiberal capitalism
Multi-polarity, democracy and what the US might do about them
Dhruva Jaishankar
FILTER
A survey of think-tanks
The post-American world; Asian geopolitics
Vijay Vikram
IN DEPTH
The India-Israel imperative
Indo-Judeo [...]
Chips are bad. Planes are not.
The United States controls exports of microprocessors (yes, microprocessors) to defence equipment manufacturers in India. One businessman was jailed for illegally selling 500 chips to India. The logic behind such export controls is to prevent India from developing and using such things like fighter aircraft, which ostensibly would be a [...]
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