Tibetan natural resources

ROGER HOWARD states that relations between Beijing and Lhasa would be defined by the region's natural resources and 'development' of the region would either strengthen or dissolve these political ties in the backdrop of ambitious Chinese plans to make Tibet an important 'strategic resources reserve base'. In an article for the Chatham House publication, The World Today, "Tibet's Natural Resources: Tension Over Treasure", he states that the extraction of Tibet's resources could not only shape the political relationship between Tibet and China but also have global repercussions giving China political leverage over countries importing those resources.

Geo-economics redux

Mark Thirlwell, director at the Lowy Institute avers that the current international environment marked by an increasingly dense entanglement of issues related to international economics, national security and foreign policy lends itself to a return to the idea of geo-economics with key issues around multi-polarity, pax mercatoria, globalisation, state capitalism, resource scarcity, risks arising from the global financial crisis. In a Lowy Institute Perspectives article, "The return to geo-economics: Globalisation and national security", he concludes that this could lead to two potential consequences: an improved quality of analysis with inputs from economics, foreign policy and security while these would be tempered by underlying assumption of zero-sum outcomes.

Analysis of online jihadism

MOHAMMED ALI MUSAWI of the Quilliam Foundation states that counter-extremism initiatives needed to make a clear distinction between attempting to de-radicalise existing extremists and preventing new generations from adopting such ideologies in the first place and calls for greater efforts to challenge the ideology, rhetoric and worldview of pro-Jihadists forums in both the ‘cyber’ and the ‘real’ worlds, with special focus on countering wahhabism, publicizing refutation of jihadism by reputed Islamic scholars as well as former jihadists.

In a Quilliam Foundation report, "Cheering for Osama: How Jihadis Use Discussion Forums",based on an he provides fresh insights into the workings of Arabic-language pro-jihadist web forums, shedding new light on the ideologies, recruitment strategies and social dynamics of these forums and illuminating the role that these forums play in distributing and popularising Jihadist texts, videos and statements.

Dìyuán zhèngzhì

FRANCOIS GODEMENT, director at Asia Centre, Sciences Po, analyzes content in Chinese language publications in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan to state that Beijing's defensive and cautious approach based on conflict avoidance was a temporary strategy intended to be applied while it rose and it would run its writ unconstrained once its ascent was complete. In a China Analysis article for the European Council for Foreign Relations, "Geopolitics on Chinese terms", he states that the concept of Beijing as a responsive stakeholder was getting outdated since it was not interested in norm-setting beyond the principle of non-interference and that the Chinese strategic community itself was in a state of flux with its focus to partnership driven more as a tactic to prevent its own strategic encirclement.

Dancing with elephants

ABDULLAH AL SHAYJI of Kuwait University calls for concerted efforts by both the GCC and India to expand strategic cooperation beyond energy, trade and expatriate workers. In an article for Gulf News, "Learning to dance with India", he states that India had a future role in Gulf security while contentious issues such as the GCC-India FTA and rights for expatriate workers needed to be addressed by both India and the GCC.

Enhancing privatization in agriculture

RAJIV KUMAR, chief executive of the Indian Council for Research on International Economics Relations (ICRIER) states that a reduction in the Government footprint in the agriculture sector was a necessary condition to enhance private investment into Indian agriculture. In a commentary for the East Asia Forum, "Indian agriculture: how to encourage private investment", he states that the government's pervasive presence ranging from control of trade and the land market, regulation of price, monopoly over R&D, and veto on new varieties had not just increased uncertainty for private players but also created huge entry-barriers to private players. In the backdrop of the creation of a sub-group on 'Enhancing agriculture production and food security' under the Prime Minister's Council on Trade and Industry, he calls for the team to take a holistic approach including focus on the barriers to private investment rather than just detailing areas to promote private investment.

Armistice in the currency war

STEPHEN GRENVILLE, former deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia suggests a middle path in the ongoing currency hostilities, away from export dependence. In an economic briefing for the Australian Financial Review, "A road map for global 'currency peace'", he states that Asian countries could encourage more foreign direct investment while simultaneously discouraging short-term pro-cyclical foreign capital inflows with foreign exchange reserves used to cope with the volatility of capital flows.

Capital flood

ARVIND SUBRAMANIAN of the Peterson Institute argues against opening up the floodgates to the capital sloshing across the world in an environment of mercantilistic policies across the world with countries across the world doing their best to repel capital. In an op-ed in Business Standard, "Reserve Bank of India's Fateful, Fatal Action", he argues that improving governance and regulatory reform rather than access to foreign capital was the need and that the RBI may be trading away a bird in hand (the tradable sector) for the bird in the bush (infrastructure).

Analyzing Pakistan

Experts led by STEPHEN COHEN of the Brookings Institution present a grim but realistic picture of Pakistan which was failing along multiple dimensions with a rapidly deteriorating law and order situation, while analyzing potential future scenarios. In a series of analyses presented in Bellagio, Italy, "Pakistan's Future: The Bellagio Papers", they question the will of the Pakistani elite to make structural and ideological changes that would allow it to become a state at peace with itself and its neighbors while discounting the capability of outside powers such as the U.S. to transform Pakistan.

Disputed hydrocarbons

GUO RONGXING of the Regional Science Association of China at the Peking University analyzes critical issues relating to the management of exploitation of

seabed hydrocarbons in the disputed regions of the East China Sea. In an analysis for the Brookings Institution, "Territorial Disputes and Seabed Petroleum Exploitation: Some Options for the East China Sea", he examines the factors that have limited collaboration between China and Japan in exploring and extracting the resources and outlines potential principles to enhance Sino-Japanese interaction.

Sick man on the Nile

DAVID SCHENKER, director at the Washington Institute's Program on Arab Politics traces the decline of Cairo's regional stature stating that Egyptian dominance of the Middle East and the Nile basin in Africa was increasingly being questioned while Egypt was increasingly turning inward. In an opinion piece in The Weekly Standard, "Sick Man on the Nile", he cautions that a weakening Egypt would further complicate U.S. regional security architecture in the Middle East in the wake of  reorientation in Ankara and Beirut away from the West and a strengthened Iran-Syria axis and recommends initiatives to reverse a weakening of Egyptian power in the region.

Smart urbanization

NICK PENNELL of Booz & Company recommends greater focus on urban sustainability to make a concerted effort on reducing CO2 emissions by 50% over the next 30 years through investments of $30T in energy efficient housing, construction, transportation and logistics systems, transforming cities into hotbeds of ecological innovation and improving energy security. In a study conducted jointly with the World Worldlife Fund, "Reinventing the City: Three Prerequisites for Greening Urban infrastructures", they recommend a mix of urban planning to make the right sustainable choices, innovative financing and technology to achieve global climate change goals.

Pushing back.... softly

RORY MEDCALF, director of International Security Program at the Lowy Institute argues that a mix of development, deterrence and diplomacy could help New Delhi maintain an assertive posture without provoking Beijing.  In an opinion piece in The Australian, "Subtlety would help India rival China's clout", he states that New Delhi could pursue an assymetric strategy against Beijing in the maritime, cyber and nuclear realms similar to Beijing's strategy against Washington.

Gas in the Horn of Africa

GREGORY R COPLEY, founder-President of the International Strategic Studies Association states that the recent discovery of natural gas around Ethiopia had the potential to alter the geopolitics of the region around the Red Sea/Horn of Africa with consequences for the sea lines of communication. In an ISN Security Watch article, "In the Red Sea region, the Age of Gas Begins in Earnest", he declares that the recent spate of discoveries of natural gas in the Horn as well as broadly around the world could transform the global energy markets, shifting to a "Gas Age" with influx of new energy wealth for the Horn of Africa that could also lead to a glut in supply within a decade with consequent collapse in the price of gas and petroleum.

India's history-geopolitics linkage

ROBERT KAPLAN of the Center for a New American Security analyzes the millenial history of India contrasting it with that of China and states that India would emerge as the key Eurasian pivot state because of its effect on relations between the United States and China. In a CNAS report "South Asia's Geography of Conflict", he provides an analysis of New Delhi's worldview  based on the geopolitics and geographical history of South Asia cautioning that the Washington-New Delhi relationship should not fall victim to the proclivity of U.S. to poor understanding of local histories.

Public private partnership to enhance rural energy access

Balachandra Patil, fellow with the Energy Technology Innovation Policy program at the Belfer Center at Harvard Kennedy School of Government states that 45% of 800 million rural population in India did not have access to electricity highlighting the failure of policies, governance and institutions around delivery of energy to rural India including inefficient targeting of subsidies. He links India's strong entrepreneurial culture, its capabilities in advanced biomass technologies and the global carbon market to propose an alternative framework to improve access to energy for rural India. In a Discussion Paper for the Belfer Center, "Modern Energy Access to All in Rural India: An Integrated Implementation Strategy", the public-private partnership model he proposes entails the creation of rural energy access authorities empowered to enable regulatory policies, deliver rural technologies and provide access of financing, while targeting entrepreneurs rather than the rural households as the end-user, with energy service companies linking rural energy projects to the global market by serving as an aggregator of carbon credits for global trade. 

Anarchy in Pakistan

AHMED RASHID, Pakistani journalist and author of "Descent into Chaos: The U.S. and the Disaster in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia" states that Pakistan's selective approach to countering extremism and its military's preoccupation with India had to end before it could defeat the jihadi menace. In an opinion piece for the The National Interest, "The Anarchic Republic of Pakistan", he states that groundwork was being laid for a genuine democratic dispensation inspite of the incompetence of the Government and that if modernization of juduciary and police services were coupled with policies to enhance economic stability, Pakistan had a brighter future than being currently portrayed.

Raising India's Lusophone profile

CONSTANTINO XAVIER, fellow at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses states that in the wake of Goa's successful bid to launch the 3rd Lusophony Games in 2013, India had to recognize the Anglophone bias in its foreign policy and consider upgrading India's diplomatic engagement with the Portugese-speaking Lusophone world comprising of eight countries with growing economic and strategic influence. In a brief for IDSA Comment, "Portuguese-speaking countries: a new niche for Indian foreign policy?", he calls for India to diversify its foreign policy by expanding its profile within the Lusophone world, upgrade its relationship with the Community of Portugese Language Countries (CPLP) to that of associate observer status, host a regular Goa-based India-CPLP dialogue, and further build Goa as a  venue for training programs conducted in Portugese for Lusophone countries.

Scenarios for The Seven Sisters

NAMRATA GOSWAMI of the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, analyzes the key factors determining the future of India's insurgency-ridden NorthEast to determine four possible future scenarios: 1) a tourism-anchored "Destination Northeast", 2) an insular "Island Northeast" based on xenophobia and violence, 3) a democratic "Multi-cultural Northeast" and 4) Global Northeast (on the back of a successful Look East policy). In an IDSA Occasional Paper, "India's NorthEast 2020: Four Alternative Futures", she recommends a policy focus based on developing human capital, fostering inter-state competition and rewarding progress to ensure the development of an open, multi-cultural, globalized and democratic North-east.

Sino-Pak nuclear collaboration

ASHLEY TELLIS of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace recommends that Washington should lead forcefully in urging China to rethink its plans to sell civilian nuclear reactors to Pakistan claiming that Beijing had a lot at stake if it chose to renege on its NSG obligations. In an opinion piece for the Wall Street, "Stop the Sino-Pak Nuclear Pact", he states that China's plans had raised alarms in foreign capitals given Pakistan's fragile leadership, and an implicit threat to withhold the forms of cooperation that China desire would convince Beijing to reconsider its decision.

South Asian Security and economics

MICHAEL O' HANLON of Brookings proposes a policy of complementing the hard power aspects of US policy in South Asia with a big push in soft power, particularly within the arena of economics. In an opinion piece for Politico, "Economics of Security in South Asia", he outlines a four-point economics and security initiative plan with tripling of annual economic aid to Pakistan, free-trade for Pakistan's tribal areas, encouragement of Indo-Pak trade and fuel pipelines from Central to South Asia through Afghanistan as the four key components.

Pushback in the South China Sea

YURIKO KOIKE, the former national security advisor of Japan speculates that the recent trip to Asia of the US Secretary of State had the potential of triggering a diplomatic revolution a la the 1971 Kissinger visit to Mao's China with the US unwilling to accept China's push for regional hegemony in the hydrocarbon-rich waters of the South China Sea. In an opinion piece in the Taipei Times, "US takes a stand against a shifting geopolitical landscape", she states that the US not only reaffirmed its commitment to security in Asia and the eastern Pacific but also exposed the dichotomy in China's policies of hegemonic behavior versus its mantra of 'peaceful rise' and gave pause to Chinese leadership that their country's overall international role was being tested primarily in Asia.

The land-inflation linkage

ARVIND SUBRAMANIAN, fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics reviews the high inflation figures for India and conjectures that the combination of serious microeconomic distortions afflicting the land market coupled with macroeconomic factors such as surging capital inflows into real estate and housing could be raising cost of production in the Indian economy as a whole, pushing up cost-push inflation and making the goal of double-digit growth elusive. In an op-ed in The Business Standard, "India's Inflation Puzzle", he states that inflation in India could be far more dependent on services and land as an input and India would need to address microeconomic distortions through structural reforms of the land market and address macroeconomic aggravators of inflation through dampening of foreign capital flows into real estate and housing and higher provisioning for real-estate lending.

Nation States - RIP

PARAG KHANNA, Director of Global Governance Initiative at the New America Foundation heralds the beginning of the urban age predicting that globalization would result in the emergence of global hub cities attracting talent and capital, and 3rd world megacities that would together drive governance, economics, innovation and diplomacy, pulling away from their home states while simultaneously competing for global influence among themselves and alongside states. In a commentary for Foreign Policy, "Beyond City Limits", he states that cities and the urban economies, like the Hanseatic league of yore, would serve as the centers of gravity for nations, being at the core of issues such as security, governance, climate change, inequality and poverty while making national borders and international organizations such as the UN irrelevant.

The Pecking Order within the Islamic world

JOSEPH LUMBARD and AREF ALI NAYED compile the list of the 500 most influential people in the Islamic world alongwith a brief history of Islam and its canon, and summarize the key Islamic doctrines and schools of thought and their relative influence within the ummah. In a report "The 500 Most Influential Muslims - 2010", the second in successive years published by the Amman-based Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Center, the king of Saudi Arabia, Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al Saud continues to be the most influential Muslim in the world.
More than 25 of the top 50 influential Muslims are from the Middle East due to its special status as the heart of the Ummah with the holy sites, clergy, royalty and Islamic scholarship with leadership from Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Turkey alongwith its Cypriot area also lays claim to the top status with PM Recep Erdogan vaulting to #2 this year from #5 in 2009, possibly as a result of the recent change in strategy towards Israel. Surprisingly, Iran and Iraq are home to a total of only 3 top influencers with Ali Khamenei dropping to #3 from #2 in 2009.
In the sub-continent, India continues to have 3 individuals in the top 50 with Akhtar Raza Khan, the Grand Mufti of India at #26, Mahmood Madani of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind at #40 and Burhanuddin Saheb at #47. Abd al Wahhab, the Amir of Tablighi Jamaat (#16) and Taqi Usmani (#31) are the two Pakistanis making the top 50 cut this year while disgraced scientist AQ Khan has exited the top 50 this year while continuing to remain in the top 500 under the Science and Technology category. President Yudhoyono of the largest Islamic democracy, Indonesia makes a strong showing to finish at #9 in 2010. Hasan Nasrallah (#18) of the Hezbollah and Khaled Meshal (#38) retain significant influence while the Secretary-General of the OIC, Dr. Ihsanoglu has dropped down 4 places from #40 to #44.
Sheikha Munira Qubeysi of Syria, the leader of the largest women-only Islamic movement at #24 and Queen Rania of Jordan at #30 are the only two females in the top 50.

Nuclear black market

ROLF MOWATT-LARSEN and WILLIAM H TOBEY, fellows at Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs analyze the pattern of seizures of nuclear material in the past seven years to state that elimination of the global nuclear black market been given its due because of a lack of international co-operation, organizational failures and skepticism among experts of the plausibility of nuclear terrorism. In an opinion piece for the Belfer Center, "The Armageddon Test: To Prevent Nuclear Terrorism, Follow the Uranium", they call for greater urgency and an international consensus on the nuclear threat, deeper co-operation among national intelligence and law enforcement agencies alongwith more teeth to the IAEA to eliminate the nuclear black market.

Growing private Indian philanthropy

ARPAN SHETH of Bain & Company analyzes the state of Indian philanthropy in comparison with other countres arguing that there existed potential for greater philanthropy among wealthier Indians whose relatively recent wealth accumulation, blurring between personal and corporate donations and underdeveloped donation support networks led to lower individual philanthropy. In a lecture "An Overview of Philanthropy in India", at the Indian Philanthropy Forum, he recommends modifications to the legal and taxation framework that hindered growth and operation of non-profits in India and calls upon non-profits to increase transparency, professionalism and effectiveness.

Beijing - Central Asia Express ...delayed

RICHARD WEITZ of the Center for Political-Military Analysis at the Hudson Institute analyzes the attractiveness of the Central Asian countries as sources of raw material, export markets, investment opportunities and conduits for trade for China stating that China could reap significant benefits although this would require significant investments to upgrade the region's railroad transportation infrastructure. In a China Brief article for Jamestown Foundation, "Afghanistan in China's Emerging Eurasian Transport Corridor", he concludes that various barriers such as suboptimal legal, policy and communications framework, and transnational threats such as narco-terrorism combined with obstacles around ownership, and financing in Central Asia to limit the effectiveness of a potential Eurasian rail network as an alternative for China to containerized cargo shipping by sea through the Indian Ocean.

Cyber Power

JOSEPH NYE of the Harvard University avers that the low price of entry, anonymity and asymmetries in vulnerability meant that smaller actors had greater capacity to exercise hard and soft power in a highly volatile environment such as cyberspace than in more traditional domains of world politics and could create power shifts among states such that small states could leverage asymmetrical warfare to leapfrog larger adversaries. In an essay for the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, "Cyber Power", he concludes that cyber-power was unlikely to be a game-changer and that while governments would continue to be the strongest actors, the cyber-domain would increase the diffusion of power to non-state actors illustrating the importance of networks as a key dimension of power in the 21st century.

Chinese soft power

JOSEPH NYE of the Harvard University and WANG JISI of the Peking University School of International Studies state that increasing references to soft power by Chinese leaders and academics reflected a sophisticated realist strategy to complement its rising hard power. In an article for the Harvard International Review,"Hard Decisions on Soft Power:Opportunities and Difficulties for Chinese Soft Power", they conclude that soft power was not a zero-sum game in the context of Sino-US relations and that if both became more attractive in each others’ eyes, the prospects of damaging conflicts would reduce significantly.

Future role of the WTO

URI DADUSH of the Carnegie Endowment states that the efficacy of the WTO has been reduced due to increasing difficulty in enacting comprehensive multilateral agreements driven by deepening international integration, increasing influence of new players, and growing trade complexity. In an article for the International Economic Bulletin, "The Future of the World Trading System", he states that despite the recent stalling of the WTO, world trade had advanced at unprecedented rates and that the WTO could reaffirm its leadership role by promoting regional and plurilateral liberalization processes to existing agreements.

Joining the game in the Indian Ocean

HARSH PANT of King's College reviews the growing Sino-Lankan relationship stating that China was rapidly expanding its profile in Sri Lanka with multiple infrastructure investments with ominous portents for New Delhi. In a commentary for ISN Security Watch, "The New Battle for Sri Lanka", he states that New Delhi had to be more proactive to keep ahead in the great game unfolding in the Indian Ocean.

Backing Soft power with hard power

JOHN LEE of the Australia's Centre for Independent Studies analyzes India's soft power and argues that India's soft power potential was based not just on its culture and values but also on the alignment of those values to regional and global standards. In a Foreign Policy Analysis article, "Unrealised potential: India's 'soft power' ambition in Asia", he cautions that India's potential suffered from lingering uncertainty since its soft power was not perceived as being adequately backed by 'hard power' and that could improve only if it undertook reforms.

National Security - The link to natural resources

CHRISTINE PARTHEMORE and WILL ROGERS at the Center for a New American Security call for increased focus within the national security community on the role and strategic consequences of the availability and depletion of resources such as water, forests, cropland, fish stocks and biodiversity. In a CNAS report, Sustaining Security: How Natural Resources Influence National Security, they propose two approaches: a targeted approach based on resource conservation in a few regions such as Afghanistan and Pakistan and a more long-term multidisciplinary approach based on incorporation of resources into national security strategy.

Look East Policy analyzed

SANDY GORDON of the Center of Excellence in Policing and Security at the Australian National University analyzes the evolution of Indo-ASEAN relationship from its tentative beginnings under India's 'Look East' policy to that of its current strategic partnership in the Indian Ocean, stating that this would be one of many partnerships that India would develop with other powers. In a workshop paper presented for the Australia India Institute, "India ‘Looks East’ as history", he states that India would do well to put in place labour and infrastructure policies to leverage its demographic dividend and as India developed, a strategic triangle between China, US and India was a distinct possibility

The Shale Hype

CLAUDIO GULER of ISN Security Watch states that recent advances in technology and elevated secular price for natural gas had made drilling of shale gas economical and this had in turn raised expectations of energy independence, improved security and reduced emissions among consumer countries while traditional gas producers such as Russia were impacted by reduced global gas demand as well as greater availability of unconventional gas such as LNG and shale gas. In a commentary for ISN Security Watch, "Shale Gas: Eureka or False Dawn?", he cautions that optimistic estimates of shale gas reserves were tentative outside the US and that shale gas was far from being a panacea for energy, environment and security.

Pax Americana along the South China Sea

ROBERT KAPLAN, fellow at the Center for a New American Security states that the China's advantageous hub-like geography abutting Central Asia, South-East Asia and East Asia has been mostly overlooked in any analysis of Chinese economic dynamism or strategic assertiveness and although its seaboard was as extensive as its continental interior, it faced a far tougher proposition at sea. In an op-ed in The New York Times, "The Geography of Chinese Power", he opines that a Chinese absorption of Taiwan would be considered a failure of U.S. power by the states in the Pacific and a strengthened U.S. air and sea presence in Oceania presented a compromise between resisting a Greater China at all costs and assenting to a future in which the Chinese Navy policed the first island chain.

Revolution in higher education

BEN WILDAVSKY, fellow at the Ewing Marion Kauffman foundation states that globalization of universities had resulted in a shake-up of the old order in higher education with wide-ranging benefits for all including increased mobility and availability of human capital, scientific talent and greater free trade in minds and ideas. In a discussion organized by the Carnegie Council on his book, "The Great Brain Race: How Global Universities Are Reshaping the World", he points out that mobility of students, cross-national scientific research and branch campuses had increased significantly in the past decade. He opines that a lot of countries now saw a thriving university system as their pathway to innovation and growth and this had resulted in increasing academic investments, partnerships and quality improvements with a greater focus on global metrics to measure academic quality which in turn was feeding a beneficial cycle of improvements.

Dangerous mutations within Pakistan's jihadi infrastructure

NICHOLAS SCHMIDLE, fellow at the New America Foundation states that a profound change had occured in the dynamic between the Pakistan-army and ISI on the one-hand and their jihadi clients on the other and within the jihadis between the old guard which acted on behalf of the state and the new guard which sought to overthrow the state leading to the kidnap and murder of Khalid Khwaja an important and outspoken player in the jihadi firmament.
In an article in The New Republic, "In a Ditch", he attributes this to the formation of the Pakistani Taliban from the rank and file of the traditional jihadi organizations after the storming of Islamabad's Red Mosque in 2007 and their deep mistrust of traditional authorities such as intelligence agencies, tribal structures, and mainstream Islamist parties. He also cautions that these mutant, smaller outfits were less amenable to bribes, negotiations and settlements and hence were even more dangerous than their creators.

Bandung 55 comes to age!!

SHYAM SARAN, fellow at the Center for Policy Research and former Indian Foreign Secretary, calls upon India to make relations with Indonesia, a G-20 power and neighbor, the centrepiece of its Look East policy pointing to commonalities such as plural, diverse, secular democratic polity, cultural affinities buffeted by religious extremism. In an article in Business Standard, "Rising Indonesia", he states that it was incumbent upon India to upgrade its economic and security partnership with Indonesia beyond the current joint maritime patrols to grow naval capabilities and shape an open, inclusive and loosely structured security architecture in Asia.
 

Test of Effectiveness for the G-20

ARVIND SUBRAMANIAN, fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics states that while the monopoly on power and influence wielded by the west was being broken for real with the G20, what was most significant was the impact of the de-cartelization of power and influence on the role of ideas.  In an op-ed in The Business Standard, "The G-20, Power, and Ideas", he states that the fate of two bad ideas (i) western leadership of the IMF and the World Bank and (ii) indispensability of the Doha round to the health of the world economy, could serve as a testing ground for the proposition that the G-20 might be better for the marketplace of ideas than the G-7.

New Delhi's maritime agenda

RORY MEDCALF of the Lowy Institute states that the Indian navy is growing in potency, reach and stated ambition with its expanding capabilities and its demonstrated maritime leadership within the Indian Ocean. In an op-ed at the Wall Street Journal, "India Ahoy", he states that New Delhi would benefit from strengthening practical cooperation with navies of Australia, Indonesia, Korea and Vietnam and showing greater leadership to fulfil its maritime vision of the Indian Ocean as India's sphere of influence.

Beijing's maritime ambitions

CHRIS RAHMAN, fellow of Maritime Strategy and Security at the University of Woolongong explores the central tenets of China’s maritime security agenda and states that Beijing’s maritime ambitions and behavior indicate a bid for geopolitical pre-eminence in East Asia. In a policy analysis for the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, "China's maritime strategic agenda", he argues that the Chinese navy's growing ability to deny access to East Asian seas in a crisis or conflict, disrupting the security system led by US Pacific Command rather than its blue water capabilities most threatens regional order and harmony at seas.

Expansion of HUJI operations

ANIMESH ROUL, Director of the Society for the Study of Peace and Conflict, states that the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (Movement of Islamic Holy War) has 

developed into an international jihadi group that appears ready to demonstrate its global reach well beyond its traditional operational zone in Bangladesh, India and Kashmir. In a Jamestown article, "HuJI Operations Expand Beyond the Indian Subcontinent", he states that recent arrests of HuJI operatives in Chicago and Bangladesh indicate the movement’s jihad is spilling out of the Indian subcontinent.

Reviving the Raj

C. RAJAMOHAN calls for an elevation in the partnership on defence and security between Washington and New Delhi stating that such a partnership would help constitute a neo-Curzonian Raj that could share the burdens of ordering the Eastern Hemisphere in the 21st century, like it did at the turn of the 20th century. In an article for the American Interest, "The Return of the Raj", he alludes to the four elements of the colonial British Raj -  expeditionary tradition, military surplus, security system for smaller states and the Great Game to buttress his argument for an enhanced security partnership in the Indian Ocean and beyond.

LeT in Pakistan's strategy

ASHLEY TELLIS of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace states that Lashkar-e-Taiba's global presence and its sponsorship by the Pakistani military and ISI due to a similar ethnic composition and ideological sympathies enhanced the prospect of major war and global consequences. In an article for Yale Global, "Pakistan and the Afghanistan End Game", he states that Washington had now reached the conclusion that LeT represents a threat to America’s national interests while Pakistan's military leaders continued to harbor the illusion that their current strategy of unleashing terrorism would enervate India, push it out of Afghanistan, and weaken US stabilization efforts there and such a strategy would come to nought.

Moscow-Chechnya-Kabul-Islamabad-Karachi link

PREM MAHADEVAN of the Center for Security Studies in Zurich states that the Moscow bombings were on one level motivated by local considerations such as revenge for assassination of Chechen terrorists, while also being linked on another level to the shifts in the Afghanistan in the backdrop of Moscow agreeing to facilitate the resupply of NATO forces through the Northern Distribution network. In a commentary for ISN Security Watch, "Fallout of a New Great Game?", he posits that the new resupply route would reduce NATO dependence on Pakistani supply routes and hence significantly lower transit fees for Islamabad, which could explain the sudden drop in Taliban attacks on the convoys and also cautions Moscow to brace itself for more terrorist attacks in the wake of intensification of the war in Afghanistan.

Strategic diffidence

DOMINIQUE MOISI, advisor of the French Institute of International Affairs (IFRI) and visiting professor at Harvard University draws parallels between a strategically diffident New Delhi and Washington of the 1920s to state that India continued to remain ill at ease in the projection of strategic power. In an opinion piece in The Scotsman, "India still lacks practice in power game", he states that India's unease about strategic power, and its resemblance to a gigantic EU reflected its ongoing search for a new international identity and that India lacked both the means and the ambition to be a second China and that was a further reason for the west to engage and invest in India.

The nuclear hermit

RORY MEDCALF, director of International Security at the Lowy Institute argues that New Delhi's nuclear-weapons posture characterized by a minimum credible nuclear deterrent, no-first use policy could be a model to emulate for other states. In an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal, "India's nuclear example", he calls for closer U.S.-India strategic ties to ensure India's strategic arsenal remained small and the world could not afford to leave New Delhi out of the non-proliferation and nuclear security tent.

Kisan inquilab!!

RAJIV KUMAR, director of ICRIER calls for a liberation of the kisan through the facilitating the entry of private, cooperative or commercial investors including foreign multi-product retail companies into agriculture to establish their agro-procurement operations for the Indian domestic and export markets. In an opinion piece in Mint, "Liberating the farmer", he states that dis-intermediation in agriculture, enhanced investments in logistics and technologies, alongwith Government switching its role from that of a supplier of services and inputs to that of regulator could bring about massive productivity gains in the agricultural sector.

Pole positions in clean-energy

The Pew Environment Group led by Director JOSHUA REICHERT analyze trends in the clean energy sector within the G-20 economies over the past 5 years and are sanguine about the sector that is forecast to grow by 25% to $200 billion in 2010 on the back of a prioritization on clean energy funding by the G-20 governments. In a report titled “WHO’S WINNING THE CLEAN ENERGY RACE? Growth, Competition and Opportunity in the World’s Largest Economies”, they state that nations such as China, Brazil, U.K, Germany and Spain with their strong, national clean energy policies were leading the clean energy economy sweepstakes and other countries would need to more actively evaluate policies to stimulate clean energy investment and compete effectively for clean energy jobs and manufacturing.

Attacking terror through narco funding angle

MICHAEL JACOBSON and MATTHEW LEVITT of the The Washington Institute's Stein program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence point to the increasing linkages between terrorist organizations and organized crime networks with about 60 per cent of terrorist organizations connected to drug trafficking which generated  $322 billion in sales and additional ancillary revenues. In an article , "Tracking Narco-Terrorist Networks: The Money Trail", they state that this presented an opportunity for increasing international co-operation since it would convert the terrorism problem the semantics over which states differed into a law and order problem which would be easier to gain trans-national co-operation against.

Fade Britannia!!

CHRISTOPHER HILL of the University of Cambridge cautions that the financial crisis had resulted in tough foreign policy choices for Britain and recommends depersonalising British foreign policy and grabbing the opportunity provided by the Lisbon Treaty to shape European diplomacy. In an article for Chatham House' publication, The World Today, "British Foreign Policy Priorities: Tough Choices", he lists anti-terrorism, foreign office and its attendant diplomatic network and a resizing of armed forces as key priorities in the wake of the financial crisis.

The end-game in Afghanistan

In a round-table discussion on Afghanistan organized by the Takshashila Foundation, SUMIT GANGULY, SHANTHIE MARIET D'SOUZA and MUKUL ASHER  provided the U.S., Indian and economic perspectives of the current situation in Af-Pak, implications of a U.S. withdrawal from the region starting 2011 and policy options for India.  The panelists brought out the fact that although New Delhi viewed the U.S. presence as ideal to its own security calculus, it had little leverage in ensuring a continued presence. Washington's and New Delhi's interest in Afghanistan was mostly from a security angle and the economic angle in terms of Central Asian gas reserves was less prominent. New Delhi drew a strong distinction between re-integration of the Taliban, i.e. socio-economic accomodation which it was in favor of and reconciliation which meant a political role for the Taliban in Kabul which it was totally against. In the wake of the targeting of Indian personnel in Afghanistan, New Delhi would not quit although its armed contingent was modest. It would expand its current economic assistance program to include microfinance in partnership with Bangladesh.  One commonly asked question was the idea of promoting nationalism among the Baloch, Pashtun and Sindhi communities in Pakistan as a response.

Fixing the fiefdom

MUKUL ASHER states that the main function of the Indian Railways was to provide rail transport related services with the least economic resource costs to the society and that they had to rely on multiple options including internal projects, contracts and PPP to deliver on the revenue target of 3% of the GDP. In an opinion piece in DNA, "For PPPs to work, Railways must change mindset", he concludes that the push towards PPP was doomed to fail in the absence of multiple enabling measures including accrual-based accounting, modern budgeting and management information systems, competition, revamped incentive structures and absorption of new technologies.

Consequences of Af-Pak failure

BHARAT VERMA, Editor of the Indian Defence Review paints a pessimistic picture of an Asia in 2020 engulfed by authoritarian regimes such as Islamic fundamentalists, communist dictatorships, military junta and non-state actors who would then redraw international boundaries. In an article, "Unprepared and Unwilling", he states that the situation was a Catch-22 with neither the West nor India could prevail without each other's assistance and calls for India to provide boots on the ground in Af-Pak in exchange for a change in U.S. focus towards Islamabad as otherwise India would be faced with a simultaneous threat on two-fronts and an internal insurgency.

Asian leadership

KISHORE MAHBUBANI and SIMON CHESTERMAN point to an evolution in Asian thinking characterized by pragmatism and an open attitude towards multilateralism with a focus on effectiveness of institutions rather than their legitimacy and acceptance of Western domination of global institutions. In an article for The Japan Times, "Pragmatic Asia can bolster global stability", they argue that this pragmatic approach has led to an Asian capability for leadership in such diverse challenges as peace and security, climate change, financial regulation, health, and social enterprises.

It takes two to tango!!

Nikolas Gvosdev of the US Naval War College states that although the U.S. intelligence community have agreed that multipolarity would be the future, Washington policymakers had not made the strategic choices necessary to guarantee continued U.S. global leadership such as wooing emerging powers such as Brazil and India that were not currently aligned either with the Euro-Atlantic West or with China. In an article in The World Politics Review, "Shaping the Multipolar World", he questions the prevailing assumption that at the end of the day, such powers would automatically align with U.S. interests absent a U.S. effort to nurture the relationship.

Dial 311 for deterrence

James Wood Forsyth Jr, Col B. Chance Saltzman, and Gary Schaub Jr discuss the concept of deterrence in international political relations and the diminishing returns with nuclear weapons and state that a small, secure nuclear force had the effect of 'sanctuarizing' the states that possess them. In an article for the Strategic Studies Quarterly, "Remembrance of Things Past The Enduring Value of Nuclear Weapons", they argue that the United States could have nuclear security with a small force of only 311 nuclear weapons in their force structure while continuing to maintain stable deterrence irrespective of the behavior of competitors such as Russia or China. They also express skepticism over the practicality of a nuclear zero arguing that nuclear weapons socialize statesmen to the dangers of adventurism and constrained their behavior resulting in a relationship tempered by caution despite the rhetoric of the leaders.

Wait and watch

SUSHANT SAREEN of the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses argues that although an American exit from Afghanistan would in the worst case lead to a "terrorists r us" AfPak with India needing to work towards preventing the fallout, it might actually be a good thing in the post 9-11 world. In an IDSA Comments article, "AfPak dialectics can work in India’s favour", he argues that an American exit would ensure enhanced strategic leverage of the US over Pakistan with Pakistan being caught in a Catch-22 situation either bowing to international dictates on rooting jihadists or risk international isolation.

India's strategic role against global jihad

WALID PHARES, Director of the Future Terrorism Project at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies states the global salafist jihadi network would continue to expand, co-ordinate and assist each other against their foes most of whom were constrained by a lack of similar co-operation against jihadi terror as well as confusion regarding separatist conflicts which were often construed as resistance movements and not terrorism. In a speech to the Asian Security Conference 2010 at New Delhi, "The Future of Terrorism: Jihadi threat in the Indian Subcontinent", he proposes internationalization of the counter-jihadi strategy where India could play a significant part in the region in integrating the resources of democracies in the region and eventually of all jihadi-targeted countries.

Rise of the Ottoman Phoenix

PHILIP MCCRUM states that a confluence of factors such as size, geography, religion and ethnicity were conferring Turkey with greater regional authority guaranteeing the rise of the Ottoman phoenix enhancing its national interests. In an analysis for the International Relations and Security Network (ISN), "Turkey’s Expanding Geopolitical Reach",he predicts that Turkey's strategic position at the crossroads of a diversified east-west natural gas supply network as well as its leadership position in the Muslim world as the largest Islamic economic power ensured greater geostrategic significance that even its domestic squabbles could not overcome.

Coming into age of the SCO

DAVID SPEEDIE, Director of U.S. Global Engagement Program at the Carnegie Council states that the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) that was established in 2001 could no longer be dismissed as a sub-regional force given its toehold in Central Asia and potential to exert influence over 20% of the world's proven oil reserves and 40% of natural gas resources. In a Carnegie Council article, "Good Neighbours? The Shanghai Co-operation Organization" he concedes that a potential inclusion of Iran in the SCO would result in the organization being seen as an anti-American alliance and echo NATO's eastward expansion in the 90s and calls for increasing NATO's engagement with the SCO.

Liberal bloc

MARK LEONARD, Director at the European Council on Foreign Relations states that Beijing's diplomacy could be characterized as defensive multilateralism, where it joined international organizations such as the UN, WTO etc. to protect its own interests rather than to support the broader goals of those institutions and this approach had been relatively successful in changing the global order and reducing international pressure on states such as North Korea, Myanmar and Iran. In an op-ed in the Süddeutsche Zeitung,"How to deal with a more assertive China?", he calls for a more assertive Western approach that would preserve the liberal bias in the international system with the EU and the US acting in concert to break up illiberal international coalitions and focus on integrating states such as India, Indonesia, South Africa and Brazil into the liberal bloc.

Degrading the LeT network

STEPHEN TANKEL of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace profiles the growth of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) network from its origins during the anti-Soviet jihad to its current role as Pakistani military's strategic asset against India with a support network stretched throughout the subcontinent, the Gulf and the West. In a policy brief for the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, "The Long Arm of Lashkar-e-Taiba", he concludes that the West had to compel Islamabad to use its leverage to prevent any LeT attack against India and also degrade its transnational network.

Aircraft Carriers: Hunter or Hunted?

ARUN PRAKASH, former Chief of Naval Staff tracks the growth of the aircraft carrier as the mainstay of major navies as well as the different paths in the arena of carriers and carrier aviation adopted by the major navies and what could come in the future. In a valedictory address as the Chairman of the National Maritime Foundation, "Aircraft Carriers in the 21st century: Doctrinal, Operational and Technological Challenge", he counters critics of aircraft carriers and states that optimal utilization of carrier deployment for sea control, protection to friendly units, power projection and survivability rendered them invaluable in any military's arsenal and the greater need was to overcome operational, doctrinal and technological challenges.

Festering sore

MUSTAFA QADRI states that the strong public support in Pakistan currently for its war against the Taliban insurgency within its territory arose due to a host of factors including a perception that Pakistan was fighting a war for its  existence, with the armed forces as brave guarantors of national security against foreign actors. In a briefing paper for the Pakistan Security Research Unit,"Public perceptions of Pakistan’s war against the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan", he cautions that this prevented the Pakistani society from confronting the very real, and serious infiltration of militant, political Islam into mainstream society and effectively absolved the state and religious leaders from their culpability in creating the very environment that enabled the TTP to form and so rapidly expand throughout the tribal areas.

Counterinsurgency training for Afghans

SUMIT GANGULY, Ngee Ann Kongsi Chair in International Relations at the Rajaratnam School for International Studies, Singapore declares that the most effective and economical way to prepare Afghan troops in counterinsurgency operations was to rely on the Indian Army. In an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, "Let India Train The Afghan Army", he states that the Indian Army with its decades of counter-insurgency experience in multiple terrains, training capacities, cheap labor and training costs, cultural similarities, and its record of civil-military relations made it the ideal candidate to train the Afghan national army.

Basic banking in India

BINDU ANANTH and NACHIKET MOR lament the low penetration rate (20%) of bank accounts in India stating that the technology, on-ground capability, cost  and process maturity of banking intermediaries such as business correspondents do not warrant such a low access rate to finance. In an article in Mint, "Basic economic freedom: why can’t we get it done?", they argue that currently no single entity was currently accountable for the low penetration rate and recommend that Finance Minister designate the Reserve Bank of India to own the process, mandate Government payments through business correspondents and to direct banks to set up well-distributed automated access points.

How to remain Sheriff ?

ASHLEY TELLIS of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace calls on the US and the West to pursue twin objectives of deepening globalization while simultaneously investing in preserving its military superiority in the wake of increasing Chinese national power. In a paper for the German Marshall Fund "Power Shift: How the West Can Adapt and Thrive in an Asian Century", he prescribes increasing coordination between the transatlantic allies to ensure deepening economic interdependence, multifaceted diplomatic engagement of Beijing not being hostage to single-issue politics such as human rights etc. and continued enhancement of the national power and the constituent military prowess of the United States as the global arbiter of security.

Lumbering out of policy inertia on India's Financial sector

ARVIND SUBRAMANIAN, fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics recommends greater interaction between the government and the Reserve Bank of India on strategic and long-term issues such as the liberalization of the financial sector and that of the capital account. In an op-ed in The Business Standard, "What Globalization Strategy for India?", he states that a combination of factors such as greater availability of foreign capital seeking higher returns in India and a domestic political economy that favored foreign capital would ensure that India moved to a model based on reliance to foreign capital by default and this called for a jolt out of policy inertia and a greater co-ordination between the key stakeholders on strategic issues.

Planned Urbanization: The Singapore Story

Cheong Koon Hean, CEO of Singapore's Urban Redevelopment Authority draws lessons from Singapore's successful urbanization experience and states that sustainable urban development required first of all, a strategic long-term and forward-looking framework and then a judicious mix of strategic planning, environmental management and pragmatic approaches to technology. In an article for Chatham House monthly, "Future of Cities: Urban Opportunities", she outlines how the long-term framework guided multi-year plans across departments driving targeted infrastructure investments that deliver on goals for liveability and sustainability, and also states that these measures would ensure Singapore could deliver a reduction in carbon emissions of 16% by 2020.

Instability in Yemen

Ginny Hill, fellow at the Royal Institute of International Affairs, states that Yemen's window of opportunity to shape a future based on a post-oil economy was narrowing and that Western governments needed to work towards an effective regional approach alongwith the members of the Gulf Cooperation Council. In a briefing paper for the Chatham House, "Yemen: Fear of Failure", she cautions that future instability in Yemen could expand a lawless zone around the Horn of Africa with attendant piracy, smuggling and violent jihad, with implications for the security of shipping routes and the transit of oil through the Suez Canal.

Get ready for brickbats...

Michael Auslin, AEI's director of Japan Studies states that global public opinion may be turning against China in the wake of increasing evidence of China not turning out to be a "responsible stakeholder" as envisaged. In an op-ed for The Washington Examiner, "Good feelings for China at a tipping point",he states that sustained tension between China and the world could lead to further Chinese probing of American and Asian countries' defenses, more deployment of advanced weaponry including aircraft carriers, and continued obstruction over Darfur and Iran.

Another Persian Gulf??

SELIG S HARRISON, Director at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars provides a brief analysis of the various legal and jursdictional issues related to the treasure trove of untapped seabed oil and gas in the vast expanse of the East China Sea between China and Japan and the Yellow Sea between China and the Koreas and the motives of the Chinese, Japanese, and Korean players. In a study for the Project on Oil and Gas Cooperation in Northeast Asia, "Seabed Petroleum in Northeast Asia: Conflict or Cooperation?", he states that although agreement on a joint exploration zone was impeded by conflicting positions between Japan and China, the two Governments could authorize their oil companies to conduct seismic surveys, exploratory drilling, exchange data and negotiate terms of production operations and profit sharing while the conflicts were being resolved.

Justice as well as Peace in conflict resolution

RICHARD DICKER, Director of the International Justice Program at Human Rights Watch calls attention to the thorny debate over whether pursuing justice for grave international crimes interfered with peace negotiations in the wake of increasing possibility of trials for abusive national leaders. In an article for the Chatham House magazine, The World Today, "International Criminal Court: Peace & Justice", he states that international law and practice had evolved to a point where both peace and justice had to be equal objectives of negotiations to end conflicts where serious crimes under international law had been committed and that peace agreements did not have to foreclose the possibility of justice at a later date.

Diplomacy in Persia

Kayhan Barzegar, senior research fellow at the Center for Middle East Strategic Studies in Tehran states that Iran would not concede its claim to the nuclear fuel cycle on which there is broad consensus within the Irani elite and Iran could prove vital in bringing lasting security to the Middle East. In an article in The Washington Quarterly, "Iran's Foreign Policy Strategy After Saddam", he recommends that the Obama administration engage in meaningful diplomacy with Tehran and not give in to the temptation of isolating and weakening Iran, which would impinge on U.S. goals of stability, non-proliferation and resolution of ongoing regional conflicts.

The Military's Voice

MADHAVI BHASIN,  Visiting Scholar at the Center for South Asia Studies at the University of California, Berkeley states that the recent media pronouncements by the Indian military chiefs suggested that the armed forces craved a voice in the national strategic dialogue, which has so far been denied to it. In an upcoming article, "Indian Military Seeks a Holistic Role" she highlights recent incidents to buttress her argument that the chiefs of the different military wings have discreetly found ways to counter the prevailing insulation of the Indian military from a holistic role in designing the national defense strategy.

Predator - A Blessing in disguise in Waziristan

FARHAT TAJ of the Center for Interdisciplinary Gender Research of the University of Oslo challenges Pakistani and US media reports about the civilian casualties in the drone attacks in Waziristan claiming that those estimates were fabricated by the pro-Taliban and pro Al-Qaeda elements in Pakistan as part of their propaganda against the US. In an op-ed in Pakistan's The Daily Times, "Drone attacks: challenging some fabrications" she claims that the people of Waziristan had suffered under occupation by the Taliban and the al Qaeda and hence welcomed the drone attacks as a means of getting rid of their oppressors through the precision strikes.

Transforming Indo-Bangla relationship

C. RAJA MOHAN, scholar of foreign policy and international relations at the Library of Congress calls upon New Delhi to seize the moment in the backdrop of the Bangladeshi PM's visit and engineer a paradigm shift in New Delhi-Dhaka relations that could serve as a template for the relations with the rest of the South Asian countries. In an op-ed in the Indian Express, "Look to our near east", he opines that New Delhi should move towards a relationship with Dhaka based on the principle of sovereign equality, emphasize 'interests' rather than 'sentiments', open its markets more generously and endorse Dhaka's aspirations to lead the process of regional and sub-regional cooperation in the sub-continent, thus facilitating its emergence as a great eastern hub of South Asia.

Vietnam's Defence White Paper reviewed

PANKAJ K JHA reviews the 3rd Vietnamese national defence white paper that was released in Dec 2009 and states that while the white paper clearly articulated the priorities for Vietnam in terms of building comprehensive national power and raising the country's technological capability, it did not provide any insight into policies or strategic plans. In an article for the New Delhi based Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, "Vietnamese Defence White Paper 2009", he states that the white paper fell short in identifying major internal and external challenges as well as ignoring new modes of training and the techniques of network-centric warfare.

Nuclear weapons - A US perspective

FRANKLIN C MILLER of the Schlesinger Task Force for Nuclear Weapons Management asserts that nuclear weapons would continue to have a role in US national security strategy and that the US would need to maintain a modern and credible nuclear deterrent. In a Lowy Institute Perspectives article, "The vital place of nuclear weapons in 21st century US national security strategy", he states that the U.S. needed a credible deterrent that was always perceived as safe, secure, survivable, capable and should maintain strategic force levels over Russian and Chinese theatre arsenals that would enable U.S. allies have confidence in US decision-making.

Resolving conflict in the Horn of Africa

Dr. ROY LOVE examines the importance of the economic dimensions of the conflicts in the Horn of Africa in both causing conflicts as well as its potential in securing sustainable post-conflict stability. In a Chatham House briefing, "Economic Drivers of Conflict and Cooperation in the Horn of Africa", he states that the establishment of permanent peace can only be built upon a common set of values reflecting equity, tolerance and an acknowledgment of the potential of traditional institutions in entrenching community cohesion and economic drivers necessary for their success could then be harnessed.

A non-nuclear future

THOMAS C. SCHELLING, Professor at the University of Maryland expresses skepticism about global nuclear disarmament and argues that such an order would not necessarily be safer than the current nuclear deterrence based order. In an article in Daedalus, the journal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, "A world without nuclear weapons?", he states that global nuclear zero would mean a world wherein about a dozen countries would have hair-trigger mobilization plans to rebuild nuclear weapons, commandeer delivery systems, and plans to target others' nuclear facilities, with practice drills and secure emergency communications and that every crisis would be a nuclear crisis, and any war could become a nuclear war.

Countering Takfiri ideology

JESSICA STERN of the Harvard Law School recommends that Governments' arsenal against jihadist terror include arguments based on Islamic theology and ethics that refuted terrorism and strengthened the resilience of vulnerable populations. In an article in Foreign Affairs, "Mind Over Martyr - How to Redicalize Islamic Extremists", she claims that Saudi Arabia had rehabilitated and reintegrated over 4000 militants into the mainstream of society and this program contained lessons for Western and other governments to emulate and minimize the threat of Islamic fundamentalism.

Changing Central Asia

M. K. BHADRAKUMAR states that Central Asia is poised for a new dawn with China's increased economic engagement, convergence of Sino-Russian interests and increased U.S. efforts to draw the Central Asian states towards AfPak. In an article in The Hindu, "India and the Central Asian Dawn", he laments that the current strategic discourses on China were caught in a time warp and Sino-India ties had increasingly acquired a regional dimension and calls for a change in India's current thinking on Central Asia.

Non-nuclear means of deterrence

AJAY LELE of the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses questions the continuing relevance of nuclear weapons at the centre of the deterrence debate in India in the wake of the changing nature of threats and proliferation of new and advanced weapons systems. In an article in the Indian Defence Review, "Bows, Arrows and Nuclear Weapons", he calls for India to supplement its existing deterrence mechanism with additional non-nuclear weapons which had the capability to 'deter' and advertise such weapons as weapons of deterrence in the security lexicon.