Stop Using Wars for Domestic Political Ends

THE conflict in the mountains of Kargil sector in 1999, resulting from Pakistani infiltration, lasted around three months. India won. But the victory cost us 527 lives of young officers and men who fought gallantly to defend our territorial integrity.

After 20 years, the government is celebrating the victory in 'Operation Vijay', but it is hardly deliberating on the lessons that we need to draw from the conflict, which represented our failure on three fronts, intelligence and generalship.

Technology and the Decay of Liberalism

LIBERALISM is on the decline. The right-wing monster has re-emerged. The global response to the migrant crisis, and the speed at which racism and communalism is gaining legitimacy are clear symptoms of the decay of liberalism.

The truth is that the dictatorship of the oligarchs is back with a vengeance, legitimising racism, communalism, censorship and the surveillance state. Everything that the liberals found wrong with communism has come back to haunt them.

The Foreign Hand in Modi’s Re-election

PAKISTAN and China showered their respective bombs and benedictions on India in the midst of election season. The Pakistani establishment presented Pulwama on a platter for Modi to respond with Balakot air strikes. China filled Modi’s election kit by ensuring that Masood Azhar is placed in the international terrorist list.

India Should Not Participate in US Economic War on Iran

IN yet another attempt to destroy a sovereign nation, undermine its economic well-being, the Trump administration has tightened sanctions on Iran. Under the so-called isolationist Trump, the American empire has become more ruthless, expecting sovereign nations to disregard their own economic well-being and obey imperial instructions.

Modi’s Actions Have Sullied India’s Image Abroad

MODI has destroyed India’s reputation abroad and assaulted the rule of law. Much like Trump, he has undermined the value of truth. Modi’s five-year rule has given India a hate-filled society, badly wounded politics, chaotic and angry Kashmir, a small war with Pakistan, a series of major terrorist strikes and a self- engineered economic crash. With all his incompetency, India has barely managed to survive when it should have actually thrived.

Time To Think Beyond Monroe Doctrine

PRIME Minister Narendra Modi has visited 92 countries since 2014. In sharp contrast, Manmohan Singh, his predecessor at the PMO undertook only 93 foreign trips during his 10 years in office. The difference in number of diplomatic visits reflects the style and priorities of the two prime ministers. Manmohan Singh largely travelled to meet diplomatic commitments and obligations. Modi, the flamboyant of the two, has used the trips more for promoting his own brand than to achieve foreign policy goals.

BRI and the Indo-Pacific Clash

THE Indo-Pacific has emerged as the centre of gravity of global geopolitics. This year’s APEC conference in Papua New Guinea did not produce a joint communique because of the growing Sino-US tensions. The Trump administration is pressurising China on trade and technology issues. The United States is relentlessly pursuing its strategic agenda to retain its dominance of the Indo-Pacific region and ensure that the Chinese growing economic power does not catapult it to command the region.

Rafale Deal: A ‘Toofani’ Scam

NOT very long ago, in 2012, the Indian Air force (IAF) selected Rafale fighter jet for procurement to augment its depleting fleet. The process adopted by the IAF for evaluating the competing aircraft set the gold standards for fighter aircraft acquisitions. Air Commodore Jasjit Singh praised the Air Force for following a “systematic and scientific process”.

Rechristening the US PACOM

THE Indian Ocean is fast getting converted from a ‘zone of peace’ to an arena of competition and conflict. The US military has given a new name to its Pacific Command (PACOM), it is now called the US Indo-Pacific Command. The change is more than symbolic, it indicates that the American Combatant Command (COCOM) structure, erected to deal with a bipolar world and spread the American hegemony is undergoing transition.

Creating Civil-Military Schism

INDIA is ruled by polarisation experts. Our country is experiencing what an American anthropologist had identified as “schismogenesis” in simple words “creation of division”. The country seems to be in a perpetual state of conflict. There are slanging and shouting matches going on in TV studios and social media. And those in drawing rooms are shouting at their TV screens. Institutions, families and friends stand divided.

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Peoples Democracy

Defense and Strategic Affairs