IDSA Comments

Recent media reports indicate that the Pentagon is planning to replace 30 per cent of its soldiers with robots by 2020. The employment of robots by the armed forces includes all unmanned platforms used for military related tasks. The use of robots in warfare offers a number of distinct advantages. Such means can provide lethal fire power in a responsive manner on any designated target. Robotic soldiers also eliminate concerns about human casualties in war which is a major concern of western countries.

• Satinder K. Saini
• September 02, 2008
• IDSA Comments

LTTE Political Head P. Nadesan’s recent call to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Karunanidhi to “turn into a supporter of LTTE struggle” in an interview to ‘Kumudam,’ a Tamil weekly, is an example of the outfit’s efforts to woo Tamil Nadu and Karunanidhi in particular. It also underscores the importance of Tamil Nadu for the LTTE at a time of its most pressing crisis. Of late, the Tigers seem to have increased their dependence on, and activities in, Tamil Nadu, which they consider to be a rear base.

• M. Mayilvaganan
• August 29, 2008
• IDSA Comments

The August 28 SCO summit in Dushanbe will be viewed with keen concern by most international watchers. It comes on the heels of China’s successful conduct of the Olympics and Russia’s military assertion in Georgia. Both Russia and China have been keenly nurturing the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation as an exclusive nucleus to undercut the US strategic outreach.

• P. Stobdan
• August 26, 2008
• IDSA Comments

Russian military operations in Georgia and the finalisation of agreement between the US and Poland on the stationing of missile interceptors in Poland are two developments that are likely to have far-reaching but adverse impact on Russia’s relations with the West.

• Arvind Gupta
• August 25, 2008
• IDSA Comments

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is no more a curiosity and has become an important element of contemporary international relations. Since 2005, it has emerged as an influential regional body in Eurasia impacting the political, security and economic developments in this region. The last SCO summit, held in Bishkek on August 16, 2007 focused on issues of countering terrorist threats, boosting security cooperation and developing energy resources within the SCO framework. The summit concluded by signing a treaty on “good-neighbourly relations, friendship and cooperation.”

• Meena Singh Roy
• August 22, 2008
• IDSA Comments

The above question arises in the context of publicly known government plans of arms procurement amounting to over $64 billion1 as part of the modernisation programme of the armed forces. The majority of these acquisitions will obviously be from abroad and will be concluded in the next five years or more.

• N. Neihsial
• August 22, 2008
• IDSA Comments

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) recently issued a new set of rules for the procurement of arms, ammunition and other defence related products and services. The rule book, known as Defence Procurement Procedure 2008 (DPP 2008), has revised, among others, the offset policy that was first promulgated in 2005 and subsequently revised in 2006. The revised offset policy which retains the earlier minimum 30 per cent offset requirements in defence imports of Rs. 300 crore or more has added a provision of offset banking, besides enlisting a number of categories of defence products.

• Laxman Kumar Behera
• August 19, 2008
• IDSA Comments

Two co-ordinated strikes on July 25 and 26, 2008 in Bengaluru and Ahmedabad killed 54 people and injured nearly 200. In the next few days, 28 bombs including two car bombs were found in Surat, which possibly did not explode due to faulty mechanism. This set of incidents seems to mark a new terrorist tactic – the targeting of important cities to cause significant casualties. Serial blasts of this kind began in India with the October 2005 co-ordinated strikes in New Delhi.

• T. Khurshchev Singh
• August 12, 2008
• IDSA Comments

Russia’s new President Dmitry Medvedev has put forward a fresh foreign policy blueprint and set forth a brand new idea of a Pan-European Security structure, which envisages a role for India in Euro-Atlantic affairs. The 7,000 word document makes a turn from the earlier roadmap that guided Putin’s agenda. Medvedev seeks no “Great Power” status but wants Russia to be one of the influential centres of the world. Not exactly distinct in form from Putin’s doctrine, the new concept entails style and diplomatic nuance; it talks about abandoning ‘bloc diplomacy’ in favour of ‘network diplomacy’.

• P. Stobdan
• August 07, 2008
• IDSA Comments

SAARC has in recent years attracted wide international attention and generated much interest among countries that now hold Observer status. The 15th Summit held in Colombo on August 2 – 3, 2008 renewed its pledge to take SAARC from a declaratory to the implementation stage. Four agreements were signed at the Summit on mutual assistance to address criminal activities, trade, combating terrorism and climate change. The theme of the 41-point Colombo Declaration announced at the end of the Summit was “Partnership for Growth for Our People.”

• Smruti S. Pattanaik
• August 07, 2008
• IDSA Comments