The First India-US 2+2 Dialogue: An Assessment
An evaluation of the non-negotiable elements of the CISMOA Boilerplate agreement does not show any element that will have any unavoidable security risks for India.
- G. Balachandran
- September 14, 2018
An evaluation of the non-negotiable elements of the CISMOA Boilerplate agreement does not show any element that will have any unavoidable security risks for India.
While broad agreement at the top leadership level has been easy to achieve, negotiations relating to defence equipment and technology cooperation have proved to be difficult, shaped as these are by a complex interplay of variables like cost-competitiveness, technology transfer and domestic politics.
India appears to be failing to consider the geopolitical and foreign policy fallouts from signing the so-called foundational military pacts with the United States.
Mutual and shared interests between India and the US must form the basis of an enduring solution to the quandary presented by the provisions of the Countering America’s Adversaries through Sanctions Act.
While the provisions of the Countering America’s Adversaries through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) are unlikely to be imposed on India anytime soon, it is nonetheless likely to prove a dampener on an otherwise booming defence relationship between India and the United States.
Over the last decade or so, especially during much of Barack Obama’s presidential tenure, the defence sector has become the focus area of cooperation between India and the US. India’s engagement with the US in the area of defence is riding on a new-found realism that drives both countries’ strategic aspirations.
The article argues that India and the United States are poised to strengthen their bilateral strategic convergences, not only in the Indian Ocean but also in Pacific-Asia that lies eastwards of the Malacca Straits, and wherein India’s geo-strategic stakes as well as its military-strategic footprint are likely to increase in the coming years. This would progressively enhance the complementarities between their navies in the western Pacific and its contiguous seas, thereby enabling substantive naval cooperation towards ensuring security and stability in the broader Indo-Pacific region.
The nostalgia among a section of the AKP to recreate the Ottoman past through economic and geopolitical integration has been the driving force behind Turkey’s recent assertive postures in regional matters including the Qatar crisis.
To achieve strategically critical self-reliance in defence production, there needs to be a greater focus on co-development, co-production projects with important partners like Israel, with an essential emphasis on exports to third countries. For the full realisation of the potential of the India–Israel defence partnership, India on its part needs to strengthen elements of its procurement processes—including the proper implementation of laid down policies.
The Israeli military has been tested through the entire range of conflict from the conventional to the asymmetric since its inception in May 1948 to the present day. In the process, it has become one of the most powerful military forces in West Asia, with a reputation to match. Not many are aware that Indian Jews, notably the Bene Israelis, have served with distinction under Indian chieftains as well as the East India Company a few hundred years ago.