Understanding Israel’s response to the flotilla
Making Israel look bad doesn’t help the Palestinians The organisers of the “Freedom Flotilla”—a convoy of ships that intended to bust the Israeli blockade of Gaza—presented the Israeli government with...
View ArticlePax Indica: The Palestinian Card
The First Law of Middle Eastern Geopolitics In this fortnight’s Pax Indica column, I record Turkey’s breakout moment. (It) was only when Turkey floated the flotilla to Gaza that people took notice. The...
View ArticlePax Indica: East of Singapore
The waters east of Singapore hold the key to the lands west of the Indus Yesterday’s post was about the developments in East Asia. In today’s Pax Indica column, I argue that India must be part of the...
View ArticleNot Sun Tzu
Beijing’s has made some bad moves recently It is fairly common to ascribe a certain oriental strategic wisdom to China’s foreign policy moves. That’s not always true. Whatever the outcome of the...
View ArticleThe Asian Balance: Policing the Indian Ocean
Doing more maritime chowkidari Excerpts from my column in Business Standard: What can we do in the short term? Now, while the Indian Navy has discharged itself admirably in escorting convoys and...
View ArticleThe Asian Balance: General Liu can shut his eyelids now
Why does China need an aircraft carrier? This is the unedited draft of my column in the Business Standard today. China’s new aircraft carrier should surprise only those who were not looking—it has...
View ArticleBurney points
Beyond the Pakistani initiatives in releasing MV Suez Other than the fact that six of its 22 sailors were Indian nationals, the MV Suez, an Egyptian-owned, Panamanian-flagged ship, was more about...
View ArticleWhy we need a policy on overseas military deployments
Knee-jerkism is dangerous Manu Pubby reports on the details of the MV Suez-PNS Babur-INS Godavari business in the Indian Express. Pictures and videos of the encounter — which have been shared with...
View ArticleWhat happened in Bali?
At the East Asia Summit at Bali ANI’s Smita Prakash was in Bali last week as part of the official Indian media delegation covering the East Asia Summit. We discuss what happened there. Tweet
View ArticleNot Italian tonight
In the case of the killing of Kerala fishermen, Italy would do well to defend its nationals in Indian courts There are two aspects to the case of the killing of Indian fishermen allegedly by persons on...
View ArticleIs China being bullied by the Philippines?
The disproportionate negotiating power of strategic proxies Today’s Asian Balance column in Business Standard. The small-country bullies China’s aggressive posturing over maritime boundaries has caused...
View ArticleWhen Italy behaved like a rogue state
Turning a legal issue into a geopolitical one has raised the stakes and hurt bilateral relations. The Italian government reneged on its commitment to the Indian Supreme Court and unilaterally refused...
View ArticleMH370 and three worrying “ifs”
Implications for India’s diplomacy, national security and civil aviation policy.: my The Asian Balance column at Business Standard. It was not until Wednesday, nearly four days after Malaysia Airlines...
View ArticleAn interception in the Arabian Sea
Dissecting the national security issues The Indian Coast Guard’s interception of a suspect vessel just inside country’s exclusive economic zone in the Arabian Sea, off the Gujarat coast quickly moved...
View ArticleAmerica defeats itself
There will be fewer takers for US promises in Asia now As promised, Donald Trump has pulled the United States out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a regional preferential trade agreement that...
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