'Clearly, Washington has all but given up hope following US Acting Assistant Secretary of State Alice Wells's stormy visit to Colombo last month where she read the riot act to Sri Lankan leaders to sign the pending status of forces agreement allowing American troops to use Sri Lanka as a hub for operations in the Indian Ocean,' points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
China is now the most significant strategic concern in Washington, as in most of the world's capitals, especially the democracies. Today, strategic autonomy has acquired a sharper definition: To ward off the Chinese challenge to India's territorial integrity, sovereignty and regional stature, observes Shekhar Gupta.
Even as India battles the COVID-19 threat on a war footing, it cannot lose sight of the threat building up in Kashmir, cautions Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain (retd).
Army sources have confirmed the deaths of three jawans during their two-month long exercise.
'Tibetans will participate in future conflicts with India (in all probability, some were already present in Galwan).' 'As nobody in India would like to have a deadly fight with Tibetan soldiers and officers, the issue needs to be closely followed,' observes Claude Arpi.
"It is my first sortie in Tejas, it is a good aircraft for induction into IAF operations," Raha was quoted as saying by the aircraft maker Hindustan Aeronautics Limited.
The Indian Navy's flagship carrier, the INS Viraat will be decommissioned on March 6 after serving the nation for 30 glorious years.
"We keep hearing that Pakistan is a 'victim of terrorism'. This is the country which is an arsonist disguising itself as a fire-fighter. Pakistan nurtures terrorists in their backyard in the hope that they will only harm their neighbours," India's first secretary Sneha Dubey said in the UN General Assembly on Friday.
India has joined the list of eight countries having the capability to design and build such a system.
Disciplinary action is being taken against two officers in the shooting down of the chopper.
Denuclearising North Korea and stopping Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons are the goals of the US, said Trump.
Built at the Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd in Mumbai, the ship's construction also marks the end of the Project 15A to build Kolkata-class guided missile destroyers.
30 years ago, after India sent in troops to resolve a crisis in the Maldives, Ambassador B S Prakash was part of an Indian government team assigned to the islands to help the then president. This is what he discovered. A Must Read!
The veterans said they chose to write to the President as he is the custodian of the Constitution as well as the supreme commander of the armed forces.
The step has been taken to boost tourism in Ladakh and give people a window to appreciate the tough work done by Army jawans and engineers in extreme weather and inhospitable terrains, he said.
The drastic move on Tuesday night followed soon after police announced the transfer of a DIG, who till recently was the senior superintendent of police in Kanpur.
In 2013, India had displayed the Inter Continental Ballistic Missile Agni V during the Republic Day Parade. The chief guest at that time was Bhutanese King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck.
The Kolkata-class warship, the first of P15-B stealth destroyers, was launched by Minu Dhowan, wife of Chief of Naval Staff Admiral R K Dhowan, at Mazagaon Docks Ltd.
Sitharaman said keeping morale of forces at the highest level was among the priorities of the government.
IMAGES from the English Premier League matches played on Saturday.
Air Commodore Nitin Sathe discovers how the IAF trained Pakistani air force pilots, during the 1971 War, which led to the birth of the Bangladesh air force.
Nitin A Gokhale, Co-founder, BharatShakti.in and long-time Rediff.com contributor, remembers a most unusual politician.
''At this stage we are closer to military confrontation than at any time since 1971.' 'Given the known positions of the two governments, it will not be surprising if this happens sooner rather than later,' says Vice Admiral Premvir Das (retd).
'An expanding army, rising salaries due to the 7th pay commission, and raised pensions due to OROP are consuming money at the cost of badly needed bulletproof jackets, rifles, artillery, submarines, warships and fighter aircraft,' notes Ajai Shukla.
'The air force has treated the Tejas like a step child.' 'The Tejas has grown in capability, but the IAF has preferred foreign fighters like the Rafale.'
'A breakthrough in eastern Ladakh leading to disengagement and creation of a buffer zone will obviate the need of military deployment through the winter months ahead,' notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Union health minister Harsh Vardhan said a total of 2,51,447 persons travelling in 2,315 flights have been screened so far.
General Naravane's UAE and Saudi Arabia visits communicate India's long awaited arrival in the domain of integrated foreign policy where the diplomatic and the military domains both complement each other much more substantially, observes Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain (retd).
Asked whether the IAF can play a role in smashing terrorist training camps across the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir, he did not rule out such a possibility.
Xi ordered country's 2.3 million-strong military to be absolutely loyal to the party, to focus on how to win in wars, to pioneer reforms and innovation, to scientifically manage commanding a unit, to lead troops in accordance with the strictest standards and to take the forefront in complying with laws and regulations.
'IAF is expanding at a rapid pace'
The IAF's mainstream fighter aircraft, the Sukhoi-30MKI and Jaguar, are set to square off with their American counterparts to execute some of the most realistic manoeuvres of its kind during Exercise Red Flag over Alaska starting April 28. Here's what you need to know.
'Tehran senses that the Modi government is inexorably gravitating toward the US-Israeli-Saudi axis, jettisoning India's traditional independent Gulf policies,' notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Two lessons from the closure of the Barak investigation: be careful with investigations, and buy from the US or Russia through transparent protocols. Premvir Das examines
'Chinese experts estimate that the new US administration is 'at the crossroads of how to re-manage and control' Sino-American differences and strategic divergences and Biden's bottom line is that the US would have 'extreme competition with China, but won't allow competition to develop into conflict',' notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Over the past two decades, six of the eight army chiefs have been from the infantry and the other two from the artillery division. The appointment of either General Bakshi or General Hariz would interrupt the infantry's prolonged domination of the army command, says Ajai Shukla, a retired army officer himself.
Nitin Gokhale, national security expert and founder BharatShakti.in, tells us what the controversy is all about.
Close friend Tarun Vijay pays tribute to the four-time Goa chief minister and former defence minister who passed into the ages on Sunday.
'Our equations with China require engagement and not confrontation; its interfaces with Pakistan and with some other South Asian neighbours also add to the complexities,' says Vice Admiral Premvir Das (retd).
