'Wanting to see the bright side of things, we always told ourselves, 'It could have been worse!', when the situation got tough.' Air Commodore Nitin Sathe (retd), who helped rebuild the IAF's Car Nicobar air base after the 2004 tsunami, recalls the devastation on United Nations World Tsunami Awareness Day.
Not just Vietnam, but other countries in the region like Philippines, Malaysia and Thailand, have also expressed an interest in acquiring the BrahMos cruise missile. Debalina Ghoshal explains the significance of the move.
Air search operations to hunt for the crashed MH370 were suspended on Tuesday due to a tropical cyclone heading south over the Indian Ocean, as a robotic mini-submarine neared completion of its underwater search with no sign of wreckage.
China on Tuesday ruled out involvement of its nationals on board the missing aircraft in a hijack attempt, but launched search operation on its own territory in Tibet and Xinjiang after inputs that the Malaysian plane might have flown to Central Asia through the northern corridor.
A leading US daily describing nuclear-armed Pakistan as "unquestionably the biggest concern" to stability in South Asia.
Democrat Senator Mark Warner and his Republican colleague in the Senate Dan Sullivan, during a programme in Washington asserted that the erstwhile Obama administration and the US Congress designating India as a major defence partner is a significant step forward in taking the India-US relationship to the next level.
'The military aim in a future conflict, if it can't be avoided, should be to cause maximum damage to the adversary's war waging capability and capture limited amount of territory as a bargaining counter,' says Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd).
China's behaviour in the post-pandemic geopolitical landscape which may determine the Quad's future trajectory, notes former foreign secretary Shyam Saran.
'At present there might be at least 500 Indians stuck in Iran for various reasons and we have no idea when they will come back.'
'The missile mounted near Kailash-Mansarovar is called DF-21. It is a medium-range, 2,200 kilometres ballistic missile. Its advantage is that it can cover all cities of north India, including New Delhi'
Violence erupted on Monday following which police imposed curfew in the Theldeniya area.
The two Indian cities were chosen among 331 applications from cities around the world for 100RC network, pioneered by the Rockefeller Foundation, New York.
When a Chinese warship entered Japanese waters, the Indian commander called on China to maintain discipline at sea. Dr Rajaram Panda explains the significance of the Malabar exercises between India, Japan and the US.
"We often thought of terrorism as a peripheral problem for this region. The barbaric terrorist strikes in Paris, Ankara, Beirut, Mali and on the Russian aircraft is a stark reminder that its shadow stretches across our societies and our world, both in recruitment and choice of targets," Modi said in his remarks at the East Asia Summit.
Amid China's growing assertiveness in South China Sea, India, Japan and the US at their first ever trilateral ministerial dialogue in New York.
'China's excessive military aid to Pakistan is the real elephant in the room as far as Sino-Indian relations are concerned. India should be confident enough to accept a degree of closeness between China and Pakistan, since China may wish to use this link for its foray into the Muslim world.' 'But the Chinese must be realistic enough to know that as time passes, the tactic of using Pakistan as a proxy to check India will yield diminishing returns. The US tried it for 60 years but failed, so will China,' says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
By jettisoning the vision of multilateral world in favour of a Han Empire, China has posed a major long term challenge to India. India must stand firm against Chinese expansionism but also keep a door open for future detente by making a clear distinction between Chinese people and the current Chinese leadership, observe Lieutenant General Ashok Joshi (Retd) and Colonel Anil Athale (Retd).
Before migrating into the theatre command concept, it would be worthwhile to study the shortfalls experienced by the Tri Services Command in the Andaman and Nicobar islands and make good the deficiencies, suggests Commodore Venugopal Menon (retd).
China has taken a position of non-acceptance and non-participation on the jurisdiction by the International Court of Arbitration in a case the Philippines has brought against China's claims to nearly all of the South China Sea, Abraham Denmark, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence for East Asia, told lawmakers at a Congressional hearing.
"It's ironic that Modi visited Tokyo a few days ago and talked about China's expansionism. The key now will be to get beyond such unnecessary controversies and start afresh.'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi enjoys a close relationship with Shinzo Abe. For Abe, "a strong India is in the best interest of Japan, and a strong Japan is in the best interest of India."
If India is to follow a smart cultural diplomacy, it has unmatched advantages over both China and Pakistan, says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
All possibilities behind the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 are being looked into, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said in a press conference held on Saturday morning.
'We must be careful because China has not given its design in Eastern Ladakh.'
A list of all the foreign visits taken up by PM Narendra Modi this year and their outcomes.
DGCA considers this in wake of Malaysian tragedy; no rules to gauge mental state now.
'Once positions are hardened and troops start building defences, it is difficult for soldiers to step back.'
'India needs to learn in Kashmir how to spread development.' 'Pakistan needs to learn in Balochistan how to spread development.' 'China needs to learn in Xinjiang and Tibet.' 'And if they can show tangible benefits, there will be less terrorism.' 'No one wakes up in the morning saying 'I want to kill myself', right?'
What are the most worrisome aspects of climate change for India? Can they be solved?
'China's military is expected to deploy full throttle its new equipment including J-20 stealth fighters, drones, medium range missile systems, surveillance and others to continue to put psychological pressure on India,' warns Srikanth Kondapalli, Professor in Chinese Studies, JNU.
'Of all the areas that define the future for a strong US-India partnership, none is more important than our defence and security ties.'
He said he has always maintained that instead of fighting with each other, India and Pakistan should together fight against poverty.
We once again present a special feature on the ten worst earthquakes that had shaken the world and caused immense damage in the past 25 years.
The launch of India's Mars Orbiter Mission has been delayed by almost a week and a decision on the new date would be taken on October 22, the Indian Space Research Organisation said on Saturday. The launch window for the MOM mission was earlier slated from October 28 to November 19 and a decision on the launch date was to be taken on Saturday.
China's South China Sea build-up and 'territorial sea' construct potentially affects 55 percent of Indian trade passing through the region. Hence, coordinating with the US and Japan could provide dividends to India in the longer run,' says Srikanth Kondapalli.
Three Chinese astronauts on Thursday entered the country's new space station after their spaceship successfully docked with it, just over seven hours after the launch from the Gobi Desert, in a major milestone for the Communist giant's space exploration plans and its bid to become a leading space power.
Slated to be in India on December 8, Carter would travel to Japan, Bahrain, Israel, Italy and Great Britain before returning to the US on December 16. This is for the first time that an outgoing American Defence Secretary has included India in his itinerary for the final overseas trip.
There's still little indication of forward movement in Indo-US defence relations.
'There is no parallel in UN history of an individual terrorist being bailed out by a world power,' points out Brigadier S K Chatterji (retd).
