Just like China wants Trump to lose the US presidential poll, it may want Modi to lose the Lok Sabha polls. So months before the 2024 elections, China may take possession of an important area, say one of the Char Dhams, warns Sanjeev Nayyar.
Perhaps the BJP will win the UP elections, but that will be a political win and will leave the problems on the ground from the economy to national security to disaffected farmers and minorities intact, asserts Aakar Patel.
So far, the Central Sector has never seen active hostilities, remaining peaceful even through the 1962 war. A reason for the Central Sector having remained peaceful is the towering Himalayan watershed that defines the border.
The Chinese have been objecting to the presence of Indian Navy ships in the region where it has significantly expanded its presence since 2009 through artificial islands and military presence.
'We should have seen these signals and reacted earlier.' 'We miss out on a certain strategic advantage by arriving late on the scene.'
China, the Ukraine crisis and Quad will dominate the discussions, observes Dr Rajaram Panda.
'They talk about their 2021 centenary goal, their 2035 goal, and their 2049 goal. They're accelerating. There's also been this unfortunately bashing of nationalism inside the People's Republic of China by the government'
China will flood direct flights to India with wholesale takeaways of the authentic stuff; Indian businessmen will fight for the commission and the consumers for the cuisine, predicts Sunanda K Datta-Ray.
India will upgrade Indian Air Force's Nyoma advanced landing ground in Ladakh into a full-fledged air base closer to the borders with China to deploy its top-notch fighter jets, including the Sukhois there.
The Chinese have just one commander for all the forces confronting India. Commanders of all these forces answer to one man, and one headquarter. India, on the other hand, offers a diversity of options that is a military embarrassment in the 21st century. In Arunachal and Sikkim-Bhutan, the Eastern Army Commander is in charge. In the Uttarakhand (central) sector, it will be the Central Army Commander. The Himachal-Tibet border is the domain of the Western Army Commander. And all of Kashmir and Ladakh further on, the Northern Army's. Effectively, an array of at least eight 'three-star' commanders will be arrayed against one Chinese, says Shekhar Gupta.
If Indian strategists think that the 60 billion dollars bilateral trade with China is an insurance against a Chinese surge along the borders, they are mistaken.
'As Indians, we should be claiming and celebrating 'Bhartiyata' rather than seeking commitment to beliefs which are divisive and exclusionary.'
The Pakistani military may shortly give Imran Khan the boot, substituting him with another puppet, predicts Lieutenant General Prakash Katoch (retd).
'When you look at the border -- from Ladakh to Arunachal -- which is called the Sino-Indian border, but in effect it is actually the Indo-Tibet border.' 'Since the borders are still not secure, it has resulted in transgressions in Galwan, Dokalam etc.'
The Indian Air Force is upgrading six airstrips in Arunachal Pradesh bordering China to improve its capabilities to move troops there quickly, Air Chief Marshal P V Naik said on Thursday.
Was Wang Yi'S visit intended to remind India of 1962, asks Claude Arpi?
Western Air Command chief Air Marshal N A K Browne told media-persons in New Delhi on Friday that different types of radars would be put in place along the 667-km LAC with China, the air defence of which is the WAC's responsibility. "The Air Force is keenly examining the option of special type of radars, which we call the mountain radars and we are also looking at Low Level Light Weight Radars.
In his remarks, Admiral Singh complimented his force for continuously maintaining 'peak combat-readiness' and 'high tempo' of operations over the past few months, they said.
As per the plan, each of the theatre commands will have units of the Army, the Navy and the Air Force, and all of them will work as a single entity looking after security challenges in a specified geographical territory under an operational commander.
Xi's visit to Nyingchi, bordering Arunachal Pradesh, signals China's opening of another front to India in the eastern sector, observes Srikanth Kondapalli, the leading China expert.
'There is a compulsion to look hard, decisive, and risk-taking; start something; and then conclude it in a way you can claim victory.' 'That is not such an easy option against China,' notes Shekhar Gupta.
Only he, with his tremendous political capital and personal stature, can pull it off, observes B S Raghavan, the veteran civil servant.
Nepal's border guarding force on Saturday released the Indian national who was detained for allegedly trying to snatch a weapon from one of their personnel during an altercation which sparked tension on the Indo-Nepal border along Bihar's Sitamarhi district, an official said.
Xi ordered the military to think about worst-case scenarios, scale up training and battle preparedness, promptly and effectively deal with all sorts of complex situations and resolutely safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests, state-run Xinhua news agency reported, without mentioning any specific issues that posed a threat to the country.
'China would rather tie us down; and bleed us as much as it can so that we aren't able to lift our heads to face them.'
The Indian Air Force on Saturday reopened an old air base in the mountainous Ladakh region in Jammu and Kashmir that was closed 43 years ago.An AN-32 transporter plane carrying Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief (Western Air Command) P K Barbora landed at the Dawaltbaigh Oldi air strip around 8.50 am after flying from Chandigarh.Barbora had last week said that the operationalisation of the base would demonstrate to the world that India is capable of manning such an airfield.
The seventh Tibet Work Forum was held in Beijing on August 28 and 29. Delhi should be deeply concerned, at a time India faces a precarious situation in Ladakh, because the TWF also defines China's western border policies, observes Claude Arpi.
He said the aim has been to create firewalls to deal with the cyber attacks and that the issue is being addressed in a "serious way".
'Our air force can strike them with impunity.'
The astrophotography community in India is a fast-growing one.
'India imports 70 per cent of its bulk drugs from China. Are we going to live without antibiotics?' asks Debashis Basu.
'A hotline between the Chinese and Indian military establishments is essential if the possibility of conflict is to be minimised.' 'When relations are uneasy, even minor incidents can spiral out of control,' warns former senior RA&W officer Jayadeva Ranade.
'We should not minimise the seriousness of Chinese encroachments because their perception is different.' 'Nor should we fall into the trap of accepting so-called 'buffer zones' in areas of overlapping claims. We cannot have buffer zones in our own territory,' asserts Ambassador Shyam Saran, a former foreign secretary.
Pahalgam, a tourist town in Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir and a hill station recorded a minimum temperature of -12 degree celsius folowed by Gulmarg another tourist destination in the valley recording a minimum temperate of -10 degrees celsius.
'These tactics are particularly evident in China's pursuit of its territorial and maritime claims in the South and East China Seas as well as along its border with India and Bhutan'
"Saluting your valour, 130 crore countrymen of India are standing firm with you today. Today every Indian is proud of the strength and bravery of his soldiers. They are proud of your invincibility," said PM Modi.
'As his party's Supreme Leader, Modi has led India down the wrong road by insisting on friendship with China even as its soldiers went about claiming territory,' argues Harishchandra Dighe.
The Tibetan nation still lives under the yoke of the Chinese Communist Party, and Beijing today has a guilty conscience; this creates a great uneasiness for Xi Jinping and his colleagues observes Claude Arpi.
;The world paid a heavy price for the megalomania of the Third Reich's fuehrer.' 'Will it pay a similar price for the ambitions of China's leader-for-life?' asks Amulya Ganguli.
'The BJP's all-India plans can be expected to become clearer around 2022-2023, particularly if -- as some anticipate -- the senior Congress leadership cracks, broadly as between the Nehru-Gandhi loyalists and those who may be termed 'pro-changers',' observes Arun Bhatnagar, a retired IAS officer.
