Action against Abu Jundal does not mean a dilution of Pakistan's geo-strategic importance for Saudi Arabia. Pakistan continues to be as important to Saudi Arabia as before, says B Raman
The most significant aspect of the elections to the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly the results for which were announced on March 6, was not even the rout of the Congress Party, but the humiliation suffered by Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi in what has been described as their pocket boroughs of Rae Bareli and Amethi, says B Raman
The ISI and the LeT will be determined to demonstrate that the action of Saudi Arabia, in deporting Abu Jundal, will not weaken their anti-India motivation by orchestrating a fresh terrorist strike against India, says B Raman.
Unless we take into account the vulnerabilities of China in shaping our policy, we may end up being over-focussed on traditional military aspects and under-focussed on non-traditional aspects of internal frictions and fragilities in China, cautions B Raman
The anger and the hurt caused by the military action in the Golden Temple in 1984 continue to linger, says senior analyst B Raman.
Of all the chief ministers who have protested against the proposed creation of the National Counter-Terrorism Centre in the Intelligence Bureau of the government of India with effect from March 1, 2012 without consulting the state governments, only J Jayalalithaa, the chief minister of Tamil Nadu, has got it right, says B Raman.
From the Israel embassy car blast in New Delhi, which injured a diplomat's wife along with three others, counter-terror agencies have a few lessons to learn. Most importantly, security experts need to devise new procedures to protect terror targets that do not enjoy VIP protection, says B Raman.
By creating a multiplicity of organisations having powers to arrest and by giving these powers to the NCTC which will work under the director, IB, we will be taking an unwise step which could further politicise our handling of counter-terrorism, says B Raman.
Hu Jintao is keen to have the proceedings against Bo Xilai, the party boss of the southwestern metropolis of Chongqing, completed before handing over as the general secretary of the Communist Party of China to his expected successor Xi Jinping, notes B Raman.
Dr Singh has less than two years left in office. He can still salvage his reputation and that of his government and party. The need of the hour is not only for better leadership and governance, but also for a greater role for GenNext in policy and decision making and implementation, writes B Raman
B Raman chalks out three possible outcomes if the trial against Pakistan Prime Minister Yusuf Raza, on the charge of contempt of court, goes ahead as expected
The Al Qaeda and Taliban are unclear whether it would be in their interest to work for the defeat of Obama by stepping up acts of terrorism, says B Raman.
The Gujarat chief minister's future should be decided by the people not on the basis of recycled unproven allegations, but on the basis of what he has achieved as an administrator, his ideas and vision for the future, and his capability to achieve them, says B Raman.
The Gujarat chief minister's future should be decided by the people not on the basis of recycled unproven allegations, but on the basis of what he has achieved as an administrator, his ideas and vision for the future and his capability to achieve them, says B Raman.
Are the developments in Maldives similar to the politicisation of the Pakistan Army in the 1950s and the Bangladesh Army in the 1970s? That should be a question of concern to India, says security expert B Raman.
The Indian government appears to have been caught napping in the Maldives on two counts, says security expert B Raman.
The debate has been between a group of classical thinkers and a new generation of thinkers who perceive themselves to be forward-looking and visionary, writes B Raman
B Raman decodes the complicated chain of accusations, denials and public avowals of friendship that characterises the relationship between the United States and Pakistan
The Maldivian Democratic Party has claimed that Mohammad Nasheed was forced to resign as president by the military, which threatened a bloodbath in the capital if he did not step down. B Raman reports
Prime Manmohan Singh needs to clarify to both the coalition as well as the Opposition that if they do not cooperate he not hesitate to go for premature elections, says B Raman.
If there is another military conflict between India and China, it is not going to be a replication of the 1962 war, warns B Raman
If Indian concerns are not understood and appreciated by China, and if attempts are not made to address them, the relations could take a turn for the worse in the medium and long-term, says strategic expert B Raman.
While Tibetans outside the TAR continue to defy the Chinese authorities, Tibetans of TAR, who were subjected to brutal suppression after the violent incidents of 2008, have continued to remain subdued, says B Raman
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh must offer Myanmar help to increase the power supply in the country, says B Raman.
After the Afghan and Pakistani Talibans, the LeT and the LeJ, the most capable and lethal terrorist organisation today is the Al Qaeda of Arabian Peninsula, says B Raman
The anxiety not to undertake any operation from the Indian side that might trigger off panic reactions by Pakistan against India continues to be an important element in US covert action planning in this region, says B Raman.
During the last one year, there has been an increasingly negative projection of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh partly due to his bad style of leadership at a time of cascading crises and partly due to the lack of interactions between the media and the prime minister or senior officials of his office, notes B Raman.
The government of India has a moral responsibility for working towards a consensus for the return of Kashmiri Pandits to their homeland, says B Raman
The involvement of some Hindutva top-guns in the 2002 massacre and the fact that the massacre took place under Narendra Modi's watch are bound to add to the feelings of disquiet about his acceptability as a pan-Indian and all-communities leader in other parts of India where emotional attachment to Modi does not play the same role as in Gujarat, notes B Raman.
US troops after 10 years in Afghanistan are in the same position as the Soviet troops after eight years were in 1987 --victory increasingly elusive, says B Raman.
Besides creating political embarrassment, the leak of cables visibly containing informal State-to State coversations by WikiLeaks could see the drying-up of interactions at the foreign office and intelligence agencies levels, writes B Raman
We saw the best of the Mumbai police commissioner from the way he handled a volatile situation. Will we see the best of him again from the way he pursues the cases against the rioters, asks B Raman.
China having no reservation over the inclusion of heads of governments of POK and Gilgit-Baltistan in Zardari's delegation underlines once again that the Chinese no longer considers POK and GB as disputed territory, says B Raman.
In the psyjihad directed against the people from north-east, one sees the beginning of an insidious attempt to re-create the mental divide and drive a new wedge, says B Raman
In our euphoria over the successful Agni V test, we should not lose sight of the continuing gaps in tactical capabilities and the need to close them, writes B Raman
The partisan political games being played by Indian investigative agencies seem to have boomeranged, observes B Raman
The US is unwittingly proving to the North Korean leadership that its experimentation with transparency was unwise, says B Raman
Developments in the disgraced party official Bo Xilai case have engulfed China's top leadership. Was Bo's ouster part of a well-planned conspiracy? Security expert B Raman takes a look at the intriguing incident.
A better option will be a nation-wide campaign by Team Anna to convert what has remained an elitist middle class movement into a mass movement of the people based on three slogans: "Say No To Bribe", "Bring in Jan Lokpal" and "Free the CBI From Govt Clutches", notes B Raman.
In the light of Wednesday's four low-intensity blasts in Pune, there is a need for a co-ordinated revisit to reports being received from time to time since 2002 on the city being a major attraction for terrorist elements -- indigenous as well as foreign, notes B Raman.
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