With the Rafale fighter deal stuck over price negotiations, can the prime minister step in and find a way out for both countries?
Is North Korea really dismantling its nuclear programme? Rajaram Panda explains the many challenges to denuclearise the Korean Peninsula.
'Make in India' will be central to Mr Modi's visit to Europe and Canada. It is difficult to predict what will happen with the Rafale deal, but if it goes through, it will undoubtedly become the 'Mother' of all 'Make in India' projects,' says Claude Arpi.
Dr Kalam, the scientist with the poet's heart, started the journey of his life from a small town in Tamil Nadu.
'Overlying his idealism was a hatred of war and of all things military. He gave no deep thought to politico-military matters and this prevented him from making sound security decisions.'
'Modi's visit is path breaking in the sense that India has come out of the closet and is prepared to deal with Israel openly and in a host of fields, military as well as civilian,' says P R Kumaraswamy, one of India's leading experts on the Middle-East, currently in Israel.
'The most unfortunate part is that after precipitating the crisis situation on Tuesday, the government ducked and took help from Saudi Arabia and the UAE to 'de-escalate' the situation.' 'Make no mistake, this fateful move has grave implications.' 'You don't take help from the wolf to guard the sheep, right?' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The government has already withdrawn the RFP for heavy weight torpedoes for Socrpene submarines which was won by WASS, a Finmeccanica subsidiary, during the United Progressive Alliance regime. The government is now working out the alternatives.
Nitin Gokhale, national security expert and founder BharatShakti.in, tells us what the controversy is all about.
With 2016 officially behind us, let's look forward and speculate about the events, people and issues that will shape 2017.
ISRO has an opportunity to be the one-stop shop for satellite manufacturing, and Alpha Design is just the booster it needed.
Donald Trump on Wednesday started his maiden visit to Beijing with both sides inking deals worth $9 billion.
'What should worry India and which needs to be expressed is Russia's simultaneous proximity to both China and Pakistan from a strategic angle. That hasn't happened ever before,' says Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain (retd).
The US needs to find global support, especially from Russia and China, to make North Korea back down, says Claude Smadja.
Donald Trump delivered his maiden State Of The Union address, an annual message presented by the United States President to a joint session of the congress. Trump's State of the Union address was originally slated to last an hour, but the president went substantially longer. The longest SOTU address was Bill Clinton's 2000 speech, which lasted 1 hour, 28 minutes, 49 seconds.
India on Thursday secured Mexico's backing in its bid to become member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group as it aggressively scouted for support ahead of a crucial meeting of the 48-nation nuclear trading bloc in Vienna.
Iran has supplied Iraq with fighter jets to help it counter the belligerent offensive by Islamist militants who have taken over large swathes of territory, a media report said in London.
'It is in electronics that the gap between where we are and where we need to be is most obvious and most persistent.' 'It is not only a national security issue, but also a commercial issue,' argues Rajeev Srinivasan.
'India-US defence pacts are seen by many analysts as a subtle move to jointly contain China's growing militarism, especially in the strategic Indian Ocean Region.'
India must present its demands of America confidently, instead of fearing that its pocket will somehow be picked, says Ajai Shukla.
'Imagine a scenario where a terror strike by Pakistan-supported jihadis causes thousands of deaths in India. India in retaliation destroys terror camps in Pakistan occupied Kashmir.' 'There is a clamour for revenge in Pakistan and that country begins to fuel its missiles for a nuclear strike against India and that is detected by Indian satellites.' 'No sane government in India will then wait for the nuclear bombs to fall on Delhi before launching its own strike. To be effective, this may well involve nuclear weapons.' Colonel Anil A Athale (retd) says the change in the 'No First Use' pledge in the BJP manifesto is long overdue.
'The range of purchases throw a light on India's threat perception as also its perceived role of being a stabilising influence in the region,' says Brigadier S K Chatterji (retd).
Sound of explosions broke the 72-hour lull in Gaza on Friday after Hamas refused to extend the ceasefire and fired a barrage of rockets at Israel which responded by air strikes killing a child, as Egypt-mediated talks to negotiate a durable truce hit a deadlock.
'National unity and acceptance of cultural diversity was never more important than now when the world enters an unstable and dangerous phase.'
There is considerable discomfort within the defence ministry about the Rafale deal.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be reciprocating the reception he received from the Israeli PM during his visit last July, report Archis Mohan & PTI.
The External Affairs Ministry on Thursday discarded the article titled 'India's embarrassing North Korean connection' by Nilanjana Bhowmick in Al Jazeera, a Doha-based broadcaster, saying the insinuation regarding New Delhi's assistance to North Korea in United Nations proscribed activities is 'baseless and without any merit.'
We get tangled up in our own crooked web on purchases, and the murky arms bazaar knows it, says Shekhar Gupta.
The chaos on its stock markets, a fierce battle between the old and new guard in the Communist Party and the restive border provinces of Tibet and Xinjiang forebode tough times ahead for China, says Claude Arpi.
Donald Trump, Hardik Patel, Kangana Ranuat... The year 2017 wouldn't have been the same if it weren't for these personalities and many more. As we herald in 2018, here's a look at the faces and stories which left an indelible mark on us.
Israeli jets on Tuesday hit over 100 targets in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, killing at least 17 people, as the army mobilised 40,000 reservists to prepare for a "strong" ground offensive and warned the Palestinian group to be ready to pay a heavy price for its rocket attacks.
'Modi and Abe are working seriously for India-Japan bonhomie to grow stronger.' 'It is a win-win situation for both countries and the future look promising,' says Rajaram Panda, the Indian Council for Cultural Relations India Chair Visiting Professor at Reitaku University, Japan.
"What I said was if we had Rafale at the time (of aerial dogfight), then none of our fighter jets would have gone down and none of theirs saved," he added.
Let these thought-provoking quotes by famous teachers from across the world inspire you.
'The government has belied the hope that many harboured of change, efficiency and dismantling old practices as the defence ministry continues to pursue the same well trodden and wasteful path.'
To provide more active support to African countries fighting the Nigerian Islamist militant group.
'The men in black suits and hair dye in Beijing have not only completely blown the cover story of "peaceful rise," but have managed to antagonise regional powers in the Indo-Pacific.'
Making nuclear exemptions for India, says Senator Edward Markey, 'only infuriates Pakistan and leads them to further increase their own nuclear capacities.'
No one really knows what proportion of the nation's wealth and income are available for defence
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