'It is time we Indians stop our internal bickering and present a united front to Chinese machinations,' advises Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said some countries still use terrorism as "an instrument of state policy" and the world must act against radicalisation without any political consideration
'More than anything else, it is pragmatism that is working out in Jammu and Kashmir. It is not a question of convenience, but getting together and understanding that no other better option can work.' 'The very fact that it has taken two months of hard negotiations obviously means that they have taken a very mature approach. This shows the seriousness of intent and statesman-like qualities that they both have displayed.'
'We have leaders who would rather that we cohabit with the Indian Mujahedeen than fight terror, as long as the payoffs are there in the next polls... Obviously, we are not headed down the best route to keep terror at bay,' says Brigadier S K Chatterji (retd).
A 'soft' approach must be nurtured to complement the hard-line of spending billions in physical conflict; that is the only way to 'degrade and destroy' ISIS.
There is a vocal constituency of educated, well-to-do, articulate Indian elites who would rather go with the idea that too much democracy is a liability. That India needs a spell of benevolent dictatorship. Of course, they have never lived under one, points out Shekhar Gupta.
Would Ukraine be such a pushover if it had that nuclear stockpile?' asks Shekhar Gupta.
The broader markets underperformed benchmark indices as the BSE Mid-cap and Small-cap tumbled over 2%.
Amid escalation in violence in a number of Gulf countries, India on Thursday expressed deep concern over the rise of fanaticism, extremism and terrorism in parts of the Arab region, saying they are tearing apart the fabric of societies as well as affecting regional stability.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will make its bi-monthly policy announcement next week. The macroeconomic backdrop to this event is perhaps the most reassuring in the past several quarters.
'Like General Patton, possibly the greatest exponent of the art of war, Vajpayee had the ability to be always on the offensive,' assesses Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
The entire gamut of China's activities is aimed at keeping India on tenterhooks, cause fatigue to its troops and keeping its security system unstable, so that it cannot play a meaningful role in international geopolitics as an effective partner of the US and Japan, observes Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain (retd).
The Al Qaeda, the Islamic State or Daesh, as it is also called, will continue to exploit the fault lines and the many contradictions in the approaches of different countries, says Hardeep Puri.
A new version of jihad is attracting "small but steady stream" of Indians to join Islamic State movement in Syria, Former National Security Advisor M K Narayanan has warned.
New Delhi can strengthen its leverage by having better relations with the two than they have with each other.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi asserted that the BJP has emerged as the "third force" in Kerala that will replace the two fronts in the next year's assembly elections.
'Imagine China pursuing its aims in Jammu and Kashmir by using Pakistani and now Afghan proxies.'
Low fuel prices to help oil marketing and refining sectors but upstream players will stay under pressure.
India's economic growth is expected to improve to 6.3 per cent in 2016 with the country leading economic recovery in South Asia, according to a United Nations report.
'Offensive operations to capture objectives across the LoC to eliminate terrorist launch pads and deny the use of the most dangerous routes of infiltration, are likely to be limited to brigade-level attacks.' 'These limited operations are unlikely to escalate to war across the international boundary,' says Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd).
It is easy to foretell that negotiating a comprehensive and final agreement on the Iran nuclear issue is by no means an easy task. It involves hard negotiations, but the hardest step has been taken, says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar, who was among the first group of foreigners to visit the the top-secret Arak plant hidden behind barren mountains south of Tehran.
Asserting that there are terror groups that are instruments of state's policy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said terrorism uses diverse motivations cannot be justified.
'By annoying the Arabs and cozying up to Iran, Pakistan may end up losing Arab economic support, annoying the Americans and increase Shia-Sunni tensions domestically,' Colonel Anil A Athale (retd) points out.
'The curtain is coming down on India's leadership role as a regional power even before the drama of the Asian Century truly began,' warns Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
For the world and India, one of the most enduring challenges of the times is for Pakistan's nukes to be neutralised, before they are ever used by the State, their sponsored non-State actors or any rogue elements from the many terror tanzeems dotting Pakistan's unstable landscape, says Lieutenant General Kamal Davar (retd).
On the second leg of his trip to Central Asia, Narendra Modi makes quite an impression in Astana, as he talks about terror and trade, films and the future
'Washington senses that the anchor sheet of India's strategic autonomy lies in its longstanding partnership with Russia, which remains firm and immutable despite the changes in world politics in the post-Cold War era,' notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.<
Pakistan's plan to execute 500 militants who have been given death sentences is deeply disturbing and would do nothing to protect civilians from the conflict with Taliban, a leading rights group has said.
The long-term growth perspective or potential for India is one of the highest in the Asia Pacific region.
CPI inflation has declined by almost a percentage point from July, from close to eight per cent to just above seven per cent.
'India alone cannot walk the path of peace. It also has to be Pakistan's journey to make,' says Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the government's geo-political flagship initiative "Raisina Dialogue-II".
Trump said that the US will defeat its enemies with the full force of American might.
The two countries also decided to expand trade and commercial ties holding that there are opportunities to exploit untapped economic potential in the two countries.
'The travesty of recent Indian strategic thought is it emerges not from our brains, but from whatever part of the anatomy that secretes the prickliest hormones,' says Shekhar Gupta.
'Some Indians take the extreme view that everything was known to our ancients, but others go to the opposite extreme and consider everything Indian was superstition and rubbish.' 'Indian science was perhaps more rational than the European science of the time.'
'Notwithstanding the realisation among the Indian leadership to build up its navy for the force's expanding role, the Indian Navy was allocated only 15% of the interim defence budget presented in Parliament in February 2019.' 'The outlay for the navy's capital acquisition is not even adequate to meet its committed liabilities,' points out Brigadier S K Chatterji (retd).
'The events of 2020 have actually put our relationship under exceptional stress.' What External Affairs Minister Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar told the All India Conference of China Studies on Thursday, January 28, 2021.
During Sandeep Patil's four-year tenure as chief selector, India continued to be dominant at home in Tests but struggled to win an away series outside Asia, except for the West Indies, as it suffered series losses in England, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
'That is important for Modi politically when he launches a do-or-die campaign seeking a renewed mandate in the 2019 poll,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Coming down heavily on Pakistan, President Pranab Mukherjee has said unless it dismantles the terror infrastructure on its soil, there is no scope for progress in talks between the two countries.
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