IDSA ISSUE BRIEFS

Russian Military Reforms: An Evaluation

The military sector reform is a top priority for Vladimir Putin, who believes that these reforms will go a long way in achieving Russia’s military and comprehensive national power objectives. The on-going military reforms have come a long way since they were first introduced in 2008. Most of the structural reforms have already been implemented. The material reforms, which are necessary to ensure that the structural reforms deliver, are progressing well, notwithstanding difficulties such as corruption, availability of limited resources, and recession.

May 23, 2013

India and NSG: Approaches to Indian membership

India’s admission to the NSG has, as on the previous times when the India-US Nuclear Deal and the NSG exemption of 2008 were under discussion, caused many of those opposed to the Indian nuclear programme to come out with various policy suggestions on how to get India to agree on additional conditionalities. In addition there is a move by many to use the Indian admission for membership as a means to legitimize the illegitimate nuclear commerce between China and Pakistan. All these are predicated on the assumption that India is desperate to join the NSG. India should reject any move by the nonproliferation lobby to devise a criterion-based admission procedure.

May 23, 2013

Daulat Beg Oldie Standoff: An Assessment

The culmination of the unprovoked Chinese intrusion in the Depsang Sector of Ladakh is a breather and a warning to India. It is a breather because it saves the country the embarrassment of justifying its inaction in dealing with the intrusion. Warning because, it gives yet another chance to set right the existing short comings in border management and deficiencies in the defence operational capabilities.

May 22, 2013

India and Iran Relations: Sustaining the Momentum

The recent visit by the external affairs minister can be viewed as continuation of new diplomatic push to strengthen bilateral cooperation with Iran despite the difficulties of economic sanctions imposed by the US and EU. However, the real test for both the countries is to maintain and sustain the current momentum.

May 20, 2013

Australia-China Strategic Partnership

Timely as it was, the Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s five-day China visit may be considered a success on all fronts. Leading the ‘strongest Australian delegation ever’ to China, Gillard pledged to give the relationship a ‘concrete shape’, which in Chinese Premier Li Kequing’s words, is already ‘comprehensive, constructive and cooperative’. This issue brief analyses Julia Gillard’s China visit in the context of rising Australia-China bonhomie.

May 13, 2013

A new dawn for defence production in India

Defence acquisitions are always much debated and scrutinised. The criticism ranges from a lack of direction in procurements to needles procedural complexities and from corruption in defence deals to bureaucratic apathy. The Defence Acquisition Council, chaired by the Defence Minister, has taken some bold and much needed decisions on April 20, 2013 in an attempt to address some of these issues.

May 06, 2013

Amendments to DPP-2011: An Analytical Overview

On April 20th, the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) of the Ministry of Defence announced 15 major amendments to the defence procurement and production policies, with the hope to incentivise indigenous defence manufacturing while promoting transparency and efficiency in the procurement process.

May 06, 2013

Examining the Prospects of South Korea “Going Nuclear”

In the aftermath of recent North Korean actions and threats, there has been in recent times some open debates and discussions about the prospects of South Korea “going nuclear” i.e. developing its own nuclear weapons. This brief argues that short of abrogating all its bilateral and multilateral treaties and obligations with heavy costs, the prospects of it doing so in the short/medium term are not that easy and may not be cost effective.

May 01, 2013

China-Russia Relations: Bonding but Can it Endure?

This issue brief looks at the growing China-Russia relationship in the backdrop of a volatile North East Asia and the US ‘rebalancing’ to Asia –Pacific. While China-Russia relations have not always been cordial, this time it’s a win-win for both-at least for the present.

April 18, 2013

Tibetans in China: Making Sense of a Visit and Five Appointments

The Tibetan issue is primarily a political one and less an economic one as China projects it to be. China should talk to the Tibetan diaspora and India for a final solution. That would be in the true interests of the peoples, bilateral relations and regional stability.

March 26, 2013

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