Publication

While Pakistan clearly seeks to maintain cordial relations with Iran, it is unlikely that it would be willing to incur the displeasure of Saudi Arabia with which it has greater economic and strategic links.

• Nazir Ahmad Mir |
• October 24, 2018 |
• IDSA Comments

Two factors explain Washington’s lack of enthusiasm for sanctioning Saudi Arabia over the Khashoggi affair despite domestic and international pressure.

• Md. Muddassir Quamar |
• October 23, 2018 |
• IDSA Comments

Riyadh committed a crime and blunder; its communication strategy, so far, has been an unmitigated disaster. MbS is facing a challenge, to put it mildly.

• K. P. Fabian |
• October 23, 2018 |
• IDSA Comments

The 19th bilateral summit has left a mixed feeling about the current state of the Indo-Russian relationship and its future prospects.

• Aleksei Zakharov |
• October 18, 2018 |
• IDSA Comments

One of the first lessons a student of international politics is introduced to is that foreign policy is a compendium of continuity and change, of static and dynamic co-existence, mired in the national interest of the nation state. In the Indian context, in particular, the first political theorist the same student studies is the realist ancient thinker Kautilya. These elementary but indispensable lessons form the basis of Shyam Saran’s riveting work, How India Sees the World: Kautilya to the 21st Century.

• Shrabana Barua |
• October-December 2018 |
• Journal of Defence Studies

To force all Rohingyas to return on the grounds of “threat to security” is against India’s humanitarian heritage. The government and its agencies are capable of sifting out Rohingya elements who might actually have links to terror organisations from the rest of the group.

• D. Padma Kumar Pillay |
• October 16, 2018 |
• IDSA Comments

Decades after the deployment of the first peacekeeping operation (PKO)—United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO)—in 1948, the United Nations (UN) cannot boast of too many successes. The continued relevance of UN PKOs has thus come under criticism. In order to determine whether UN PKOs are still relevant, it is necessary to obtain a clear understanding of the reasons/factors for their success and failure, and thereafter assess their performance.

• A.K. Bardalai |
• October-December 2018 |
• Journal of Defence Studies

This book is a major contribution towards the field of military culture, one which has had shortage of literature traditionally. While the book primarily dwells on the counter-insurgency doctrine and military culture in the United States (US) and the United Kingdom (UK), it certainly provides modular lessons for counter-insurgency operations and military organisational behaviour throughout the world. Austin Long’s analysis tries to answer a key question: why are some armies better at counter-insurgency than others?

• Vivek Mishra |
• October-December 2018 |
• Journal of Defence Studies

‘The People Next Door’ is the name of a 1968 television (TV) series made into a 1970 Hollywood movie, a 1996 TV film, a 2008 novel, again a 2016 TV film, and, in the case of the book being reviewed, a non-fiction historical book. When we spend time in observing neighbours, the act has a voyeuristic feel.

• Ghanshyam Katoch |
• October-December 2018 |
• Journal of Defence Studies

The revival of the centuries-old ‘Silk Road at Sea’ into a 21st Century Maritime Silk Road (MSR) is an integral part of China’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The Chinese White Paper on its vision for enhancing maritime cooperation broadly confirms this perception, since it considers maritime security assurance as the lynchpin of MSR initiatives. As its trade and overseas economic interests have been constantly growing, Beijing’s strategic concern about protection of these interests has magnified.

• Abhay Kumar Singh |
• October-December 2018 |
• Journal of Defence Studies