Dr S. Samuel C. Rajiv is Associate Fellow at the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi. Click here for detailed profile
In Bargaining on Nuclear Tests, Rabinowitz examines aspects relating to the US entering into informal deals with Israel, South Africa and Pakistan in order to prevent them from testing nuclear weapons. These informal understandings turned a ‘blind eye’ to these countries’ nuclear quests as long as they did not test. The testing of nuclear weapons was seen as overtly harming American non-proliferation goals and potentially embarrassing the US administrations, given that these were America’s Cold War allies.
The Modi’s government determination to adopt a muscular stance on national security and its commitment to expedite defence modernisation are likely to translate into greater political and defence engagement with Israel.
Illuminated by the work of strategic classics, Thomas Kane shows that the link between military power and political goals has always been complex and continues to be so. This is because the use of armed force to achieve political objectives (the essence of military strategy) is fraught with serious consequences for nation-states and for the people inhabiting them. Many perceptive minds have tried to unravel these complexities to better understand how and why societies engage in war as well as to guide future strategists to wage them more effectively.
Brigadier Feroz Hassan Khan (Retd) brings to bear the right credentialsto this six year effort under review. The career Pakistan Army officer andJohns Hopkins University graduate (1989–91), currently a faculty memberof the Naval Postgraduate School, Moneterey, California, spent the lastdecade of his 32 year service (he retired in 2001) dealing with nuclearissues in key positions.
The November 24, 2013 Joint Plan of Action between Iran and its P5+1 interlocutors is the first agreement since November 2004 that contains Iran’s acceptance of certain short-term limitations on its nuclear programme.
Prospects of a solution will hinge on the ability of the two sides to moderate their maximalist positions and the ability of the Obama administration to play the role of an ‘honest broker’.
After wining the elections, Hassan Rouhani has insisted that Iran is ‘ready to show more transparency’ over its nuclear programme, but has also affirmed that it has ‘inalienable rights’ to enrich uranium as a member of the NPT.
Yaalon’s Visit and the India-Israel Defence Relationship
The Modi’s government determination to adopt a muscular stance on national security and its commitment to expedite defence modernisation are likely to translate into greater political and defence engagement with Israel.