War is a too serious a business to be left to NCOs and Generals must be involved both at the strategic and tactical levels to ensure the moral and disciplined manifestation of a professional military.
US President Barak Obama recently signed a tougher sanctions law against Iran in a continuing bid to coerce Tehran into abandoning its nuclear programme. This Backgrounder discusses the reactions of the emerging powers to the new sanctions and their implications.
The Israeli-Palestinian peace process is so dependent on the vagaries of the US political and electoral system that any change in administration in November 2012 would certainly make or delay the implementation of the steps necessary to secure lasting peace.
The year 2011 will stand out in history as the year of the Arab Spring, when people in Northern Africa and West Asia rose up against tyranny and revolted for political emancipation.
Shamshad Ahmad Khan replies: There is no problem if India enters into any strategic agreement with these countries. In fact India has signed various “strategic partnership agreements” with major democracies of the world including the US, Japan and Australia. However, these agreements are bilateral and not multilateral.
Forging a multilateral security arrangement or pact is not on the agenda of Indian policy planners as they think that the countries outside this regional security arrangement might feel that such an arrangement may be aimed against them. This may lead to a security dilemma and will have negative implications for the regional security scenario.
The US Special Forces undertook Operation Neptune Spear nicknamed “Geronimo” to kill Osama bin Laden on May 02, 2011. The importance of this operation is momentous. In the absence of any detailed disclosure by the US administration (till date) about the conduct of this operation, except the press conference held by intelligence officials immediately after the operation, it becomes difficult to study this operation in depth. On the other hand both multiple narratives of this operation are available in electronic and print media.
Until the US figures out an answer to the larger Pakistan problem, like India it too will have to resist the temptation of responding to Pakistani provocation with force.
The US is stopping the shuttle programme by design and not for want of technology or money; nor does discontinuing the space shuttle indicate that the US has lost the space race.
In a positive movement, ISAF’s peace enforcement operation over time will have to shift to peacekeeping. Thinking through the idea of UN-SAARC hybrid peacekeeping mission now could help catalyse the peace process eventually.
US Strategic Thinking in an Era of Energy Self Sufficiency
With the United States possibly becoming self sufficient in oil and natural gas, a profound change in its strategic thinking is bound to take place.