Gunners Shot

Mr Wang Yi is likely to visit India. Why is he visiting India? What are the portents ahead? However before that we need to understand what is the current status of China? Only then we can come out with options available as to how to progress Sino Indian relations. Aadi and I had an interesting recap on China in this short video.   

  I came across this op-ed by Pervez Hoodbhoy in the Dawn titled Pakistan’s Donald Trump -II. When I started reading it there was a reference to the first article he had written in 2015. So I read both articles.  I found the comparison between Imran Khan and Donald Trump fascinating. Given below are excerpts from both articles.   Pakistan’s Donald Trump  (2015)   ….An American political commentator, John Dean (of Watergate fame), describes Trump as “a near perfect authoritarian leader” with a personality type that is “intimidating and bullying, faintly hedonistic, vengeful, pitiless, exploitive, manipulative, dishonest, cheat to win, highly prejudiced, mean-spirited, militant, nationalistic, tell others what they want to hear, take advantage of ‘suckers’, specialise in creating false images to sell self, may or may not be religious.”   Take away the “faintly” and this neatly fits Trump’s Pakistani counterpart, cricketer Imran Khan, who burst upon Pakistan’s...

Also Published @ Financial Express After three weeks of fighting, Russia has indicated that elements of a possible peace deal with Ukraine is close to being agreed. Ukraine has also made cautiously positive statements that it is willing to negotiate to end the war, but will not surrender or accept Russian ultimatums.  While the negotiations are obviously not easy, there is some glimmer of hope of reaching a compromise. Having said that Mr Zelensky has pleaded with the US Congress for arms and has reiterated his plea for  a no fly zone. Putin continues to describe the war in Ukraine as part of an existential clash with the United States and refuses to step off the gas pedal.  In the meanwhile, Russia  is intensifying its offensives to encircle cities and Ukraine has mounted counteroffensives in Kiev and Kherson. Fighting continues unabated. Russia , it seems is also attempting to reinforce the Ukrainian theatre with troops from the East. No one kno...

Had the honour of moderating a knowledgeable panel on the Ukraine Crisis and Lessons for India during the CASA webinar on 13 Mar22. The panel was very good and the Q&A session was interesting.     

Aadi and I had an interesting , short and crisp discussion on the threats and opportunities that India has in the current Ukrainian situation.   

Also Published @ First Post  POSER TO REDUCE DEPENDENCE ON RUSSIA,  WE MUST BE ATMANIRBHAR TO BE ATMANIRBHAR, WE MUST REDUCE DEPENDENCE ON RUSSIA THIS CHICKEN AND EGG STORY NEEDS A WAY OUT!  India is walking a geopolitical tight rope ever since it abstained thrice from voting in UN against Russian aggression. In effect,  it is being seen to be siding with Russia. The fundamental reason of our voting pattern is that we are far too dependent on Russia for weapons and their spare parts. It has affected our  strategic autonomy.  With the kind of financial sanctions in place, any future transaction with Russia will be problematic. Hence  future availability of weapons and spares from Russia is also at risk. The other aspect is that many spares for warships, aircraft and other weapons are procured not only from Russia but also from Ukraine and other erstwhile Warsaw Pact countries. With the way the conflict is progressing, this is also at risk. Spa...

Ukraine was dependent on others. From having the potential of being a strong and prosperous nation it chose to let its strengths go to seed. Its people are suffering the misery of war since it did not build up its national capabilities or prepare adequately to defend itself. Irrespective of the outcome of this conflict, Ukrainians are going to pay the wages of neglect for a long time to come for not striving for their version of Atmanirbharta.   While India is a relatively stronger nation as compared to Ukraine, it is still dependent on others. We are energy dependent. We are not self-sufficient in defense equipment. We are not independent in the technologies which we need to make our nation great. These three factors have come sharply into focus in the current Russo Ukrainian conflict. This has impacted our ability to take a stand and act as per our national interests. We are walking a tightrope between our long-time friendship with Russia and our newfound friendship with USA in a...