India-US row: Voices from the streets

A Short comment on the Indo-US row over the arrest of the Indian consular officer Ms Khobragade Al Jazeera English, December 20, 2013 The recent arrest and subsequent treatment meted out to Khobragade has thrown another challenge at the India-US bilateral relationship which has been going through a trough. Given the meek nature of...

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India's Missile Modernisation and Credible Minimum Deterrence

Published in Generation Why: South Asian Voices, Stimson Center, December 5, 2013 For the complete article click here India has been modernising its missile capabilities. It has successfully flight-tested its longer range missiles like Agni-IV and Agni-V. It has also made efforts at canisterising...

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IAEA Safeguards: Evolution and Current Status

My article published in the International Journal of South Asian Studies, Vol. 6(1), Jan-June 2013, pp. 129-146. For the complete article click here This essay seeks to trace the evolution and current status of the safeguards system implemented by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). It highlights the changes safeguards have undergone...

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Nuclear Weapons and Deterrence

To read the complete article click here Agni-V Launch (Source:Wiki) In an article in the FAS Strategic Security Blog, Dr. Hans M. Kristensen has quoted various statements by scientists of the Indian Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) related to modernisation of India’s missile program to arrive at the conclusion that the...

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Indo-Pak Relations: Moving Beyond Binaries

My tuppence on Indo-Pak relations published as ISSSP Reflections To read the complete article click here Writing in the website of the IDSA, Sushant Sareen describes India’s Pakistan policy as having been reduced to single binary. The main point of debate in New Delhi about its policy towards Islamabad boils down to whether we should...

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Sino-Pak Nuclear and Missile Collaboration: Implications for India

My article on the Sino-Pak Nuclear and Missile Collaboration published in the Defence and Security Alert, Vol 5, Issue 1, October 2013, pp. 32-34. For the complete article click here Cost-benefit analysis is an intrinsic part of international relations and integral to understanding behaviour of states and the choices they make. Countries always...

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Understanding Pakistan

My review of Ian Talbot's book, in The Book Review, Vol. XXXVII, No. 10, October 2013, pp. 51-52. To read the complete review click here As a new civilian government  finds its feet following the historic transition of democratic power in Pakistan, it is important to carry out a holistic analysis of the multiple crises plaguing Pakistan....

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Tel Aviv and Pretoria’s Nuclear Tango

My article published in the journal International Politics, Vol. 4, No. VIII, Summer & Autumn 2011, Tehran, pp. 21-39. For the complete article (in pdf) click here South Africa's prime minister John Vorster (second from right) is feted by Israel's prime minister Yitzhak Rabin (right) and Menachem Begin (left) and Moshe Dayan during his...

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India-Pak CBMs and Cricket: Duck, Six or Somewhere in Between?

My article (co-authored with Aryaman Bhatnagar) published in Generation Why: South Asian Voices, Stimson Center, Washington DC, August 30, 2013 http://southasianvoices.org/india-pak-cbms-and-cricket-duck-six-or-somewhere-in-between/ A simple search will throw up several definitions of Confidence Building Measures (CBMs). Given deep suspicions...

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Telegraph India quotes me on the current situation in Syria

Charu Sudan Kasturi of the Telegraph (Calcutta) has quoted me in a story on the Syrian crisis and implications for India in today's paper. “It is not in our interests to support unilateral operations,” Arun Vishwanathan, a former assistant director at India’s National Security Council said. “But I think the opposition will disappear if UN inspectors find evidence of chemical weapons use by the...

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Nuclear Signals in South Asia

My article titled "Nuclear Signals in South Asia" published in the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, August 9, 2013 available at http://www.thebulletin.org/nuclear-signals-south-asia India, Pakistan, and China have been dancing a nuclear tango of late, taking steps that have serious implications for the entire region. The countries need to engage...

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Hatf-IX/ NASR - Pakistan’s Tactical Nuclear Weapon: Implications for Indo-Pak deterrence

Rajaram Nagappa, Arun Vishwanathan, Aditi Malhotra, Hatf-IX/ NASR - Pakistan’s Tactical Nuclear Weapon: Implications for Indo-Pak deterrence, NIAS Report R17-13, Bangalore: National Institute of Advanced Studies, July 2013, ISBN: 978-81-87663-79-9. The full text of the report is available here On April 19, 2011 Pakistan conducted the first test...

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Aftermath of a Nuclear Attack: A Case Study of Post-strike Operations

My review of Anil Chauhan's book Aftermath of a Nuclear Attack: A Case Study of Post-strike Operations published in India Quarterly: A Journal of International Affairs, Vol. 69, 2, June 2013, pp. 200-202. Speaking of the aftermath of a nuclear exchange, Soviet leader Nikita Krushchev is believed to have said, ‘The living will envy the dead.’ This...

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Comments on Troubling Tehran: Reflections on Geopolitics

Below are some comments made by various individuals on my book Troubling Tehran: Reflections on Geopolitics (co-edited with Rajaram Nagappa). The book is published by Pentagon Press and can be purchased at Flipkart and Bookadda apart from regular brick and mortar bookstores. Former NSA and current Governor of West Bengal, Mr. MK Narayanan made the following comment after reading my book (co-edited...

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Website of International Strategic and Security Studies Programme (ISSSP), NIAS, Bangalore

The International Strategic and Security Studies Programme (ISSSP), National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore has a new website. The website contains all our reports and books as well as other details about the ISSSP. The website can be accessed at <http://isssp.in/> Home page of ISSSP's website <http://isssp.in/> About the...

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Reviews of the book Troubling Tehran: Reflections on Geopolitics

Dr. Suba Chandran (Director, Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, New Delhi) and Dr. Manpreet Sethi (ICSSR Senior Fellow, Centre for Air Power Studies, New Delhi) have written reviews of my book, Troubling Tehran: Reflections on Geopolitics co-edited with Rajaram Nagappa. Dr. Suba Chandran writes: (to read the complete review click here) Though...

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IPCS Special Commentary: Carnegie 2013 Nuclear Policy Conference

The Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, New Delhi has published my article on the important debates at the 2013 Carnegie International Nuclear Policy Conference, Washington DC, April 8-9, 2013 as a Special Commentary Copyright: Carnegie Endowment Website In the midst of the ‘proliferation’ of cherry blossoms in Washington DC, the 2013 Carnegie...

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Troubling Tehran: Reflections on Geopolitics

The picture alongside is the cover image of my book Troubling Tehran: Reflections on Geopolitics which I have co-edited with Prof. Rajaram Nagappa. The book is being published by Pentagon Press. It will be out on the stands in the next few weeks. What is the best approach for resolving differences over the Iranian nuclear programme and...

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Storming the world stage: the story of Lashkar-e-Taiba

My review of Stephen Tankel's book Storming the World Stage: The Story of Lashkar-e-Taiba has been published by Contemporary South Asia, Vol. 21, No. 3, 2013, pp. 83-84. Stephen Tankel's book, Storming the world stage, is a tour de force on the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT or Lashkar). LeT is one of most capable militant groups that has carried out acts...

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Interweaving Narratives

Review of  Alice Lyman Miller and Richard Wich, Becoming Asia: Change and Continuity in Asian International Relations since World War II, Foundation Books, New Delhi, 2012, pp. xiv+314, Rs. 995.00 published in The Book Review, Vol XXXVII, No. 2-3, SAARC Special Issue, February-March 2013, 62-63. Alice Lyman Miller and Richard Wich both of...

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