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As long as humanity has been going into space, efforts have been made to disrupt space capabilities. What is new, however, is the proliferation of counterspace capabilities beyond the Cold War superpowers, as well as the increased importance of space for many countries. This means that not only has the incentive to interrupt countries’ ability to utilise space grown, but so have the tools for responding accordingly. This brief examines what ‘

With the U.S. having shut down one of its major Space situational awareness networks, major Spacefaring powers need to make it a priority to contemplate possible solutions to track satellites and orbital debris on a continued basis.

There are genuine concerns that if steps are not taken to halt the current trend toward space weaponization, space could become an active warfighting domain.

The US’s diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics is setting the stage for the addition of another dimension to the US-China saga of widening confrontation

The events in Sri Lanka yesterday have shocked many around the world. An Easter day attack on three churches and an equal number of hotels, in such coordinated fashion, sounds surreal, even bizarre. Latest reports say over 200 people are dead and over 500 injured. It suggests the attacks were planned in meticulous fashion to inflict maximum damage. While no organization has stepped forward to take responsibility, there is speculation that this mi

The election of a new government in Colombo provides New Delhi a great opportunity to reset its relations with Sri Lanka. Both countries need to set aside the contentious past and see how they can construct a 21st century relationship based on economic ties and the awareness of the need to understand each other's security concerns.

Whether or not the Sri Lankan Army Chief, Lt-Gen Sarath Fonseka, was the intended target of the suicide-attack on the Army Headquarters in Colombo on Tuesday, 25 April 2006, the LTTE may have won the ¿psychological war¿, one more time. The death of 10 persons

Sri Lanka¿s worsening security situation under an undeclared war is most likely to persist. Both the LTTE and President Rajpakshe¿s government are violating the four-year-old ceasefire agreement, which, in fact, seldom was honoured seriously, but neither of them is in a position to formally break it and declare an open, all-out war. Both of them are under intense international pressure to desist from doing so.

By focusing excessively on 'war crimes' and issues of accountability, the international community (West) may have taken Sri Lanka away from the political negotiations for power-devolution to the Provinces, particularly the Tamil Province(s).

Tamil National Alliance (TNA) chief ministerial candidate for the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) elections in Sri Lanka, Justice C V Wigneswaran, could not have said it more candidly and categorically.

Not many in Sri Lanka, particularly on the Government side, had expected China to play evasive on the report of the panel appointed by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on issues of accountability pertaining to the end-game of 'Eelam War IV'.

'Competitive politics' in Tamil Nadu was only one element in India's vote for the US Resolution. But there has been a general sense of dissatisfaction across the State with the Sri Lankan Government's perceived unwillingness to stand by its war-time promises.

The current impasse in the peace process in Sri Lanka should worry friends of the nation, including India. Starting haltingly in the post-war months, the negotiations between the Government and the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has been deadlocked...

Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao's tour of the war-ravaged areas in the North and East of Sri Lanka has come as a perceptible first step towards the Indian Government repairing relations with the Tamil community in the island-nation.

The Centre needs to consider a short-cut into the seas for the most-affected Rameswaram fishers in particular to cut their travel time, diesel storage and the like by 8-10 hours, while going into the deep-seas. It will also be their collective responsibility to motivate, train and equip the southern coastal fishers in deep-sea fishing.

Since the BBC Channel IV film director has indicated that one purpose of the controversial film on the Sri Lankan war may have been to act in a particular way at the UNHRC session in Geneva next month, New Delhi has to be wary of efforts to influence its decision.

Sri Lanka's Northern Province Tamil Chief Minister C V Wigneswaran seems to be sending contradictory signals to India through his actions. On the one hand, he wants India to play an active role in finding a 'political solution' to the ethnic problem. On the other, he boycotted the India-funded Colombo-Jaffna railway inauguration and earlier President's invitation to be part of the delegation to India.

In a masterly stroke aimed at improving bilateral economic relations on the one hand, and job opportunities for the Tamil victims of the ethnic war, New Delhi and Colombo have agreed to set up Special Economic Zones (SEZ) for Indian engineering.

If anyone in southern Tamil Nadu, or across the Palk Strait in Sri Lanka, thought that there would be a grandiose shift in India's policy towards the southern Sri Lankan neighbour under a new, BJP dispensation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given a lie to their hopes and claims.

This year marks 75 years of India-China diplomatic relations. Despite being the first non-socialist nation to recognize China, the ties have faced ups and downs, mainly due to the boundary dispute, which led to the 1962 war.

This brief examines state responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, taking the cases of India, Israel, Brazil, Hungary and the United States. It studies the language utilised by the government leaders in these countries and finds extensive war-time semantics. The brief explores the interrelationship of such rhetoric with the legitimisation of extreme measures through the construction of an issue as an “existential threat”— a process analysts call

Delhi, India's national capital, has long been the subject of a quandary: Should it be granted full statehood, or maximum autonomy commensurate with its megalopolis status? is paper takes a tour of select national capitals to understand how other nations have arranged their governance and handled competing jurisdictions and functions. Lessons are drawn from this examination of other capitals, and recommendations are put forth towards a more sensi

Russia has long depended on migrant labour. However, the COVID-19 pandemic, the conflict in Ukraine, and a devaluing Ruble have impacted migrants economically. These developments, coupled with institutional hurdles and rising xenophobia in Russia, have pushed migrant labourers to seek alternate employment destinations. Notably, workers from countries such as Kazakhstan, Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine are swaying away from Russia, even as

The Indo-US bus, stalled since 2009, is moving again. It has new tyres, engine and a coat of paint, and its cocky new Indian driver is determined to take it in his chosen direction: not just towards a particular country but the world at large.

Time used to be when even in the post-Cold War era, where a new Russia — struggling both internally and externally to find its place in the new world without the Soviet Union — would be on Sri Lanka’s side, almost always. Not any more.

Some despatches have made out that India "after starting the war in 1984 occupies higher positions." India did not start the war in 1984, but today occupies the heights. Pakistan started the war in 1947 and has continued that in different forms since then.

Strategic clarity is often a by-product of wars and as nations count their dead, they also recognise their true friends as well as the limits of their liberal illusions about managing relationships with adversaries who see violence as perfectly legitimate instrumentality in pursuit of power and ambition.

Shared concerns over China’s growing assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific are pushing Japan and the Philippines to foster a strategic partnership, particularly in the maritime domain. This brief examines the evolving dynamics of the Tokyo-Manila strategic relationship in the context of a tenuous Indo-Pacific. It traces the evolution of Japan’s defence engagement from post-Second World War pacifism to taking on a more proactive regional security

India-Canada relations have deteriorated to unprecedented levels, fueled by accusations and retaliations over the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's handling of Sikh separatism and his political motives have worsened bilateral ties, leading to a severe trust deficit.

This paper examines India’s ‘two-front’ dilemma in view of its conflicts with China and Pakistan, and the possibility that these two adversaries could join forces. The author studies historical events that could help outline the strategies that have been undertaken by certain countries to combat the combined power of multiple adversaries, usually exceeding their own. These include the Napoleonic strategy and the Israeli experience. In analy

This brief tackles the crucial role of public diplomacy in enhancing India's global influence. It argues that India should exert effort to communicate its rich cultural heritage and economic growth story to foreign audiences, and recommends a roadmap that involves linking public diplomacy to national security, the establishment of a specialised public diplomacy agency, and creating the position of a chief public diplomat. A well-structured public

The question of municipal leadership is of great significance in urban governance in India. There are various models of the position of chief executive of an urban local body (ULB), predominantly tilting towards the ‘strong mayor’ model either through ‘presidentialisation’ of the office or through a ‘mayor-in-council’[1] system. In India, it is the ‘state appointed municipal commissioner’ model that holds sway, sitting over a popu

China's increased assertiveness in the South China Sea has been pushing Japan and Vietnam towards greater security cooperation. Bilateral security cooperation has been increasing.

This return to business as usual is reflective of the wariness on both sides to escalate the crisis further and prevent it from metastasising into a new front of conflict.

As Modi resets ties with the Maldives with Sushma Swaraj's visit, he also has an opportunity to rethink the current Nepal policy which has entered a turbulent phase in the last few weeks. Nepal's election of a new PM, K.P. Sharma Oli, is a good moment to take a fresh look at the differences between Delhi and Kathmandu.

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir's bold act of barging into the Abyei territory with his troops is a sure act of defiance and it remains to be seen to what extent this conflict can be kept from turning into a full-blown war.

While in politics, the consequences of loss tends to be temporary, the same cannot be said of in war.

The Kargil war of 1999 and Thursday morning's surgical strikes have now decisively proved that the LoC is not a focal point for India and Pakistan.

Indian announcement of having conducted surgical strikes across the de-facto border with Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir has major implications for deterrence-stability in South Asia. New Delhi has sought to devise a military strategy to respond to Pakistan’s sub-conventional war that does not lead to escalation of conflict to nuclear levels and collapse of nuclear deterrence. This paper analyses India’s surgical strikes of September 2016, thei

Your reflection published by Observer Research Foundation brings a complex view between food security, climate change, sustainable agriculture and land use. Is there awareness of this inseparable relationship?

The issue of radical Islamism remains Russia's fundamental concern in Syria. Having fought two Chechen wars, it would not want another conflict to erupt on its territory. If either the ISIS or the rebels succeed in overthrowing Assad, there is a huge likelihood of expansion of jihadist activity to the Caucasus and southern Russia.

A tech Cold War is beginning to reshape global geopolitics.

Naxalites of the People¿s War Group (PWG) and the security forces (SF) continuously devise tactics and counter-tactics to defeat one another. In a latest move, the SFs formed Counter Action Teams (CAT) to target the Permanent Action Teams (PAT) of the PWG. The tactic achieved its first success in Warangal District, Andhra Pradesh (AP). On April 11, 2004 two prominent Naxalites were hunted down by a CAT in the district, after reportedly engaging

Till now India has seen cyber-security only as a simple issue of a malware or a virus. But cyber-security is about protecting India's digital assets from cyber invaders, as India is rapidly turning into a digital society.

The findings of Working Group-III (WG-III) of the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) clearly highlight the global failure to scale-up mitigation actions to achieve the Paris Climate targets. Immediate and unprecedented action will now be needed to avoid catastrophic global warming in this century. The WG-III report details some of the policy actions needed at the global level to enable a sustai

Different states react differently to similar situations. When Israel is subjected to terrorist attacks, which is very often, the State reacts immediately and with force each time. In India, two days after Pakistan-backed terrorists kill innocent civilians in Srinagar, we send an official delegation to talk about cooperation in the war against terrorism with the sponsors of terrorism.

In the past two years, India has been working not only to Look to its eastern neighbours but to Act with them, too. Indeed, the government's 'Act East Policy' has taken positive steps towards building closer relationships with India's partners. But how different has the policy been from its predecessor, the Look East Policy? This paper examines the motivations for launching the Act East Policy and what it has accomplished so far. It also describe

Turkey, which had invested heavily in the success of Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood, was obviously agitated by the circumstances in which the Egyptian President had to go. The Turkish government had given them aid, advise and even garbage cans as a step towards improving the quality of governance.