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Three quick lessons can be drawn from the recent coup attempt in Bangladesh. These are growing unrest among political and military circles against the Awami League government for its policies towards India and fundamentalism;

India's military leadership should look to Nepal to understand how insurgencies can be peacefully terminated instead of just looking for more potent ways of neutralising separatists.

In the backdrop of President George Bush's forthcoming visit next month and India's closer integration with the global economy, we need to start paying greater attention to the US economy, which has effectively functioned as the sole engine powering the global economy for the past decade and a half.

Could the private talent, which has demonstrated private success, be institutionalised for achieving similar success in global public affairs? This rhetorical question merits consideration because the governance record of multilateral institutions has been pretty lacklustre, particularly in matters related to global commons.

Lashkar-e-Tayyeba is more than likely to spearhead a reprisal attack to avenge the killing of its mentor and patron, al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden. The group will extend its focus to western targets, specially the US, in the days ahead.

India spends over Rs 400,000 crores every year on schemes, projects and programmes broadly falling within the category of social welfare. Embedding appropriate technology in social welfare programmes can give poor Indians a real chance of empowerment.

World over, uncontrolled fiscal stimulus had got a new legitimacy. And now everyone is standing on the edge of a fiscal cliff. The finance minister seems to have the full support of the UPA chairperson to cut wasteful spending this time around.

Even if the Centre's Rafale deal for the two squadrons comes through, it will only temporarily arrest the decline of squadrons for the IAF. The long-term answer may just lie in the home-grown Advanced Multi-role Combat Aircraft, being developed by the Aeronautical Development Agency , Bangalore.

The visit of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to India this week, so early in the Modi innings, is a good sign as both leaderships seem anxious to be able to better deal with the many challenges ahead. Clearly, China is challenging other major powers for a role in India at a time when its economy needs to grow at 10 per cent to recover from three years of economic slowdown.

The growing vulnerability of the elderly is evident from National Crime Record Bureau's recent move to tabulate data on crimes against senior citizens, beginning from 2014. Predictably, big cities have been found to be the most unsafe for them, with Delhi topping the list.

Lashkar-e-Tayyeba is rapidly expanding its presence and influence in the social media networks. The group is using these networks to recruit tech-savvy younger generation not only from Pakistan but also from the Pakistani diaspora.

Lashkar-e-Tayyeba, the terrorist group behind the Mumbai 2008 attacks and operating from Pakistan, is likely to continue with its terror campaign against the security forces in India, according to a study on LeT done by Dr Subrahmanian and his team at the University of Maryland.

China's Blue Book sees the US as a pivot to Asia and strengthening of alliances in the region is viewed by the Chinese analyst as being directed to contain China. The Blue Book also notes that India's defence cooperation with the US, Japan, Vietnam and Australia has strengthened it. India has to act with maturity while dealing with the resurgent China.

Can China be meaningfully engaged on issues like the border or the boundary? The answer is a resounding 'no'. The Chinese leadership structure is in flux. All the meaningful rapprochements and border resolutions were carried out either in the Mao or the Deng era. Since then, China's leaders have been too weak and fearful of internal coups to move forward in a meaningful way.

With the Gaddafi regime in Libya becoming history, great care must now be taken to prevent the prospects of a dark, chaotic future being realised in the oil-rich North African country. If the wealth is used to create infrastructure, facilities and economic opportunities, then Libya can look forward to a stable and prosperous future.

While India's abstention at the UN vote on Libya is debatable, is there an opportunity for India and the Indian Air Force in particular in the Libyan crisis?

A year after India abstained in the Libya vote, it's clear that India's decision to step aside gained it little, and may have done significant damage to its international standing. If Delhi is to meet its aspirations of becoming a significant regional, let alone global, player, then it needs to think more carefully about the message its positions send.

Since the overthrow of the regime of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, Libya has been plagued by violence and instability. Internecine fighting for power seems be the new norm in Libya, and the country has gradually slipped into a quagmire of civil war.

It was the latest carnage by the Islamic State (IS) that finally brought Libya to world attention. Largely unnoticed, this ruthless predator had created space for itself in Libya in the New Year.

If Eastern Libya goes out of Tripoli's control, the Western half of the country will be left with two-thirds of the country's population and without oil revenue. In such a predicament, any regime in Western Libya will become a failed state, l spawning disorder in the entire region.

A few weeks ago the media were running out of print space and airtime covering the Rahul Mahajan story. Rahul¿s sole claim to fame is that he is the son of a slain ex-minister; his own activities made no difference to most of us then or now. Yet in the midst of innumerable health and other bulletins about this ¿celebrity¿, one of the channels had a constitutional expert voicing his opinion on the episode.

The United States wants a higher strategic relationship with India, which does not include agreeing with Indian views on Pakistan. Our participation in the Bonn conference should bear this in mind.

In defining the term 'quality of life', there is no better way to give it a concrete shape than trekking in the woods of an alien land, traversing the streets and bylanes of its cities and staying with people whom you would otherwise never meet in your life.

Throughout the 1990s, the Anglo-US duo remained obsessed with India's nuclear plans and virtually refused any discussions on Pakistani assistance to terrorism in India. The US also did succeed in delaying our missile programme even as they equipped Pakistan with nuclear capable F-16s.

The NDA Government has launched a fresh gold monetisation scheme, but skeptics aren't convinced that this will succeed where others in the past have failed abysmally. Till the scheme is made much more lucrative and perhaps mandatory in some form, it is doubtful that this scheme will perform better than the earlier ones.

Climate change experts at a roundtable at Observer Research Foundation emphasised the need for maintaining a pragmatic attitude at the 20th Conference of the Parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change at Lima. According to them, the goal should be to set reasonable expectations that can be achieved in Paris.

Observer Research Foundation organised a closed door roundtable meeting of Indian Non-Government Experts on climate change with Amb. Antonio Garcia, Special Envoy for Climate Change, Peru.

While there are fears in both the US and China about each other on the nuclear issue, the platforms to resolve the issues and dispel hostile perceptions were limited, says Dr. Lora Saalman, Carnegie's Beijing-based Nuclear Policy Program scholar.

Clausewitz may be out of fashion and less relevant today but no one can question his evergreen noting, ¿Each age has had its own peculiar forms of war.... Each, therefore, would also keep its own theory of war¿.

The ongoing security transition is critical to the success of the peace process in Afghanistan. As part of the US 2014 plan, the NATO forces are to hand over the responsibility of security of the country to the Afghan security forces, district by district.

Media's increasing reach cannot be ignored and policymakers and policymaking has to adapt itself to this grind. Media, despite it many vices, serves as a medium for greater appraisal of government policies. But media should understand that sustained attention comes only with sustained credibility.

According to the Delhi Police, Haroon Rashid, an Indian mechanical engineer, who is alleged to be a member of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), was arrested by them at the Delhi airport on May 16, 2005, on his arrival from Singapore where he had reportedly gone to do a training course.

China and India both face the twin problem of floods and droughts. While building dams has been the typical way of dealing with this problem, both the countries are exploring the more controversial project for water transfer between river basins, with China taking the lead with its South-North Water Transfer Project (SNWTP).

India's Pakistan policy is now inextricably linked to its China policy.

Though the 'Arab Spring' had dethroned the long serving President of Egypt Hosni Mubarak, there is still little scope for genuine democracy, according to Mr. Swashpawan Singh, former Indian Ambassador to Kuwait.

The US Presidential debates might not change the election result, but the good thing is that the world now knows what exactly a Romney Presidency would look like from a foreign policy point of view and what Obama is likely to do if he wins a second term -with little substantial difference in their foreign policy positions.

A solution to the Ukrainian imbroglio lies in shedding old Cold War stereotypes and treating the crisis as an opportunity to complete the unfinished business of establishing geopolitical equilibrium in the former Soviet Space.

To check non-tariff barriers in the south Asian region, India being the largest economy in the region must take the lead, but other partners must extend cooperation and come together on a common platform.

What does the 90,000-plus leaked classified documents on Afghan War show? Two things are most obvious-one, the Americans have lost the script in Afghanistan and two, Pakistan has emerged as a full-fledged terrorist State,

The crucial question is this: Is it time to look beyond institutions, which are supposed to repositories of our trust but routinely betray them, and look at means of self governance?

After Sweden introduced the office of the Lokpal or Ombudsman in 1809, 125 countries across the world have enacted statutory laws for the creation of such an institution to tackle the problem of corruption and bring in accountability.

With the Parliament Standing Committee omitting a number of key demands of Team Anna, the Lokpal Bill is likely to plunge the nation into yet another round of agitations and street protests. But is there a possible wayforward?

In the recent history of terrorism, there have been four instances of well-planned, well-executed and well-synchronised multiple explosions by terrorist groups causing large casualties. These are the explosions in Mumbai (Bombay) in March,1993, which killed over 200 innocent civilians, at Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu in February,1998,

As Washington and Beijing circle each other in Asia, Delhi needs to step up engagement with both. The question is not about picking sides, but about relentlessly pursuing India's own interests.