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The mighty Indian Ocean, where the Malaysian  airline is presumed to have gone missing God help us as we face mother nature's raw power

Image courtesy- The Diplomat and The Reuters “We love this country,” declared a Chinese Foreign Minister on a state visit to Sri Lanka in 1971, China “was ready to give its fullest co-operation to speed up the socialist march of Ceylon.” Sri Lanka’s socialist “march” didn’t ever quite catch up with China’s, but since the first Rubber-Rice pact was signed in 1952 China-Sri Lankan relations have been a source of unity and continue on an upward trajectory today. As China’s economic power has grown, investing overseas has been a tactic used across the world by China to help bolster the national interest. Its financial foreign policy rests on two strategies: “accumulating foreign currency reserves and sending money abroad in the form of FDI, aid, assistance and loans,”  wrote  U.S. economic advisor Ken Miller in  Foreign Affairs .  Sri Lanka is a model for the latter part of this strategy. The statistics alone indicate the inexorable rise of China’s financial ...

Image courtesy- Wikimedia Commons and ISRO Fortunately, the final frontier has yet to become a battlefield. On present trends, however, the next two decades will witness a global arms race in space, culminating in a sophisticated weapons system being placed in orbit. The United States and Russia (formerly the Soviet Union) have been active in this sphere since the early 1960s, when the Soviets first tested the “hunter killer”  low orbit satellite system . The U.S. responded with a series of advanced strategic missile projects and some more promising ground launched initiatives. Since then, however, both the U.S. and Russia have constrained their  space military programs , seeking to discourage weaponization. Still, both countries have made it clear they will start again, should a line be crossed. In 2007, China sparked global concern when it successfully tested its first ASAT (anti-satellite) missile, destroying one of its obsolete weather satellites at an altitude of...

Image courtesy- Wikimedia Commons International relations theories during the Cold War were largely predicated on the global matrix of two super powers setting the context for relations amongst smaller powers. The end of Cold War and emergence of new powers have tested and stretched the theoretical framework. It is still a work in progress and the series of writings related to South Asia, led by Oxford International Relations in South Asia Series, has made a valuable contribution in the field. The book under review is remarkable in Sino-Indian relations being addressed by a Taiwanese diplomat-scholar. Taiwan has a unique relationship with China based on a mix of historical animosity, national identity, economic and power asymmetry and the dominant influence of United States. Unlike the mainstream neo-realism or neo-liberal streams of international relations analysis, this book attempts a constructivist understanding of the relations between India and China. The author, who was ba...

Image Courtesy- Wikimedia Commons and US Navy Iran is building a  non-functioning replica of a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier   that analysts believe may be for propaganda purposes, The New York Times reports. "Based on our observations, this is not a functioning aircraft carrier; it's a large barge built to look like an aircraft carrier," Cmdr. Jason Salata, a spokesman for the Navy's Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, told the Times. "We're not sure what Iran hopes to gain by building this. If it is a big propaganda piece, to what end?" Unlike a typical U.S. carrier which measure roughly 1,100 feet long, the Iranian version is about two-thirds that size, The Times reports. This isn't the first time Iran has tried to present the appearance of having advanced military technology. Last February, a  propaganda video was released  of Iran's F-313 "stealth fighter" - an aircraft that was neither stealth nor able to even get off the ground. ...

Image courtesy- Wikimedia Commons and the author  A prospective series of Russia’s new fifth-generation conventional submarine equipped with an advanced air-independent propulsion system will be designated the Kalina-class, the commander of the country's navy said Wednesday. “Russia is currently designing a fifth-generation conventional submarine, dubbed Project Kalina, which will be fitted with an air-independent propulsion (AIP) system,” Adm. Viktor Chirkov said. “Our industry promises to develop this AIP system by 2017 and build the first boat fitted with such a system by 2018,” Chirkov said. The admiral earlier said that the new AIP system could be initially tested on the only operational Lada-class diesel-electric submarine in service with the navy, the St. Petersburg, which is undergoing sea trials in the Barents Sea after a series of design changes. Air-independent power plants offer significant advantages over diesel-electric submarines, which must surface reg...

Pic courtesy- Wikimedia commons and the author A Chinese nuclear powered attack submarine (SSN) made its first declared operational patrol for two months in the Indian Ocean. The Foreign Affairs Office of China's Ministry of Defence informed India's military attache in Beijing of the deployment on December 3 last year "to demonstrate respect for India." Top secret intelligence assessments preapared by R&AW and Naval Intelligence terms, term the two-month deployment of the Shang class SSN between December 13,2013 and February 12, 2014, as 'seriously aggravating India's security concerns'. India's security establishment is still assessing the impact of the deployment that comes at a time when the Indian Navy has been headless for over three weeks. Defence Minister AK Antony swiftly accepted Admiral DK Joshi's resignation on February 26-he quit owing moral responsibility for a string of naval accidents - but is yet to appoint his...