Badi Soch: ‘One Nation under God’ and above all?
This daily column includes Gateway House’s Badi Soch – big thought – of the day’s foreign policy events. Today’s focus is on Washington' s phone and email spying programme-PRISM.
This daily column includes Gateway House’s Badi Soch – big thought – of the day’s foreign policy events. Today’s focus is on Washington' s phone and email spying programme-PRISM.
Defence Minister A. K. Antony’s visit to Australia this week was a significant step forward in the defence relationship. In coming years an India-Australia partnership will be important for managing maritime security in the Indian Ocean and will also have implications for security in Southeast Asia and the Pacific
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Japan’s Shinzo Abe are giving heft to a renewed partnership and a focus on the Indo-Pacific. Both nations must collaborate and work with South Pacific countries, especially Tonga, to counter China’s growing influence in this increasingly geopolitically important region
An understanding between China and India not to develop a permanent presence on each other’s maritime territories may be helpful in reducing tensions between the two navies. Given the broader context of Sino-Indian strategic rivalry, however, this seems unlikely.
Maritime piracy is one of the several grave security issues faced by today’s world. This problem, however, isn’t a new phenomenon, and nations have long-battled this issue. How did piracy manifest itself in the Indian Ocean in the 19th century, and what was the nature of counter-piracy efforts during that period?
Traditionally, the South Pacific islands have been considered strategically insignificant. However, the need for resources, and the geopolitical shift towards Asia-Pacific have prompted nations to realize that these small island states control large resource-rich ocean areas and are increasingly geostrategic.
In the 1700s, one man antagonized the European powers, and insisted on the Maratha Empire’s rights to taxation and sovereignty over Maharashtra’s coast. He was Kanhoji Angre, the head of the Maratha navy. How did he, 283 years ago, set an important precedent for the Subcontinent’s local powers?
The concern with piracy is in our waters is three-fold: the threat to Indian-owned vessels and Indian citizens; the difficulty in dealing with piracy and hostage-taking on the high seas; and finally, squeezing the organized industry. Can India play a leadership role in this effort?
India’s national security is heavily dependent on the proper development of its infrastructure, which is currently backed by weak technologies that are susceptible to cyber threats. What can India do to tackle cyber crime and strengthen its technological infrastructure?
Gateway House’s Alisha Pinto interviews former Somali Ambassador to India, Mohammad Osman Omar, on piracy issues and maritime security from the coast of Somalia to the waters of the Indian Ocean.