The US-led Iraqi invasion of 2003 under the pretext of thwarting an ongoing Iraqi quest for weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) turned into a major debacle when the operations concluded with no evidence to prove their war objectives. Although the governments of the United States and the United Kingdom were embarrassed with the mishap, their respective intelligence agencies had to shoulder the criticisms for providing flimsy intelligence on which the decision to intervene was made.
Ms. Dhanasree Jayaram, Project Associate, Manipal Advanced Research Group (MARG), Manipal University and Editorial Coordinator, Science, Technology & Security forum (STSforum) interviews Ms. Veena Nayyar on China’s troubled economic future. Ms Nayyar provides an overview of the economic indicators that point towards a decline in China’s economy as well the structural and societal barriers to its future growth. She throws light on the economic shifts in China and what these portend for the future of the country.
Kim Jong Un is strengthening clandestine networks in Japan, the United States and South Korea.
Defying the constant warning from the international community, including its ally China, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), also called North Korea has conducted five nuclear tests and launched several long-range rockets including the latest Pukguksong-2[1] in violation of Security Council resolutions.[2] As a result, North Korea has faced severe economic sanctions.
The term, "Christ-Buddha path to Korean unity" refers to the need for the North Korean leadership to show the wisdom of Lord Buddha and for the South Korean side to exhibit the compassion of Jesus Christ. The window for a peaceful unification of an ancient country will close within four years, as by that time, the North Korean Leadership (NKL) would have succeeded in weaponising its nuclear devices and delivery systems sufficient to devastate both Japan and South Korea, a risk impossible to consider, much less accept.
North Korea has been a conundrum for both China and the U.S. With sophisticated missiles and nuclear weapons, Pyongyang is believed to be “on the verge of a strategic breakout – quantitatively (by ramping up its warhead numbers) and qualitatively (through mastery of warhead miniaturization and long-range ballistic missiles) – that directly threatens the U.S.
Many, who had sounded the death knell to Russia after the disintegration of the erstwhile Soviet Union in 1991, have been proved wrong. Some even thought it was the beginning of Russia’s ‘Monroe Doctrine’? However, with 12.5 percent of the landmass of the earth’s land surface as its sovereign territory, encompassing two continents bounded by two oceans and sharing its borders with over a dozen countries; it has little choice but to get involved in the rough and tumble of the world’s geopolitics.
Narendra Modi's 'Act East' through the Northeast is a bold move to situate the country's long-troubled far frontier region at the heart of the country's geo-economic outreach into South-east and East Asia, whose Tiger economies provide one of the best long-term option for India’s economic future.
