News
Chinese cooperation on countering terrorism
China’s ambivalence on Pakistan’s sponsorship of terror as state policy stands in the way of any umbrella agreement on cooperation
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Climate change is not all pain and is expected to improve precipitation in India
Heat will destroy genetic diversity and trigger migration to cooler climes, water scarcity will constrain food crops, warmer and more acidic seas will denude coral reefs and marine food resources and sea level rise will submerge low islands and coastal areas.
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Humanising the Rafale deal
Benjamin Franklin famously wrote, nearly 250 years ago, that “in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” We could just as easily add scandals in defence procurement to that short list. From the famous “Jeep Procurement” scandal of the Fifties, to Bofors in the Eighties, Coffingate in the Nineties, the Westland VIP Helicopter and Tatra allegations of this decade, and now Rafale, there has only been the odd purchase of defence equipment that has not been rocked by allegations of corruption. This is a competitive field, the deals are huge and profits humungous. Thus, the stench allegedly emanating from the Rafale deal should come as no surprise. In fact, if there had been none that would have been astonishing indeed.
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Why arms control is doomed to failure
By pulling the US out of the INF Treaty, US President Donald Trump is only hastening the inevitable
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Why US-China tussle could become more than just a trade war
On Thursday, US vice president Mike Pence accused China of using its military, intelligence agents, economic power and propaganda to undermine the US across the world and reiterated an unproven claim that China is seeking to influence US domestic politics. The speech at Hudson Institute, amounted to the US directly declaring China as a malign adversary.
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CPEC: Here comes the pushback
It was New Delhi which first pointed out the drawbacks of the Chinese model.
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How did Govt go ahead with only 36 Rafale jets?
As claims and counterclaims over the financial terms of India’s deal to buy 36 Rafale fighter aircrafts from France continue relentlessly, the Indian Airforce (IAF) continues to be in desperate need of new fighter jets. The asymmetric inequalities between the IAF and the PLA Air Force (PLAAF) are set to widen.
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Lehman crashed. But India, China and later, USA rose from 2008’s debris
The global economic crisis of 2008, triggered by the collapse of Lehman Brothers, gave Asia a chance to rise, and let nationalist leaders, including Donald Trump, emerge
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More players rising in space launch vehicle market
India successfully launched its workhorse rocket PSLV as a purely commercial mission. PSLV demonstrated its capability to match small satellite requirements but competition is intense with the spurt in dedicated small satellite launch vehicle (SSLV) ventures.
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Why Failure of Aramco’s IPO launch is Good News for India?
In early 2017, Aramco, the world’s most profitable oil company, was planning an Initial Public Offer (IPO) with the desired valuation of 2 trillion USD. Aramco’s planned IPO has created anxiety for the oil importers and excitement for international financial markets. Mohammad bin Salman, the new Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, has been pushing for Aramco to go public as it would had make it the most valuable company in the world to be traded in the financial markets.
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