Global Security
Global Security
Fair Observer's analysis of issues in governance, constitution, law, enforcement, and justice both nationally and internationally.
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360° Analysis / Civil War / India / International Relations / Relations / Sri Lanka / Tamil / TLLE / BRIC / Global Security / AsiaHow the remains of the civil war influence the relationship between Sri Lanka-India. Bilateral relations between India and its southern neighbour, Sri Lanka, have traditionally been cordial and friendly with repetitive periods of underlying strain – offshoots of India’s failed intervention in the Lankan ethnic conflict. Despite momentary downward swings, relations have remained afloat amid the countries sharing a commitment to national sovereignty and regional stability. India’s eventual re-adoption of the non-interventionist approach with regard to the continuing conflict in Sri Lanka, in no small way influenced by the failure of its peacekeeping mission (itself a...
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360° Analysis / Civil War / LTTE / Sri Lanka / UN / Global Security / AsiaBy Viji AllesSri Lanka's way to peace After decades of civil war between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Sri Lankan government, the country has finally achieved peace and is starting to experience economic prosperity. Though significant problems remain within the small island nation, Westerners should be careful not to impose their ideals onto the population which is trying to navigate life after civil war as best it can. More than three years after the bombs fell silent and the Chinese-made Multi-Launch Rocket systems put into storage, the myriad 'campaigns for justice' in Sri Lanka keep multiplying. Quite apart from campaigns by the UN, Amnesty International and...
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Civil War / India / LTTE / Sri Lanka / Tamils / UN / 360° Context / Global Security / AsiaYears and years of bloody civil war have left their traces on Sri Lanka. Background Sri Lanka’s modern history has been predominantly defined by its 26-year long and fierce civil war that came to an end in 2009. The brutal conflict had its roots in aspirations for a separate homeland for country’s ethnic Tamil minority following decades of simmering resentment against the majority Sinhala governments. Spearheaded by Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam or LTTE, the protracted military campaign left up to 100,000 dead, displaced several hundreds of thousands, corroded the island nation’s economic growth and exacted a high environmental cost. Sri Lanka’s closest neighbour...
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360° Analysis / Iran / Israel / Nuclear / Politics / United States / Middle East / Global SecurityArshin Adib-Moghaddam, Reader in Comparative Politics and International Relations at the School of Oriental and African Studies, speaks to Kourosh Ziabari about the cancellation of the Helsinki conference on a nuclear-free Middle East and the impacts it may have on the US public image. It was reported on November 23 that the Helsinki conference on a nuclear-free Middle East was cancelled after the United States announced that it would not attend. Some political commentators believe that the US distanced itself from the summit after Iran said that it would participate, while it was quite clear that Iran would raise the issue of Israel’s undeclared, uninspected nuclear arsenal of about...
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360° Analysis / conflict / India / Kashmir / Pakistan / Siachen / BRIC / Global Security / AsiaIncidents are bound to multiply in future if both sides remain ensconced in their fanciful security cocoons built of nuclear weapons and other destructive material. International relations theory is premised on the fiction that the state is a rational actor. By a rational actor is meant that it makes rational calculations based on a careful examination of the pros and cons when interacting with other states. A state is supposed to be maximising its advantages vis-à-vis other states. Experience, however, tells that like so many other highly intellectualised theories of political science, the one pertaining to the state as a rational actor in international relations is a great...
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360° Analysis / Aksai Chin / borders / China / Himalaya / India / BRIC / Global Security / AsiaPart 2: Interpreting Indian Behaviour. For part one click here. The primary strategic objective of the Nehru regime, even as the dispute deteriorated after 1959, was to avoid a frontal collision with China. The more interesting and perhaps central question, therefore, is why did India find itself on the Himalayan battlefield in October 1962. In retrospect, this author can discern five factors that shaped the Indian behaviour. 1: Indian Domestic Policy Decision It is essential to appreciate the context that framed India’s geopolitical worldview, since this directly influenced the type of China policy adopted. The entry of Pakistan into the Western alliance system in...
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360° Analysis / Aksai Chin / border tensions / borders / China / Himalaya / India / BRIC / Global Security / AsiaChina's way into the Sino-Indian War. In a recent Global Times article, a researcher from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences writes, “Mao wanted to wake him (Nehru) up from the superpowers’ influence by giving him a heavy punch, so that he would come to his senses and end the war.” This rather blunt quote really sums up the war from the Chinese perspective: 1962 was primarily a pre-emptive punitive strike intended to, in Mao’s words, “guarantee at least 30 years of peace” with India. Liu Shaoqi, China’s then-President, is reported to have told Colombo conference representatives in January 1963 that the Chinese had to show the Indians that...
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360° Analysis / Aksai Chin / China / Chola Incident / India / Sikkim / Global Security / AsiaUnderstanding the India-China border dispute. Lines yesterday – Fault Lines today Lines drawn on paper almost a hundred years ago can be considered the inception of the India-China border dispute. Today these lines haunt the relations between the two Asian giants, like raw wounds they burn, they itch, but eventually they ought to heal. Recently in October both nations observed the 50th anniversary of the Sino-Indian border wars fought in 1962, and rekindled great debate and discussions on the currently peacefully (relatively) managed border discord. It is against this backdrop we require a better understanding of what lies beneath the conflict the murky waters India and...
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360° Analysis / conflict / India / Kashmir / Pakistan / Siachen / Global Security / AsiaAn overview of India's Armed Forces Special Powers Act in the Kashmir region. John Quinton, American writer once wrote, “Politicians are people who, when they see light at the end of the tunnel, go out and buy some more tunnel.” It appears that this is exactly what is happening in Kashmir, at least on the Indian side. Some ‘overnight’ security strategists wake up one fine morning feeling they are best judges of matters military; better than the military itself. Last year, the Chief Minister of J&K suddenly decided Kashmir was the most serene place on earth declaring arbitrarily, without reference to stake holders, he would revoke AFSPA (Armed Forces Special...