Manoj Ambat's Blog dealing with Defence, Foreign Affairs, Strategic Affairs and Politics

Image source- Wikimedia Commons / Author- White House, Pete Souza Source- The Diplomat Authors- Rob Spalding & Adam Lowther  In July 2014, Salon, the online magazine, loudly proclaimed that “the American century is over.” They were not the first to do so – numerous books and articles had made similar claims over the preceding years. Their arguments boiled down to this: America will continue as a world power, but not the dominant world power. In short, American power is declining while the power of states like China, Brazil, and India are rising. This growing chorus of “America is in decline” has spawned a vigorous debate on both sides of the political aisle, with little agreement. While pundits may continue to debate the issue, Americans are left to wonder, is American power truly in decline? As if sensing that the end is near, many Americans see a nation beset by economic, military, and political challenges and can’t help but think there might be some truth to th

Image source- Wikimedia Commons / Author- United States Navy by Christopher B. Long, USN Source- The National Interest Authors- Brad Glosserman & David Santoro Reassuring allies is a never-ending assignment. That task is especially challenging in Northeast Asia, where the usual problems created by geography and different geopolitical interests are compounded by an evolving security environment characterized by North Korea’s continued progress in developing long-range missiles and nuclear weapons, China’s steady military modernization and more assertive regional role, growing diffusion of the nature and source of threats (notably due to the rising prominence of the cyber and space domains), and political dysfunction in Washington that makes it more difficult for allies to anticipate America’s reaction to a crisis. Fortunately, the United States understands the critical importance of honoring its alliance commitments and defending its allies. Failure to do so would

AEGIS Missile defence system ( Image credits- Wikimedia Commons/ United States navy) Sources- The National Interest Russian violations of the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) should push the United States to reconsider the continued value of the agreement for global security. Abrogating or modifying the treaty to allow the deployment of INF-class weapons to Asia, however, would bring with it substantial political, military, and budgetary risks while producing benefits that are murky at best. Evan Montgomery—a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments—in these digital pages has made one of the stronger cases for the United States acquiring forward-deployed intermediate weapons in Asia. However, even putting aside the potential for unintended consequences for security in other regions and for broader nonproliferation norms associated with renegotiating and modifying the INF, it is unclear if intermediate-range weapons could overcome the shortcomi

President Obama in Japan ( Image courtesy- The White House/Chuck Kennedy) President Barack Obama leaves today for a tour of Asia, with stops in Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, and the Philippines. The trip is Obama’s first to Asia since 2012 — a planned visit to Southeast Asia in the fall of 2013  was cancelled due to the government shutdown  in Washington. While Obama will not be visiting China, the trip could have major implications for U.S.-China relations. As former U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said in his memoir, “On any trip to Asia, even if China isn’t on the itinerary, it is on the agenda.” Beijing will certainly be watching the tour with great interest, trying to gauge U.S. commitment to and intentions for the Asia-Pacific region. During U.S. Secretary of Defense  Chuck Hagel’s recent trip to China,  Chinese officials made it abundantly clear that they pay close attention to comments made to other Asian officials. Before arriving in Beijing, Hagel met with  ASEAN

Image courtesy- Wikimedia Commons President Obama’s former defense secretary is making a grim prediction: At the end of the day,  Russia will successfully annex Crimea  from Ukraine, no matter how many economic  sanctions or assets freezes  the West imposes. In an interview on Fox News Sunday,  Bob Gates said that Vladimir Putin  “wants to recreate the Soviet Union,” and sees the Crimean invasion as “taking back territory that belonged to them.” The best thing the U.S. and its allies can do at this point, according to Gates, is prevent more countries from falling into Russia’s sphere of influence. “I do not believe that Crimea will slip out of Russia’s hands,” Gates said. “You think Crimea’s gone?,” host Chris Wallace asked. “I do,” Gates responded. Next week,  Crimea will hold a referendum  on whether or not to reincorporate itself into Russia. Moscow, not surprisingly, supports the referendum, while Ukraine’s leadership has called the referendum illegal. Prime Minister