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

Image credits- Flickr/ Scroll Editorial  © Source- The Russia & India Report Author- Boris Volkhonsky In all likelihood, it will only be possible to accurately evaluate the results of the meeting between Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Narendra Modi only after some time, when the plans that have been announced start being implemented. But it is already possible to say that the summit’s results really do open up fundamentally new perspectives for cooperation. And it is not just about 20 documents that were signed. This is perhaps for the first time in recent years that the documents encompassed such a wide range of issues that they should eliminate some of the imbalances that have characterised our cooperation in the recent past. India, Russia sign 16 agreements at bilateral summit It is no secret that bilateral relations between Russia and India, as in the past between the Soviet Union and India, have always been characterised by the highest degree of unders

Kremlin ( Image credits- Wikimedia Commons/ Author- Julmin/Surendil) Source- The National Interest Author- Nikolas K. Gvosdev) Western commentators reporting on events in Russia have a tendency to swing from one extreme to the next. Seven months ago, when oil prices were high and the Kremlin had seemingly amputated Crimea off from Ukraine without firing a shot, the narrative was about an unstoppable Vladimir Putin who would soon be overrunning all Eastern and Central Europe. Today, he is being placed on deathwatch, with prognosticators speculating about precisely when the Russian economy will collapse and Putin will be overthrown. With the precipitous fall in the value of the ruble—something a major interest-rate hike by the Russian Central Bank seemed unable to reverse—some pundits are even crowing that the Ukrainian hryvnia is doing better than the Russian currency. It helps to step back and put the larger picture in perspective. The hryvnia is the currency of a cou

Gwadar Port ( Image credits- Wikimedia Commons./ Author) Source- The Diplomat Author- Kiyya Baloch The multi-billion dollar agreement between Pakistan and China to develop the port of  Gwadar  does not present a very promising picture for the people of Gwadar, still living in atrocious conditions amid  serious security threats . Gwadar is one of the most generously endowed areas in the region thanks to a 790-km coastal belt as well as a wealth of mineral reserves. However, this wealth is not reflected in the lives of its local people. Gwadar’s coastline, located on the shores of the Arabian Sea, is important to the shipping route into and out of the Persian Gulf. The government of Pakistan formally awarded a multi-billion dollar contract for the construction and operation of Gwadar port to China last year, aiming to improve the port and open the doors of development and prosperity for Pakistan, particularly Balochistan. Meanwhile, residents of this small area are stil

Source- The Eurasia Review Author- Dr Subash Kapila India under Modi Sarkar sits atop the strategic pyramid with Russia and the United States at the base at opposing ends intending to reinforce their respective Strategic Partnerships with India to their advantage. Russia has had a long standing and time-proven Strategic Partnership with India until its misconceived recent Defence and Security Agreement with Pakistan. President Putin’s recent visit to New Delhi retrieved the Russia-India Strategic Partnership Strategic Partnership by offering explanations for its Pakistan-policy change and with a slew of military and nuclear-related agreements to bring back the Russia-India Strategic Partnership on the rails. India repaid the strategic trust reposed by Russia in India’s rising power by awarding nearly $ 100-115 billion worth of contracts to Russia. The US-India Strategic Partnership is only a decade or so old and this time span stood marked by strategic bumps arising fro

INS Arihant ( Image credits- DRDO/Indian Navy) Source- The National Interest Author- Zachary Keck India’s first indigenous ballistic missile nuclear submarine (SSBN) began its maiden sea trials today, a senior Indian defense official announced. On Monday, Indian Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar announced that  INS Arihant --which roughly translates to “annihilator of enemies”-- pulled out of Visakhapatnam Harbor this morning to begin its long awaited first sea trials.  The Hindu   described in the scene  in unusually poetic language, writing, “ INS Arihant,  with a helicopter flying over it, emerged from the breakwaters into the Bay of Bengal even as low hanging mist made it difficult to view the submarine. The submarine glided in [the] Bay partially submerged as part of its sea trials. INS Arihant  majestically sailed north in the Bay along the coast, partially submerged. After about an hour later it disappeared into the mist.” In some ways, the event was decade

Colombo Harbor ( Image credits- Wikimedia Commons- Flickr/ Author- J G Morard) Source- The diplomat Author- David Brewester Since late 2013, Beijing has been promoting its “Maritime Silk Route” (MSR) initiative as a proposed oceanic complement to its various overland “Silk Route” projects. Details remain sketchy, but the proposal appears to envisage a system of linked ports, infrastructure projects and special economic zones in Southeast Asia and the northern Indian Ocean. While much of the public discussion to date has focused on ports and infrastructure, probably of greater significance is the development of new production and distribution chains across the region, with China at its center. The concept might be seen as akin to Japan’s “flying geese” strategy of the 1970s when Japanese companies outsourced component production to successive tiers of lower-cost states in Southeast Asia. If implemented, the initiative would bind countries in the Bay of Bengal and the nor

Image credits- Flickr/ Narendra Modi Source- The Diplomat Author- Carl Thayer In 2015 Vietnam will become the country coordinator for relations between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and India for a three-year term ending in 2018. This will be an important partnership because the strategic interests of both countries markedly converged in 2014 and are likely to continue on this trajectory. The new government in India led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi views Vietnam as an essential partner for its Act East Policy. Modi has injected new momentum in the 2007 India-Vietnam strategic partnership. For example, President Pranab Mukherjee visited Hanoi from September 14-17 and Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung made an official visit to Delhi from October 27-28. At the conclusion of President Mukherjee’s state visit he issued a joint statement with his counterpart, President Truong Tan Sang. This statement declared “that cooperation in national defense wa