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

USS John C. Stennis ( Image credits- Flickr / United States Navy) Source- Eurasia Review Author- MINA  China has denied a US request for an aircraft carrier group led by USS John C. Stennis to make a port visit to Hong Kong, the US State Department said on Friday, confirming earlier media reports. Pentagon spokesman, Commander Bill Urban, said another US warship, the USS Blue Ridge, was currently in Hong Kong on a stop-over and the US expected that to continue. Urban added that the request for a Hong Kong visit by the carrier and its strike group, which have been patrolling the South China Sea, was recently denied, despite a “long track record of successful port visits to Hong Kong.” The Chinese government, as well as the country’s embassy in Washington did not comment. The warship requested a port call permit early on Thursday. The South China Morning Post newspaper, citing the Chinese Foreign Ministry, reported that port calls by US warships and m

Credits-  http://www.losbarcosdeeugenio.com/credit_en.html Source- Russia & India Report Author- Alexander Yemelyanenkov , RIR Another diesel-electric submarine owned by the Indian Navy, the Sindhukesari, will be in the Zvezdochka ship repair centre for repairs in Russia later this summer. It is being awaited at the Severodvinsk centre, where five similar Russian- built submarines of the Indian Navy were earlier sent to undergo repairs and modernization. The India Embassy in Moscow sent a delegation headed by the naval attaché Commodore Tarun Sobti recently for an inspection visit to Severodvinsk, RIR has learnt. The authorized Indian representatives have checked the enterprise’s industrial and consumer sites for readiness to receive the Sindhukesari diesel-electric submarine for repair. During the visit, Sobti examined the ship lifting facilities and main production plants, which will be involved in the repair of the Indian submarine, Eugene Gladyshev, offici

USS America, LHA-6 ( Credits- Wikimedia Commons / United States Navy) Source- The National Interest Author-  Nikolas K. Gvosdev Earlier this month, I had the privilege of being on a panel as part of the Naval War College’s Regional Alumni Symposium, discussing the strategic importance of the Black Sea region, along with Michael Kofman of the Center for Naval Analysis and Chris Marsh of the School of Advanced Military Studies. After all, as Marsh noted, the Black Sea is assuming much greater importance as part of China’s ambitious “one road, one belt” system, designed to link the Asia-Pacific and Euro-Atlantic worlds—a point made graphically clear by Parag Khanna’s “connectography” maps, while Kofman called attention to Russia’s new power-projection capabilities emanating from Crimea. Yet for all our eloquence in calling for the Black Sea to assume greater importance in American strategic thinking, equally compelling cases were being made for why additional U.S. attention

Agni Missile ( Credits- Wikimedia Commons / Antônio Milena (ABr)) Source- The Diplomat Author- Robert Farley Do states acquire weapons because of security needs or out of a desire for prestige? Analysts have asked this question about a wide range of weapons, including advanced fighter jets, nuclear submarines, aircraft carriers, battleships, and (perhaps most importantly) nuclear weapons. On the prestige side, nuclear weapons convey modernity, power, and a spot in the “room where it happens”–particularly prestigious because the room only holds a few countries. On the security side, nuclear weapons can provide a last ditch alternative against a superior foe. The question of weapons and prestige has bedeviled political scientists and the answer seems to be: “Both, but more of one or the other under particular circumstances.” Recent work by Jayita Sarkar (reviewed by Sumit Ganguly) helps contribute to this question, at least in the context of India’s pursuit of nuclear wea