Geopolitics
September 10, 2012
Stock Market One of the most fascinating things about the stock markets is that there are as many views and opinions about the markets as the […]
January 11, 2012
The Pakistani Government has been in a state of crisis for the last few months with relations detoriarating between the civilian government and the generals. Note the Army in Pakistan led by the Chief of the Army Kiyani calls the shots with the civilian government a mere puppet in the defence and foreign relations department. The Government in Pakistan has been in chaos ever since Osama Bin Laden was captured from near the Army HQ in Rawalpindi. After the Army got a lot of flat from everyone, it decided to hit back at the civilians using a memo by the US Ambassador Haqqani which talked of an army coup.
June 21, 2011
China does not have many friends in its neighborhood,in fact it does not have any friends with relations with most countries being quite tense.The only friends it has is a tinpot communist dictatorship North Korea which has managed to keep its citizens in the Stone Age and Pakistan which is well on its way to become a failed state with a suicide bombing a day.What is interesting is that China holds the world record for sharing borders with the maximum number of countries,so one would consider it prudent to hold good relations with a large number of them.On the contrary China has had tense relations with almost all of them with low level military incidents the order of the day.China has a very cagey relationship with India where tensions have risen all the time with numerous friction points like Tibet,Arunachal Pradesh,supplying Pakistan with arms and building ports in smaller countries.South Korea alleged cyberattack a few months ago from hackers close to the Chinese government as well.
May 2, 2011
Osama Bin Laden used to live in an area which was populated with affluent retired Pakistani senior military offiicers.The compound had 18 foot walls,barbed wire and internet connections.The compound was built in Abbotabad which is just 35 kms away from the Pakistan capital of Islamabad.Living in such a big compound amongst important military officials it would take a really dumb person to think that Pakistan government did not know or shelter Osama Bin Laden.It is a damning indictment of the Pakistani establisment.Note a number of terrorist incidents have a common origin in Pakistan.The Mumbai terrorist bombing in which the prime accused has said that Pakistani government officials were in the know about the bombings in which Americans and Israelis were targeted in India's financial capital Mumbai.The failed London bombing too had its origin in Pakistan.Now this operation which was conduced in the very heart of Pakistan to kill the most dreaded terrorist the world has seen.
May 2, 2011
Osama Bin Laden the architect of the dealiest terrorist attack in human history when the Twin Towers and numerous other targest in US were attacked using airline planes has been killed.10 years after starting the campaign to kill Osama Bin Laden,US today said a military mission in Abbotabad Pakistan managed to kill the dreaded fanatic.Note Al Qaeda is the most dangerous international terrorist organization with roots in the badlands of Pakistan and Afganistan.He has been long been suspected of being sheltered in Pakistan which has become a worse hotbed of terrorism than Afganistan.What was surprising that Osama was hiding near the capital of Pakistan which implies that top officials of the Pakistani government had to be involved in hiding Osama.It is an open secret that Pakistan which is being touted as the "US ally" in fight against terrorism has long been playing a double game.The death of Osama in Pakistan brings irrefutable proof to this fact.
March 31, 2011
The French President Sarkozy has become the first international leader to visit Japan after the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Disaster which has simmered for more than 3 weeks.Japan and France do not have a strategic relationship like USA and Japan does nor do these countries have shown great friendship in the past.So it surprising why Sarkozy has gone to Japan on such a short notice to pledge all French help to the Japanese in the wake of the radioactivity leaking from the reactors in northern Japan.Note France has been the leader in the Libyan no fly zone as well calling for Western intervention in a mostly domestic civil war.France has not got too much involved in other civil wars raging in the Middle East.It has been selective over it choice for jumping up and down over human rights.The glaring Western and French silence over the Saudi invasion of Bahrain and violent suppression of its citizens by the Middle Eastern dictators tells of a hypocrisy.
February 18, 2011
China has come under a lot of fire for its proectionist trade policies from mulitnational corporations like Siemens,GE,Google as well as its major trading partners.One of the bones of contention is its export restrictions on crucial minerals like zinc,lead,cadmium, gold, indium, iron ore, lime, lead, manganese, mercury, molybdenum, phosphate, salt, tin, tungsten, vanadium and zinc.China is surprisingly the biggest producer of these minerals and has been hoarding these minerals.Note China is the biggest importer of minerals like copper,coal,iron ore etc. so its hoarding is surprising.This action by China came under the scanner when it restricted the export of rare earth minerals over a small dispute with Japan.This resulted in alarm bells ringing in Europe,USA and Japan.These countries scurried for alternative sources of these crucial REE in other places as China controlled more than 95% of the world's supply.
February 18, 2011
India too needs to be worried from these missile developments.Note the Defence Minister had said that he was concerned from the rapid modernisation of China's military forces but was not overtly worried.I think its time for him to worry as China's armed forces show massive technological improvement.Note China has the largest military force in the world in terms of number but it lags way behind in technology compared to the West.However that is changing with growth of the Chinese Economy the 2nd biggest in the world.China and Indian relations have been quite tense of late with China raising the ante on a number of issues.China has been placing missiles in Tibet while India is deploying fighter aircraft and troops near its borders with China.
February 10, 2011
China has repeatedly cropped up in the news for cyberattacks on various governments as well as large multinational companies.While the Chinese government has denied responsibility for these cyberattacks,the evidence continues to grow as large reputed organization have blamed hacking on Chinese origin IP addresses.Note South Korea,USA and India have blamed China for cyberattacks on government computers.Growing cyberwarfare from China has made India start a cyberattack centre of its own reflecting the serious growing nature of these attacks.The recent Stuxnet virus attack on nuclear plants of Iran has been also been blamed on a Chinese attack on India gone wrong.Note cyberattacks are not considered of very serious nature in today's geopolitics and has deniability.This has probably made China to continue with cyberwarfare on countries considered hostile to its interests.
December 13, 2010
Japan and China has suffered from perhaps the most tense relationships with the Japanese occupation of Chinese territory during World War 2.China recently embargoed the export of crucial rare earth minerals in which it has a virtual monopoly causing great distress amongst Japanese administrators.China's military has started to become more and more sophisticated with China even now becoming an arms exporter of low tech weapons.With growth in Chinese economy,the technology sophistication of Chinese weapons systems has also grown.Close relations between China and Russia have also led to sale of front-line weapons systems such as the Sukhoi 35 fighters to China.It is no wonder that Japan is started to reorient its Defence towards China from Russia.Greater emphasis is being placed on the Air Force and Navy rather than on the Army.Note Japan is protected by the US Nuclear Umbrella and has US Forces stationed on its soil.However,declining USA military power (bogged down in Iraq and Afghanistan) has made Japan beef up its own defences.Note India too has strengthened its border forces with China stationing new fighter squadrons in the Himalayan region.