According to realist paradigms, nuclear weapons can be seen as the ultimate guarantee of national security and when there will be no restrictions, states will strive to dominate or achieve parity. Lapse of New START can thus create worsening security dilemmas, where efforts of any state to enhance its deterrent value is seen as a threat, and the state retaliates. The position of nuclear weapons as power projectors will, therefore, be more intense.
Some analysts are of the view that Sri Lanka’s differential access — full executive level for India versus foreign ministry level for China — may reflect Sri Lanka’s carefully calibrated foreign policy. Sri Lanka is leveraging India for urgent, high-impact assistance and wider policy coordination and engaging China for strategic reassurance and medium-to-long-term cooperative alignment that is less intertwined with immediate executive decisions.
India’s challenge, and opportunity, lies in mastering torque rather than seeking a mythical centre of gravity. In a world defined by flux, leverage matters more than alignment, and agility matters more than allegiance. Strategic autonomy will not be preserved through rigid doctrines, but through continuous recalibration anchored in national interest, economic resilience, and confidence in India’s civilisational depth.
India’s response to Iran’s crisis illustrates the dilemmas facing middle powers navigating a polarised global order. While reaffirming principles of sovereignty, non-intervention and dialogue, New Delhi has largely confined itself to cautious diplomacy. For a country that positions itself as a voice of the Global South and a defender of strategic autonomy, such restraint invites scrutiny. Silence at moments of legal strain is never neutral. It contributes to the gradual normalisation of coercive precedent.
The time has come for holistic civil-military integration and synergy in India to meet the challenges of a multi-polar, multi-domain world especially with a belligerent and hegemonistic China and its ally Pakistan in our immediate neighbourhood, writes Lt Gen PR Kumar (retd) for South Asia Monitor
The government might have been more accommodating if it is wasn’t jittery about the political impact of a retreat at a time when the BJP faces four crucial elections where its chances are not foolproof, writes Amulya Ganguli for South Asia Monitor
Nijgadh is planned to be the largest airport in South Asia in terms of area, covering 8,045.79 hectares. While a new international airport is needed, the Nijgadh dream comes with an environmental nightmare, write Harsh Mahaseth and Pranjal Risal for South Asia Monitor
Although it is unrealistic to have too high expectations for Sino-Indian relations in 2021, it is certain that the two sides would not want to make bilateral relations further worse, writes Siwei Liu for South Asia Monitor
The army is upset with the NLD government for agreeing to take back from Bangladesh the Rohingya Muslim refugees in phases after a Chinese-mediated dialogue. Nearly 40,000 Rohingyas are expected to return in the first phase, writes Subir Bhaumik for South Asia Monitor
Biden needs to go through all the wrong decisions made by Trump and come out with valuable and healthy steps to maintain democracy in Afghanistan and to respect the blood its soldiers had shed, and end the war, writes Majidullah Rasooli for South Asia Monitor
Gandhiji had a presence. That is a mark of a great soul and a very much evolved spiritual being. To Gandhiji spirituality came first; other things like politics, public life, etc. were by-products of his spirituality, writes Anil K Rajvanshi for South Asia Monitor
The contributions made by the Indian community in the development of Saudi Arabia have always been appreciated by the Saudi government. Keeping in view the contribution of expat Indians, the Saudi government, irrespective of their religion, treats every expat Indian equally like its own citizen, writes Asif Rameez Daudi for South Asia Monitor
The massive and growing concentration of incomes is not good news for India's fragile social fabric as it can trigger a political backlash, writes N. Chandra Mohan for South Asia Monitor
In South Asia, while digitalisation is of a high priority intervention, the other more basic issues such as enabling access to livelihood, health and education would need to be addressed and given a much higher priority so that inequalities in per capita consumption expenditure that prevail among households are addressed immediately, writes Partha Pratim Mitra for South Asia Monitor
India has a longer track record of supplying medicines and vaccines to the rest of the world, than any other country, including China, writes Rajendra Shende for South Asia Monitor
The US under Biden is all set to revive military ties with Islamabad hoping that Pakistan will help bring peace in Afghanistan. America has obviously not learned any lessons over the decades, writes Lt Gen Prakash Katoch (retd) for South Asia Monitor
Pakistan so far has given limited autonomy to the local population after having wrested G-B after the accession. But it now wants to declare it as a provisional province of the country, writes Pushp Saraf for South Asia Monitor
By 2025, Bangladesh is forecast to be the 34th largest economy in the world and will continue at second place in South Asia after India, writes Mohammad Rubel for South Asia Monitor
If India were to write out a defence industrial policy it may read as follows: 'to establish and foster a strong indigenous helicopter industry with the design and production capacity to cater to all in-country military requirements and bid for export military and civil markets'. writes Rear Admiral Sudhir Pillai (retd) for South Asia Monitor
