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 inhibitions of the Indian government to upgrade relations with Taiwan are baffling. It stems from keeping the military out of strategic security formulations, status quo bureaucratic advice and needless fear of China, writes Lt Gen Prakash Katoch (retd) for South Asia Monitor
The recent deadly clashes between the two Rohingya groups at the camp in Cox's Bazar has posed a major security threat to Bangladesh, writes Aashish Kiphayet for South Asia Monitor
If rape in India is to be meaningfully addressed, the onus lies on society to review and correct deeply ingrained socio-cultural norms and practices that are inherently biased against women and the girl child, writes Cmde C Uday Bhaskar (retd) for South Asia Monitor
As Pakistan enters its winter of discontent, yet again, Maryam Nawaz has emerged as a front-ranking leader in a male bastion, writes Mahendra Ved for South Asia Monitor
China is enabling Pakistan to set up a network-enabled warfare capability with satellite feeds to monitor the Indian Ocean Regions (IOR) like the Indian Navy employs Centrix provided by the US Navy, writes Cmde Ranjit B. Rai (retd) for South Asia Monitor
In the BJP’s case, the arrogance bred by two successive general election victories convinced the party that it was now in a position to do more or less whatever it wanted, of which the first and foremost was the implementation of its longstanding desire to abolish Article 370, writes Amulya Ganguli for South Asia Monitor
Shringla also assured Myanmar of India’s support for the safe repatriation of displaced Rohingya Muslims from Bangladesh. About 40,000 or more Rohingya live in Indian cities, including Kolkata and Delhi, so India has its own reasons to push for a solution to the Rohingya problem, writes Subir Bhaumik for South Asia Monitor
Given that around 86.2 percent of farmers in India are small or marginal, all the activities require capital that they cannot afford without the middlemen. The bills in no way tries to create alternate credit mechanisms to aid farmers, writes Akshat Singh for South Asia Monitor
October 1962 is a sad chapter of Indian history and greater the pity that it remains under wraps, writes Cmde C Uday Bhaskar (retd) for South Asia Monitor
The Indian American community is sophisticated, knows and understands the domestic political compulsions and will not allow themselves to be led around by short term promises, writes Dr. Sridhar Krishnaswami for South Asia Monitor
Both the US and India are remarkable democratic experiments and their ability to champion democratic norms and freedoms - rather than weaken them - will prove critical to global peace and prosperity in the years ahead, write Sohini Chatterjee & Swadesh Chatterjee for South Asia Monitor
South Asian nations need to work together to cope with COVID-19 and unlock new opportunities to build economic resilience, connectivity, and human capital, writes Partha Pratim Mitra for South Asia Monitor
The Pakistan army has never won any war but they are also aware that the political hierarchy in India is apprehensive of waging war on Pakistan with the Chinese presence in POK-Pakistan, writes Lt Gen Prakash Katoch (retd) for South Asia Monitor
The pandemic has laid bare some fault lines and vulnerabilities in the domains of education and health, and the lessons need to reflect in the SDGs as fresh strategies, writes Ram Krishna Sinha for South Asia Monitor
Bangladesh’s export-led model of development is the major factor behind its growth dynamism and has altered its status from being a bottomless basket case to an Asian tiger in the making writes N Chandra Mohan for South Asia Monitor
