Those of you who have been following the flurry of recent reports, offers  and comments about the possibility of a “nuclear Iran” will not find much to cheer in Prof. Drezner’s conclusion in a recent article on Foreign Policy (emphasis mine):
…the most pragmatic thing for the United States to do is to expect nothing fruitful to come from negotiations with Iran — and to (nonviolently) prepare for the contingency of a nuclear Iran.
I think he is right.
Meanwhile the Israel Defense Forces chief is reported as saying: Israel would not tolerate a …

Sh Krishen Kak emailed me this article written by Sh N S Rajaram in 2001 with the preface: “Prophetic!“. 
In an email yesterday, Sh Rajaram mentioned how the “…attack on the Sri Lankan team is eloquent testimony to the collapse of the state….”.  I am afraid one of my worst nightmares - a rapidly disintegrating Pakistan – may be closer to reality than I thought.
*** Excerpts from ”Meltdown in Pakistan” (2001) ***
The Indian establishment, obsessed with the insurgency in Kashmir, appears to have totally missed the cataclysmic changes taking place across the border that may soon render …

Just pasting some URLs in the middle of a very busy day….
BBC:
Gunmen have attacked a bus carrying the Sri Lankan cricket team on its way to play in the Pakistani city of Lahore.
At least five Pakistani policemen escorting the team bus were killed, while seven cricketers, and their assistant coach, were injured.
Pakistani officials said about 12 gunmen were involved and grenades and rocket launchers have been recovered.
Officials said the incident bore similarities to deadly attacks in Mumbai in India last November.
Gunmen remain at large after Pakistan attack on Sri Lankan …

Below are extracts from an article by Wilson John published in the latest issue of Pragati on “why the threat from Jamaat-ud-Dawa is set to rise“. It makes for some thought-provoking and disturbing reading.
*** Excerpts from “The assembly line of international terrorism” (emphasis mine) ***
…The motive for the Pakistani army to follow a multifaceted policy towards terrorist entities is to retain the option of using terrorist groups as instruments of state policy, particularly in India and Afghanistan. The policy has yielded visible gains for the army on both fronts.
A telling example of …

Last weekend,  I was honoured to be asked to release the overseas edition of “India Under Siege” – a book written by Sh N Ravindranath, a retired IB officer.
I have not read the book fully (yet) but have gone through the contents. They make for disturbing reading.  The books is divided in six chapters:

Security Scenario in India
Action Group Movement of Networking NGOs
The Sachar Committee Report
Dark Side of the Union Budget for 2008-2009
Sorry State of India’s Defence Preparedness
A Wake Up Call

Even though you may not agree with it in its entirety, I am sure you will find …

One long and one short article this weekend. The first is about Pakistan and what may well turn out to be Obama’s worst foreign policy nightmare.
The second includes some suggestions for BJP re. its eductaion policy from a well-wisher.
BONUS:  Read why serial-entrepreneur Rajesh Jain and Atanu Dey have gone public with their support of the BJP.
Excerpts from both the articles below 

Please read this searing piece by fearless Sri Lankan journalist Lasantha Wickramatunga titled, “And then they came for me“.  Lasantha was shot dead last fortnight*. 
Excerpts below:
No other profession calls on its practitioners to lay down their lives for their art save the armed forces and, in Sri Lanka, journalism. …Electronic and print-media institutions have been burnt, bombed, sealed and coerced. Countless journalists have been harassed, threatened and killed. It has been my honour to belong to all those categories and now especially the last.
I have been in the business of journalism …

This weekend, please revisit 1962′s incredible saga of valour
Read about the unfortunate link between “greed” and science in China
and finally read what Sandeep has to say on the Media Knavery following the attacks in Mumbai.
As usual, excerpts from all the article are below.

This is a “lazy” post…Lazy because it is actually a collection of posts by different bloggers/writers who I follow online. Yet, I don’t feel the need to be particularly apologetic since I believe this collection of measures are some of the most forceful, realistic, practical ways of dealing with Pakistan. They all centre around the need to dismantle the power structures in Pakistan primarily by following a strategy of balkanization.

Image Courtesy: Wikipedia

I have written on this theme before (in a long/ *must read* post)…but the recent attacks in Mumbai add a while …

In a widely reported statement, Pakistan’s PM President* Asif Ali Zardari said recently that India should not let rogue “non-state actors” push the two countries into a confrontation, thereby implying that non-state actors were solely responsible for the carnage in Mumbai.
Let me ask these questions to President Zardari:
1. If – as you claim – Pakistan itself is fighting these non-state actors, why is your government dragging its feet on handing over leaders of organisations supposedly banned by your predecessors? Why have past governments stonewalled long-standing Indian requests for handing over criminals and drug smugglers with …