Pontificating Across The Pond

Episode 11 - The Nuclear Decades

On May 18, 1974, India conducted a 'peaceful' nuclear explosion - which came on the heels of vivisecting Pakistan. The intervening decades have seen nuclear adventures and misadventures, plans for pre-emptive strikes created and shelved and we ended the millennium with nuclear tests on both sides of the border. India's journey since, has been responsible and respectful - but did the tests help India achieve her aims? Would Prime Minister MMS' deal with the US have been possible without the impetus created by Pokhran II in 1998?

Episode 10 - US Oil's Descent into Anarchy and the Special Forces Debate Rages on

WTI's May Contract exchanged hands at -$37/bbl a day before expiry. Is this indicative of a wider supply glut or do US's unique inland dynamics make this a one-off? More importantly, can India expect to get free oil? The Special Forces debate in India is an old one and re-surfaced when 5 soldiers from the elite 4 Para (SF) lost their lives combating infiltrators. Although this loss was brought about by freak circumstance, is the debate anywhere being close to settled? Read Uday's article on negative oil here https://bit.ly/NegativeOil and the Indian Special Forces here http://bit.ly/TNIXIV

Episode 9 - A Leadership Crisis During A Crisis

As the Covid-19 pandemic sweeps across the world - Som and Uday talk about the twin crises of leadership and the pandemic itself. The pain this pandemic has inflicted is not to be trifled with - but when we do come out the other end, what will our relationship with our governments look like? Business as usual or a brave new world?

Episode 8 - Houston, we have Modi and a CDS

"India's Prime Minister, Narendra Modi went on a charm offensive in the US. Som and Uday discuss what this means for India's foreign policy, that is, if it means anything at all. But more importantly, how India might be using a civilisational approach to her diaspora. In his Independence speech, Modi also announced the creation of the role of a Chief of Defence Staff - a recommendation of the Kargil War Committee from 2001. The history of this role, though, goes much deeper. Lord Mountbatten wanted India to continue to have a Commander-in-Chief, but the politicians of the day scuttled it. Is the CDS a C-in-C's new avatar or will it be a watered down post in an environment of single service primacy? "

Episode 7 - Kashmir in the Shah era

The Indian government scrapped Article 370, which granted Jammu & Kashmir special status, on 5 August 2019. This historic move has seen many reactions and repucussions - but Som and Uday delve deeper into why the Western press has seen fit to be (intentionally) one sided and omit key facts, why the Kashmiri identity is NOT threatened and how the "Kashmir issue" is truly an internal issue, or at best bilateral. Of course, the government did not get everything right and that includes parliamentary discourse. We decouple Patel and Nehru's successes and failures at our own peril - because nation building continued well into the 1960s. Here are Uday's writings on Kashmir; http://bit.ly/TNIXXXI, http://bit.ly/TNIXXIX, http://bit.ly/TNIXIX