Theatre commands will have a four-star general at the helm — rank inflation or necessity? — Theatre commands will, belatedly, become a reality in the Indian military. Seventeen single service commands will be combined to form three theatre commands. Lets call them the Pakistan-facing command, China-facing command, and ocean-facing command whilst the government figures out what exact names to give them. …

Macron’s quest for ‘strategic autonomy’ in the Sahel fails as Niger becomes the latest country to succumb to a coup — 15 August has become an important day of global withdrawals and abandonments. Most recently, in public conscience at least, the Taliban assumed control of Kabul on 15 August 2021. Scenes of the rather shameful US and British evacuation seared the public conscience and will, forever, be associated with US involvement…

India assumes the presidency of the G-20 at a critical moment in history — I received some criticism for my piece India’s Russia Dependence Runs Deep last year. Justifiably so, from a ‘Western’ perspective, given Europeans were incredulous at how India’s entanglement with Russia might prevent her from condemning Russia. As I wrote at the time, condemnation won’t stop the war. India has strategic…

NATO’s not-so-secret-war in Ukraine is emboldening and militarising Poland — Poland boasts of 647 main battle tanks (MBTs), has an outstanding order of 366 new M1 Abrams from the US, and 1,000 K2 tanks from South Korea. Poland’s current operational fleet of MBTs is three times the size of the UK’s. The UK moved first on supplying tanks to Ukraine…

An attack on the Indian Parliament opened up an escape route for Osama bin Laden in December 2001 — 9 December 2001, White Mountain, Afghanistan A mere two months into the US invasion of Afghanistan, a 15,000-pound Daisy Cutter bomb was rolled out of the back of a C-130 cargo plane. A bomb so large that it literally had to be dropped out of the back of one of the world’s largest airplane. The target…

The announcement on 17 November will be painful for everyone — The Chancellor and his Prime Minister have ‘rolled the pitch’ enough for us to know what’s coming on 17 November. Painful tax rises and spending cuts. The government have made a litany of pleas — “show pay restrain”, “the broadest shoulders will bear the burden” among them. The nation is…

This recognises the valour and contributions of the Indian sub-continent — For most of my years on Earth, I have held one grudge. It turns acute every November. Especially 11th November. Armistice Day is a solemn day of remembrance across the European continent, but especially so in Britain. Yet, for decades this day went un-commemorated for British Asians, many of whose…

German strategic thought, mercantilist attitudes, and martial traditions — all need a rethink — “Russia is the storm, China is climate change”, said Thomas Haldenwang, Germany’s domestic spy chief to a committee of the Bundestag last week. Pity that his own Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, did not seem to pay heed. Scholz is flying to Beijing this week with titans of the German corporate world…

We need to pay attention to this ‘libertarian coup’ — Like a good analyst and writer, I got my copy out early. After the first leadership debate I wrote Liz Truss’ economic plan is diabolically bad on the 19th of July. She had actually uttered very little till that point in her campaign, but it was enough to ‘leave me…