India’s Direction, Modi’s Strivings And Impact On Sri Lanka – Part ll
S. Sivathasan
Continued from Part l of 3.3.2014
Financial Muscle
Economic muscle taking multiple forms is needed for favourable decisions. More in war and yet more in peacetime relationships and negotiations. It is not farfetched to say that US’s financial resilience and industrial capacity for aircraft manufacture – combat and support – had a decisive impact on World War ll. She accounted for 303,000 of 790,000 produced for the war. Of her production, 39,000 supplemented UK’s 131,000. Whatever be the high tech nature for future wars, economic stature will be the tilting factor. For this reason US and India will be getting closer with UK and Japan not being outside this company. The US India Nuclear Deals of this century signal this collaborative platform.
China’s Ascent
Political consolidation and military stability under Mao, have lent themselves to the programme of economic resurgence that Deng was able to launch. The very dynamic of her economic growth and social expectations have compelled the pursuit of her strategies internationally. Among many have been, prospecting for sources of raw materials, consolidating them for the long term and securing the supply routes for sustained delivery.
As China’s economy grew exponentially, so did her insatiable appetite for materials from resource rich nations of the world. For security of supplies she has a beautifully crafted ‘String of Pearls’, which when stretched reaches Australia in the South East and extends to Venezuela and Chile in the Far West. For her needs of oil and gas, iron and coal, metals and minerals there is hardly a country that is left out in any of the continents.
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China: Kunming Terrorist Attack
Col. (retd) R.Hariharan
Indians who have been facing terrorist attacks for decades will condemn the dastardly attack at Kunming railway station in the early hours on March 2 that took 29 innocent lives. Over 100 people were reported injured in the attack. The masked terrorists wielding fruit knives struck wildly at the people crowding the station. Xinhua reported that a gang of eight “appeared to be expert at hacking people” took part in the attack.
The same agency also reported that the Kunming Public Security Bureau’s four-man SWAT team patrolling the city responding to the alert reached the station in ten minutes and in the midst of all the chaos managed to shoot and kill four of the five terrorists including a masked woman. The fifth member was wounded. It said the terrorists dressed in black when challenged stood their ground and the SWAT team leader managed to shoot a woman attacker who threw a knife at him.
China’s security forces including PLA, Special Forces, Border troops, Public Security forces, and the police have been honing their counter terrorist operational skills during the last few years. Counter terrorism has been the focus their joint training programmes with the forces of other countries including Russia, India, Sri Lanka and Thailand. The public security forces response to Kunming attack has shown their training has paid off. Their operational readiness – to react and respond in real time – and the professional competency demonstrated in Kunming, the capital city of Yunnan Province, far away from Xinjiang which had been the focus of militant attacks is really commendable.
The Kunming attack brings back the unpleasant memories of Mumbai police’s clumsy response and utter lack of preparedness despite prior intelligence during the 26/11 terrorist attacks carried out on 12 targets by Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiyaba (LeT) terrorists who infiltrated into the city and held it to ransom for four days from November 26, 2008. They killed in all 164 people and injured 308 others. Two LeT terrorists who reached the Chhatrapati Sivaji Terminus (the Victoria Terminus) station opened AK-47 fire on passengers waiting there, killing 58 of them and wounding 104. The policemen on duty at the station opened fire with their obsolete rifles and managed to kill one terrorist. The efforts of the Union Home Ministry to streamline and coordinate the state’s readiness to respond to terrorist attacks that started immediately thereafter are yet to be completed! Read More
