At a press event, defence chief Angus Campbell deftly intervened to tell Australia's defence minister to take political questions without his officers in the frame.
As Narendra Modi becomes India’s second-longest consecutively serving Prime Minister, we look at how he compares with Indira Gandhi across four key dimensions.
Its nice to see this moral uprightness, though Australia is an Island nation with no shared borders, and their nearest neighbouring country is possibly a few thousand KMs away. I don’t know if they have any enemy nations.
In contrast we are in a low grade war with Pakistan for decades, and China, Burma, Bangladesh keeping pecking at our borders.
And our politicians and our bureaucracy are not exactly honest to the cause of the soldiers. Defence procurements are mired in controversies, and critical offensive and defensive military equipments are in short supply or not available.
The military leadership has no choice but to find creative means to get at least some of their needs addressed, including working on the politicians and bureaucrats.
In these circumstances, it is indeed commendable that they have maintained a very high level of separation from politics, barring a few exceptions. In fact everytime they’re called upon to serve during natural calamities or man made accidents, they deliver in a secular and non partisan manner to the highest standards.
Context makes all the difference – Australia enjoys a unique level of insularity from other nations, India is surrounded and at war continuously. We should judge the behaviours according to the context.
Its nice to see this moral uprightness, though Australia is an Island nation with no shared borders, and their nearest neighbouring country is possibly a few thousand KMs away. I don’t know if they have any enemy nations.
In contrast we are in a low grade war with Pakistan for decades, and China, Burma, Bangladesh keeping pecking at our borders.
And our politicians and our bureaucracy are not exactly honest to the cause of the soldiers. Defence procurements are mired in controversies, and critical offensive and defensive military equipments are in short supply or not available.
The military leadership has no choice but to find creative means to get at least some of their needs addressed, including working on the politicians and bureaucrats.
In these circumstances, it is indeed commendable that they have maintained a very high level of separation from politics, barring a few exceptions. In fact everytime they’re called upon to serve during natural calamities or man made accidents, they deliver in a secular and non partisan manner to the highest standards.
Context makes all the difference – Australia enjoys a unique level of insularity from other nations, India is surrounded and at war continuously. We should judge the behaviours according to the context.