With only one seaworthy submarine and less than half its maritime and land vehicles operational, Canada has made this major announcement ahead of the G7 and NATO summits.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte proposed that alliance members boost defence spending to 3.5% of GDP & commit further 1.5% to broader security-related spending.
Under Xi Jinping’s leadership, the defence budget has more than doubled from 720 billion yuan in 2013 as China has been investing heavily in advanced military capabilities.
As Sardar KM Panikkar explained, India’s land-based invaders ultimately became natives. Its colonisers came by the sea—and they were successful because Indian rulers ignored the waters.
Standing committee has urged focus on procurement of state-of-the-art equipment & keeping Army expenditure ‘in proportion to increase in defence spending of our neighbours’.
While we talk much about our military, we don’t put our national wallet where our mouth is. Nobody is saying we should double our defence spending, but current declining trend must be reversed.
The civil aviation ministry could have recognised the enormity of the Air India crash and prepared the AAIB and its investigating team for its sensitivities.
Mini deal will likely see no cut in 10% baseline tariff on Indian exports announced by Trump on 2 April, it is learnt, but additional 26% tariffs are set to be reduced.
India-Russia JV is also racing to deliver 7,000 more AK-203 assault rifles by 15 Aug. These are currently being made with 50% indigenisation and this will surge to 100% by 31 December.
Public, loud, upfront, filled with impropriety and high praise sometimes laced with insults. This is what we call Trumplomacy. But the larger objective is the same: American supremacy.
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