Columnists

Arjun Subramaniam

The writer is a retired Air Vice Marshal and a military historian.

Why a war treatise written in 5th century BC can explain the conflict in Ukraine

Thu, Mar 03, 2022

Arjun Subramaniam writes: The fine print of Thucydides’s narrative rests on the trinity of fear, honour and interest -- a framework that fits most of the ongoing contemporary conflicts.

How the militant aspect of India’s freedom struggle was sidelined

Fri, Oct 22, 2021

Arjun Subramaniam writes: A recent film, Udham Singh, highlights how the role of violent acts of defiance was diminished by overplaying the impact of the non-violent movement. This only served British interests

IAF has enhanced India’s deterrent and coercive posture in Ladakh

Mon, Nov 23, 2020

Whatever transpires on the ground during the coming weeks, the aerospace segment of deterrence, intelligence gathering, surveillance and reconnaissance must act as the strategic establishment’s eyes and first responder in any future responses along the LAC, particularly in Ladakh.

Book Extract: Full Spectrum: India’s Wars 1972-2020 by Arjun Subramaniam

Sat, Sep 12, 2020

The Chinese conundrum and how India met it in 1967

Multiple localised actions on LAC hold key to keeping PLA in check

Fri, Jul 03, 2020

While the window for a limited conflict remains wide open, it is important that both countries plunge back into the battle against COVID-19, more so India, which has less wiggle room than China to tackle multiple crises.

Covid constraints on defence expenditure could help transform military culture

Fri, May 08, 2020

Training in the Indian military is top-notch and needs a little tweaking to help officers and men understand the rules of engagement in a Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous world. It is diversified education at all levels of leadership that is a weak area.

IAF operation has established air strikes as an effective tool of deterrence in sub-conventional warfare

Wed, Feb 27, 2019

The internal situation in Pakistan and its precarious economic condition may preclude the possibility of any escalated conventional response.

What they don’t get

Thu, Jun 15, 2017

The Indian Army is in the midst of a proxy, state-sponsored war in Jammu and Kashmir. Academics who criticise statements by the army chief and unconventional operations by the force are way off target

The Ambiguities Of Xi

Wed, Dec 21, 2016

Contradictions in Chinese statecraft on his watch make him hard to fathom.

Soldier of steel

Thu, Sep 10, 2015

We need to remember Harbaksh Singh if we want to commemorate the 1965 war.

Clearing the air

Sat, Oct 20, 2012

The IAF was capable in 1962,even if not fully exploited

What India can take away from Deng Xiaoping

Mon, Jan 16, 2012

Mao may have created a nation called the Peoples Republic of China,but he left it as a flawed nation without the tools to realise its ambitions of achieving great power status