1. Harper for stronger Canada-India ties. kiss kiss hug hug.
Toronto: Canada and India must forge stronger trade, investment and educational ties to build a more productive friendship, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has said. “Canada stands besides India as a steadfast and faithful friend,” Harper said in a message to a function organised by Panorama India to commemorate India’s 61st Republic Day celebration here. Outlining the many historical, cultural, social and economic ties between the two countries, Harper said: “These bonds are a solid foundation upon which we can build an even stronger, more productive friendship.”
2. US more at ease with India’s rise than China’s ascent. and pakistan is at the geopolitical crossroads of the region and so maybe that explains why some people would really like to control pakistan, and the usual way of doing that sort of thing is to destroy the country and take it over from the inside, as in iraq and afghanistan
The Pentagon’s Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) 2010 has recognized ”a more influential role in global affairs” for India including in the Indian Ocean region and beyond based on its commonalities with the US, while expressing Washington’s concern about the nature of China’s military development and decision-making processes.
The rise of China and India is a prominent theme underlying the QDR, a four-yearly document that offers a broad outline of US security posture that was released on Tuesday. While jettisoning the long-held goal of being able to fight two conventional wars at once (just when India is considering it) and recognizing a new range of threats including terrorism, the review also spells out US views of the two countries (China and India) it says will shape the international system in the years to come….The US policy projection comes at a time when there is much talk of India and China jostling for position and influence in the Indian Ocean region, and there are doubts and hand-wringing in New Delhi over Washington sidelining India in Afghanistan. in deference to a Pakistan-China flaking move. But the 2010 QDR is distinctly upbeat about its India outlook overall compared to reservations – laced with respect — about China.
…Virtually abandoning the US military’s traditional goal of being able to fight two conventional wars at once, the QDR instead emphases a new range of threats, including irregular warfare and cybersecurity. Urging a rethink on the ”construct” of national security, U.S defense secretary Robert Gates told reporters at Pentagon while releasing the report that ”we have learned through painful experience that the wars we fight are seldom the wars that we planned”
In one of several references to the Af-Pak imbroglio, the QDR says the United States recognizes that Pakistan is at the geopolitical crossroads of South and Central Asia, giving it an important regional role in security and stability. ”Our efforts in Afghanistan are inextricably linked to our partnership with Pakistan. Though our partnership with Pakistan is focused urgently on confronting al-Qaida and its allies, America’s interest in Pakistan’s security and prosperity will endure long after the campaign ends. While the epicenter of the terrorist threat to the US is rooted in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the war against al-Qaida and its allies continues around the world,” it says.
3. US gives India policing power in the Indian Ocean, citing same report
Taking note of India’s “growing influence” in global affairs, the US has said the country will be a net provider of security in the Indian Ocean and beyond with the growth of its military capabilities.
4. intelligence blooper! 1/29/10 - there weren’t 50 hang gliders procured for terrorism, only 3.
Official sources said the inquiry will focus on how the quantum of acquisition was apparently inflated irrespective of their source.
Senior officials in the Home ministry claimed that they had been briefed by the officials of the security agencies, who washed their hands off about the possibility of the para gliders being used to carry out terror strikes, sources said.
5. Monday: Russian NSA in Delhi to discuss terrorism
New Delhi: With the London conference clearing the way for reconciliation with the Taliban, national security advisers (NSA) of India and Russia will meet Monday to share views on the new strategy of integrating the hardline militia in Afghanistan that is a cause of concern to both countries.
National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon will hold talks with his Russian counterpart Nikolay Patrushev, secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation - the first foreign NSA to visit New Delhi since Menon assumed charge a week ago.
“Negotiations are expected to focus on topical issues of regional and international security, development of multifaceted Russian-Indian cooperation in bilateral and multilateral formats,” the Russian embassy said here Sunday while announcing Patrushev’s visit.
The agenda includes exchange of opinions on such urgent problems as fight against international terrorism, illegal production and trafficking of drugs, the embassy said.
