Letter from the Editor | July 2024

You know some causes are dead when both the stakeholders and the non-stakeholder resort to competitive projectionism knowing fully well that none have the desire or the gumption to realise what they project. Projectionism is nothing but punching a sandbag in your room facing the window so that others can see your supposed power.

The Tibet cause, sadly, now exists only behind the glass window. Both the stakeholders, (Tibetan people, China and India) and the non-stakeholder (US) know that none will step out of their rooms for various reasons. They will simply vitiate the atmosphere by periodic spewing of threats, warnings and abuses, preventing peace and progress from taking root. It would have been no big deal if the power of the stakeholders was equally matched—they could have then continued with shadow-boxing. But this is not the case here. India and China are unmatched in military and economic power; and both know this, whatever the former may assert. With the US now provoking China riding on the Tibetans, and India piggy-backing on the US sabre rattling, it would not be surprising if China resorts to local bullying to stamp on US’ feet. In short, war against India to teach the US a lesson.

The July cover story is about this power play between the US and China over Tibet, in which India is voluntarily offering itself as a battleground without realising the full consequences of its actions. Neither history, nor contemporary events, especially in Ukraine, has been instructive in guiding India’s foreign policy with regards to its total reliance on the US. The cover story dwells on both the reasons for this as well as the consequences. Hope sense prevails, even if belatedly.

The other two big stories in this issue are on theatre commands and militarization of the deep sea. While on the former, Brig. Palsokar argues that India’s recent military history and current geopolitics doesn’t instill confidence about the necessity and effectiveness of theatre commands. Besides, the manner of their conceptualisation also do not help. On deep sea, RAdm. Ashokan while expressing misgivings about the militarisation by big powers of what should have been global commons for the benefit of the humanity, talks of what each competitive nation is doing to carve out its own slice. As always, the big powers are cornering bigger resources.

There are also articles on the use of AI in data analysis, on employment of deception for cyber security, on border infrastructure as well as defence exports. In the news section, there are updates not only from Indian defence services and industry, but also from the two recent international shows, ILA and Eurosatory. Read on.