The AMAN-21 naval exercise, the biennial event hosted by Pakistani Navy since 2007, in Karachi and the Arabian Sea from February 11-16 draws special attention. As many as 45 navies are reportedly participating, which makes AMAN probably the biggest event of its kind in the Indian Ocean or anywhere. Not only that, the participants include…
Many political scientists could not but notice and weigh in on a trend on the global arena – Japan is not particularly quickly yet steadfastly gaining a foothold in the Indian Ocean (and not only in the regions of the Middle East and North Africa). This process appears to be shaping, in a gradual manner,…
I am interested in the way that narratives that shape individual events are crafted, curated and disseminated, because ultimately there is a tendency to focus mostly on specific events and ignore the wider context. Ultimately, we end up with being presented with a series of disjointed events, not really understanding the history or the detailed…
Two recent changes in government – one in Maldives and the other in Sri Lanka – serve to illustrate the current political and economic battle for influence between India and China in an Indian Ocean that is “Indian” in name only. Although China and India are partners in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), they are…
India is sending several messages by bragging about its alleged ability to track one of its “frenemy’s” submarines in the “Indian Ocean”, though the timing of this announcement might inadvertently raise further suspicions in Russia about its South Asian partner’s true long-term strategic intentions. Sputnik reported that Indian Navy Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba just disclosed…
Russia is pursuing a remarkably balanced naval strategy in the Afro-Bengal Ocean (Indian Ocean) that strives to maintain equal relations with its Pakistani and Indian counterparts, being drawn to the region not just because of its desire to maintain strategic stability between these two rivals through “military diplomacy”, but also to protect forthcoming offshore energy…
