Articles

Operation Sindoor: Paradigm shift from candle lights to BrahMos

Within 15 days of the Pahalgam slaughter, Team Modi accomplished the explicitly declared mission by hitting nine terror bases in Pakistan and killed over 100 jihadis. Operation Sindoor against Pahalgam attack achieves military, political, psycholo....

May 13, 2025 Terrorism , National Security and Strategic Studies , Pakistan , Governance and Political Studies , Article , Pakistan , Terrorists , Article 370 , Pahalgam Attack , Narendra Modi , Operation Sindoor

Indigenization of Indian Air Force: Strategic Shift in Political Economy

Brig (Dr) Ashok Pathak (Retd.) Article

Deja Vu in 2025: Return of the HF 24 Debate

Three and a half decades after India ‘retired’ an indigenous fighter air craft -HF 24 Marut (after using it successfully in war), we are on the brink of a similar situation. These are the i....

May 09, 2025 National Security and Strategic Studies , Defence , Article , LCA , F 35 , Su57 , Stealth Aircraft , AMCA , HF 24

Pushed to the Brink: The Alarming Toll of Climate Change on Our Oceans

PK Khup Hangzo, Associate Fellow, VIF Article

Coral reefs, often referred to as the “rainforests of the sea,” are among the most biodiverse and crucial ecosystems on Earth. They sustain around 830,000 species^[1] - over....

May 09, 2025 National Security and Strategic Studies , Climate Change , Article , Climate Change , Marine heatwaves , Ocean warming , Fourth global coral bleaching event , Marine litter

Opposite ends of the Pendulum: Syama Prasad Mukherjee and Nehru on Pakistan and China

Raghvendra Singh, Senior Fellow, VIF Article

It was axiomatic that different ideologies would exist in different parts of the world. The whole world obviously could never be built on one pattern. Syama Babu believed that trouble arose only when ideologies and principles, either peacefully or vi....

May 07, 2025 Historical and Civilisational Studies , Article , India , Pakistan , China , Tibet , McMahon Line , Nehru Liaquat Pact , plebiscite , Syama Babu , UNO

A Strategy of Protracted Warfare

Lt Gen (Dr) Rakesh Sharma (Retd.), Distinguished Fellow, VIF Article

Protracted War, as a terminology, theorizes of a military strategy, penned by Mao Zedong, in On Protracted War (1938), emphasizing long-term struggle and attrition, drawing the enemy into favourable terrain, and gradually escalating from guerr....

May 05, 2025 Terrorism , Jammu & Kashmir , National Security and Strategic Studies , Article , Pakistan Army , Gen Asim Munir , Pahalgam terror attack , Anti Indianism , Protracted war

Dragon at the Doorstep: China's Grip on Cambodia and the Rising Storm in Southeast Asia

Dr Gautam Kumar Jha Article

Two countries among the ASEAN nations—Laos and Cambodia—are increasingly functioning as scribes for China in return for the generous financial patronage extended by Beijing to their current regimes. Among these, Cambodia, with its relatively grea....

May 05, 2025 International Relations and Diplomacy , China , Article , Ream Naval Base , Khmer Empire , RNB , Cambodia China relations , China Indo-Pacific strategy. Maritime militarization , ASEAN unity and neutrality , Cambodia sovereignty , Paris Peace Accords 1991

Strategic Shifts and the Panama Ports Deal

Esha Banerji, Research Assistant, VIF Article

Introduction

For the past few weeks, all eyes have been on a multibillion-dollar deal that was supposed to be signed early this month and would lead to the transfer of control of approximately 43 ports across 23 countries. However, it has....

May 01, 2025 International Relations and Diplomacy , China , Article , China , Trump , Panama , Hutchison

Coming of Age - ‘Instruments of Air Denial’

Lt Gen (Dr) V K Saxena (Retd), PVSM, AVSM, VSM Article

On the night of 23/24 Feb 2022 when the Russians fired the first salvo of the current round in Russo-Ukraine war in the form of a strong pre-emptive air strike complete with strike aircrafts, cruise missiles, multi-barrel rocket launchers and more, i....

April 30, 2025 National Security and Strategic Studies , International Relations and Diplomacy , Defence , Russia , Article , Air defence , Drones , GBAD , Swarms

West Asian Leaders and Organisations Condemn Terrorist Attack in Pahalgam, Jammu & Kashmir

Amb Anil Trigunayat, Distinguished Fellow, VIF Article

Adversity often becomes a litmus test for friends. It is also not untrue of diplomacy. For decades, India’s relationship with most West Asian countries has been transactional and only recently due to strategic and increasing importance of India and....

April 29, 2025 International Relations and Diplomacy , West Asia , Article , Israel , Iran , Saudi Arabia , West Asia , Terror attack , Turkey , Pahalgam