The construct of ‘retaliatory action’ indicates revenge — inflicting injury on the adversary to emotionally sublimate oneself. Act we must, but in a rational rather than emotional mode. The response should be designed and calibrated to achieve specific objectives to further India’s national...
New Year, New Problem? Pakistan’s Tactical Nukes
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Pakistan is developing a new generation of smaller “tactical” nuclear weapons. The dangers and challenges such arms present are very real. October of last year marked the fiftieth anniversary of the 1962 Cuban missile crisis. Many Asian policymakers will read the lessons of that harrowing episode with some self-satisfaction. When India and Pakistan conducted their nuclear weapon tests in 1998,foreign analysts repeatedly told them that, as poor countries with weak institutions, they could not be entrusted with such awesome weaponry. Nascent nuclear powers were simply less reliable stewards than their Cold War counterparts. Over a...