Pakistan looks to reform FATA governance... sort of; China upgrades missiles, India upgrades missile defense; India and China spar at sea; Maoists still threat #1

Call it the Great Game, round three. The first such contest, famously chronicled by Rudyard Kipling, involved the 19th century struggle for dominance between the British and Russian empires over access to India and its lucrative trading routes. The second centered on the post-Soviet scramble for resources and influence in energy-rich Central Asia. Today, a third such round of geopolitical competition is emerging in South Asia, spurred by the vast energy potential of the post-Soviet space and the uncertain political disposition of Afghanistan.

Last month, this competition took a giant step forward when Afghan President Hamid Karzai met with the presidents of Turkmenistan and Pakistan, as well as with India's oil and gas minister, in the Turkmen capital of Ashgabat. The meeting netted an agreement to begin construction of a new natural gas route known as the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India pipeline in two years' time.

Russian "ultra-nationalism" - a double-edged sword;
The fix is in for Khodorkovsky

Chinese modernization: more of the same; India focuses on lasers; A NATO shield against Iran

Mao Zedong Thought makes a comeback; Beijing cracks down on independent reporting

New U.S. base in northern Afghanistan?; Pak cracks down on Punjabi Taliban, sort of; India considers beefing up border presence even more; Headley tells India ISI involved in Mumbai

Beijing Maglev plans criticized in Chinese press; China and Russia fret over heroin exports from Afghanistan

Pak draws down troops from Kashmir; Maoist protests paralyze Nepal; India and Pak eye navy upgrades; India and China bring water issues into the open

The latest issue to raise heckles [in India] has been cyberespionage. In January, India’s National Security Advisor MK Naryanan directly blamed China for multiple hacking attacks, and the chairman of India’s Cyber Law and IT Act Committee warned that same month that China had “raised a cyber army of about 300,000 people and their only job is to intrude upon the secured networks of other countries.” In April, a study by US and Canadian researchers claimed that a Chinese ‘shadow network’ had copied secret files of India’s defence ministry, potentially compromising some of India’s advanced weapons systems.

Taliban turn to Tehran for training; Hezb-i-Islami makes an offer in Afghanistan; Assessment of Bangladesh militancy; Maoists up the stakes against New Delhi