RUSSIAN NUKE SUB TO INDIA ON 10 YEAR LEASE
Indians celebrated when the Russian Navy inducted a new 12,000 ton Akula-II class nuclear-powered attack submarine last month. The reason? New Delhi will lease the sub for 10 years under a “secret contract” inked with Moscow in 2004. The ship – to be christened the INS Chakra – could join the Indian Navy as early as spring of next year. The Chakra would give India critical experience with operating nuclear-powered submarines as it works to construct its own domestic nuclear-powered submarine fleet and add a critical third leg to its nuclear triad. The Russian sub will be the second nuclear-powered vessel India has leased from Moscow, the first being a Charlie-I class sub from 1988 to 1991. (Times of India December 29, 2009)
A RECORD YEAR FOR VIOLENCE IN PAK
Most observers suspected 2009 was a bloody year for Pakistan but a new study from the Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS) highlights just how violent that country has become. Terrorist attacks alone accounted for 3,021 deaths in Pakistan in 2009, a 48% increase over 2008. Eighty seven suicide bombings accounted for 1,300 of those deaths, with an additional 3,600 injured. Yet that number tells only part of the tale: total violent deaths in Pakistan in 2009 totaled a staggering 12,600, which was 14 times higher than in 2006. To add perspective, 4,500 civilians were killed in Iraq in 2009 while 2,000 were killed in Afghanistan in the first ten months of that year.
The total violent deaths figure for Pakistan includes Islamist militants killed, which constituted “at least half” of the total dead, according to the report. Two large army offensives into the Swat Valley and South Waziristan accounted for most of those deaths, although U.S. drone strikes were also a factor. (London Guardian January 11, 2010)
INDIA FEARS CHINA'S CYBER ARMY
Amidst a rise in bilateral tensions and mounting suspicions in both India and the U.S. over Chinese espionage practices, India is facing an internal struggle over how to deal with Chinese investments in its technology sector. China has managed to establish a significant presence within India despite several barriers. Chinese telecom companies, for instance, already account for nearly 20 percent of the Indian market and supply India with sensitive equipment such as encoders, filters and transmitters for their network architecture. However, Indian industry experts believe Chinese products may contain “embedded software that is programmed for spying operations” and the government has intervened in several high-profile cases over the past year to bar Chinese companies from sensitive projects or revoke their contracts.
In 2009 alone: India’s Ministry of Defense and its Intelligence Bureau advised India’s public sector telecom giant BSNL not to do business with two of China’s largest telecom firms; the Indian Navy stopped the county’s Meteorological Department from installing Chinese-made Doppler radar systems; and India’s Department of Telecommunications advised mobile operators to “exercise caution while installing Chinese telecom equipment in ‘sensitive regions’.” According to the chairman of Indian Cyber Law and IT Act Committee, “[China] has raised a cyber army of about 300,000 people and their only job is to intrude upon secured networks of other countries. All this is aimed at supremacy. Every country must set up cyber armies to counter China.” (Jamestown Foundation China Brief Volume 10, Issue 2 January 21, 2010)
ABYSMAL STATE OF PAK PUBLIC EDUCATION
Experts have long feared that Pakistan’s thousands of madrassas or religious schools have served as incubators for extremism. After all, the Taliban, which literally means “students,” earned their radical religious education from these very schools. However, observers always took solace in the fact that the madrassas accounted for a small percentage of the overall number of schools in Pakistan: only about 1.5 million Pakistanis are educated at madrassas versus some 20 million in public schools. Which makes it all the more troubling that upon investigation, Pakistan’s public education system appears to in a state of ruin. Pakistan spends less than 3 percent of its budget on education but even that relatively low amount is largely wasted. Thousands of “ghost schools” receive state funding but contain no students, schools buildings, or books. Perhaps the only thing more troubling than the corruption is the curriculum; one that “glorifies violence in the name of Islam and ignores basic history, science and math.” According to Khadim Hussain, a professor at Islamabad’s Bahria University, the system infuses students at every level of education with a paradigm that views non-Muslim nations as intent on destroying Pakistan and the Pakistani army is the only source of protection from these threats. (Washington Post January 17, 2010)
Want these sent to your inbox?
Subscribe