My 19th ebook
https://www.dropbox.com/s/mba0pqw7e1ug46p/ebook%20Thoughts%20While%20Lying%20Flat.pdf?dl=0
https://www.academia.edu/99709014/Ebook_Thoughts_While_Lying_Flat
For the Indian Voter
Preface
As India goes into election year, it is important to
foreground national security. National security is seldom a concern with
voters, who understandably have other significant concerns. However, the last
time round, the Narendra Modi government, fearful of not addressing the latter
concerns, had instead chosen to leverage national security to get another lease
of life. Though it has other rabbits to pull out of its hat to pull off a Modi hattrick
of elections at the national level, national security may yet be one among
them.
This collection of commentaries is to help voters be
more discerning when the Modi regime approaches them for votes claiming to have
safeguarded national security or for being strong on defence. The commentaries
reveal this to be the Big Lie, fed to Indian voters since the run
up to the 2014 elections. Voters, targeted with incessant information
operations since, have granted the regime the benefit of the doubt. This compilation
may help with a perspective other than what they are fed with by agents of the
regime in the strategic community and by the lapdog media. It aims to furnish
relevant information and fleshes out fresh and original takes on national
security. Hope it helps The Indian Voter, to whom this ebook is dedicated to exercise
her democratic right of informed franchise better.
The book carries articles from September 2022 onwards,
the prior series of articles, from March 2022, being carried in my last
compilation: India’s Journey to #NewIndia: Through an Ashokan Lens. India’s Journey comprised the first 35 posts
on Ali’s Version, my corner at Substack, beginning
March 2022. This book carries the posts put out later, and writings elsewhere since
September 2022. It is structured in three parts: The National Domain, The
Military Domain and Generic Writings. It completes coverage of national
security over the past year, enough to take a view on where we’ve come from and
where we are headed on this score.
Contents
|
Ser |
Title |
Date |
|
|
1 |
The National
Domain |
|
|
|
2 |
Did Rahul Gandhi just sound the gong on R2P? |
22 Mar 2023 |
7 |
|
3 |
The Doval Score Card at its fag end |
26 Feb 2023 |
11 |
|
4 |
India’s China strategy: From strategic proactivism to docility |
7 Jan 2023 |
15 |
|
5 |
In defence of Richa Chadha |
29 Nov 2022 |
22 |
|
6 |
India’s national security: A feast for Advisers |
2 Nov 2022 |
27 |
|
7 |
Unappraised lesson from 1962 |
25 Oct 2022 |
32 |
|
8 |
"Kashmir resolved": Fine as election rhetoric, not policy |
16 Oct 2022 |
37 |
|
9 |
Taking stock of a Hindutva foreign policy |
9 Oct 2022 |
42 |
|
10 |
Hindutva’s ‘outreach’ to Muslim India |
27 Sep 2022 |
47 |
|
11 |
What to make of Modi’s ‘war is history’ thesis? |
18 Sep 2022 |
51 |
|
12 |
Jammu and Kashmir: It is in
national interest to conduct elections soon |
18 Feb 2023 |
55 |
|
13 |
Nuclear deterrence in India’s strategic doctrine |
2015 |
57 |
|
|
The Military
Domain |
|
|
|
14 |
Anything to Pakistan’s nuclear nightmares? |
4 Apr 2023 |
61 |
|
15 |
The regime’s misuse of the Army Chief’s broad shoulders |
30 Mar 2023 |
66 |
|
16 |
The learning from
Amshipora: Military leadership matters
|
7 Mar 2023 |
72 |
|
17 |
Specialism: Getting to the military’s future |
4 Mar 2023 |
76 |
|
18 |
Another Modi masterstroke: A regime favourite as CDS |
28 Sep 2022 |
79 |
|
19 |
Agni Prime and the Two-Front War |
14 Nov 2022 |
84 |
|
|
Generic writings |
|
|
|
20 |
In Pakistan, Imran Khan faces a crisis fiercer
than the World Cup |
16 Mar 2023 |
88 |
|
21 |
Book Review: A Life In The Shadows: A Memoir By AS
Dulat |
Mar 2023 |
89 |
|
22 |
Book Reviews: · Understanding
The India China Border: The Enduring Threat Of War In The High Himalayas by
Manoj Joshi · The
Last War: How Ai Will Shape India’s Final Showdown With China by Pravin
Sawhney |
Feb 2023 |
91 |
|
23 |
Book Reviews: ·
The 24th Mile: An Indian Doctor’s
Heroism In War-Torn Burma by Tehmton S. Mistry · Escape
From Pakistan: The Untold Story Of Jack Shea by Debora Ann Shea · December
In Dacca: The Indian Armed Forces And The 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War by
KS Nair · Operation
Khukri: The True Story Behind Indian Army’s Most Successful Mission as part
of the United Nations by Rajpal Punia & Damini Punia · Anuj
Nayyar: The Tiger of Dras ·
Hisila: From revolutionary to first lady |
Dec 2022 |
94 |
|
24 |
New India comes
a-calling |
3 Oct 2022 |
96 |
|
25 |
Acknowledgements |
5 Apr 2023 |
99 |
Acknowledgements
The book’s contents have been written at a time when the
Narendra Modi regime is contemplating how to ensnare The Indian Voter for the
third time. The book hopes to pre-empt the regime by cautioning The Indian
Voter. The book is an effort to stand shoulder to shoulder with those taking
similar but more courageous stands in their respective fields, on the street,
in the cyber world, in corridors of power and campuses. It is to have something
to say when asked in dotage where one was when India was being carted away. Having
increasingly fewer peers and friends one can engage openly with these days, I
thank these few for their still being around. So long as they are there, hope
remains that The Indian Voter will wrest India back yet.
