World's (In)Security

mach24

Answer to your question regarding terrorism/non-conventional, low intensity organizations.

I would like to point out that, although we face a threat from terrorism, its nature is different from that of an army.

Yes, terrorism requires too less resources and is very difficult to control. But no matter how successful a terrorist attack would be, they cant(want to, but incapable of) question the sovereignity of a nation, for that they need a lot more(an army, maybe). All that they achieve is to draw attention, and create obstacles in the smooth functioning of a state. That is to say, they achieve nuisance value(not enough power to take over, but at the same time powerful enough to cause harm/troubles).

Ex- WTO crashed- terrorism.
China occupies Tibet- not terrorism.
Russia attacks georgia- not terrorism.

AK_CS

@abhinrao24 : dude! i had understood u in right perspective only, but, anyway its good that you tried to make the point clearer. (I am in a fix right now whether i erred in communicating or you erred in comprehending but lets not argue about this further )
regarding sovereignty also, you are true but i accepted this earlier itself. i said conventional armies are fast losing significance not that they aren't needed anymore. Terrorism/Low intensity conflict is certainly more than a nuisance. What i hinted towards was cyber war, space war(Anti-satellite weapons)- these new threats are very complex and dynamic. There is need of moving beyond conventional capabilities-only that much i intended to convey. Pardon me if i exaggerated any idea, for the sake of making things interesting for, after all, I am a Philosophy student :P (you made me accept that atlast).
Please post your views on Cyber threat preparations of India.

mach24

Armies losing importance is sort of impractical, thats what I'm trying to stress.

If you want an example from recent developments, take Mali, see what state it is in coz of a weak/neglected army.

Maybe u r not realising its importance bcos of the country u live in, which has put the doctrine of deterence to good use(though after learning it the hard way), & given u the luxury, liberty, & conducive atmosphere to think this way(I'm telling this bcos when China attacked India in '60s, we had not seen it coming, and hence were not prepared to handle the situation well, we couldn defend ourselves. And 50 yrs is not a lot of time in the life of a nation.).


Now, regarding cyber threat perceptions of India, even I'm not aware of it(ll post, if I get anything relevant in future).


I'm drawing parallels b/w conventional, non-conventional and cyber warfare.

Category- War(W) - Terrorism(T) - Cyber warfare(C)

Participants- Armies vs Armies -Terrorists vs Army -Respective state proffesionals


Tools- All kinds of arms
Nuke, ship, aircraft - Lower scale arms - S/w programs (viruses n antivi)
etc - normally dont have tanks etc



Fund needed- Mainting Army in - Arms and training - R&D (New s/w and tech)
for ready condn + arms
etc-


Why I'm doing this is to highlight the point that they all basically fall under warfare, though they may vary in form, scale/magnitude. One cannot afford to neglect any one of them, all are equally important(including conventional armies). This may require a lot of expenditure, but its sort of a necessity, we may look paranoid about these things(the enhanced security checks, defence budgets etc), maybe because we are, for every one is speaking the same language(like trying to fight fire with fire, no one is thinking of using water, atleast for now).

mach24

That table like structure got distorted, so writing again.

Category- -War -Terrorism -Cyber

Participants- Army vs Army -Terrorists vs Army -Professionals of resp states.

Tools- Army, Navy etc -Lesser scale, Bombs etc -Viruses and Anti viruses.

Funds for- Maintenance -Training & Arms -R&D (s/w and tech)

AK_CS

@abhinrao24: Jainism talks about relativity too. Mali's and India's and USA's perception of security and security priorities are all at different levels. btw 1962 and 2013 a lot has changed. try to understand my viewpoints holistically and in their proper context. But anyhow, you are entitled to have your opinions and i respect them too. this too i learnt from Jainism.:P

mach24

Haha.............!! True, Syadvad, I get it.

Fine man.

mach24

@AK_CS, I just wanted to tell u a small observation,

I see in you a strong optimist, but I'm not able to understand, why are you using such words,

"I don't want to be a Pacifist because i believe world is a very nasty place to live in."

The way I see it, You seem to be a believer in optimism(which is really good, you need a lot of heart for that), who has seen a couple of (minor) setbacks.

Maybe I'm wrong, You are the authority on this matter.

PS: I hope you'll put the jaina theories to good use here. :P Just kidding. :P

AK_CS

I see in you a strong optimist, but I'm not able to understand, why are you using such words,

"I don't want to be a Pacifist because i believe world is a very nasty place to live in."

bhai..that was a purely subjective opinion..and demands a pure subjective answer and completely goes into domain of philosophy..transcending me and you...you yourself will find many of the answers seeing around..i wont soil this thread by putting my philosophical views here.

Still i have some objective points.. some repeated and some new as why world is nasty and requires millitary
Holocaust
Indo-Pak partition
Daily communal clashes..have you imagined the nastiness which a person experiences residing on faultlines of religion. a religion over which one has no control but purely a social thing(i have not experienced this..this is just empathy)
Cambodia PolPot
Rwandan Genocide
Extreme Poverty

Lets end our such speculations/grand theorising here only(i am also a guilty of it) on this thread. this all is no use in our exam. lets focus on whats importan for the exam w.r.t. World's Security.we will be wasting precious minutes doing all this.


P.S. If you still are interested in those subjective, personal answers. `Lets start a new thread in the Philosophy section. I know many aashiqs including me will be tempted and comment there. Though, mind you, philosophy is a highly addictive drug (i must say most dangerous narcotic in the world. it is opium of the intellectuals :P). Some say it is intellectual masturbation

mach24

LOL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ) )

AK_CS

@all and @abhinrao24 : it seems china is hell-bent on proving me wrong
increasing defense outlay despite lowered economic growth estimate for "peace and stability of region"
:-O
http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/world/chinas-new-leadership-hikes-defence-budget-by-107/article4478165.ece

Also, UPSC includes new threats e.g. cybers ecurity and other in new syllabus somewhere, as i remember