soil on its on and working with Washington provides a medium-term fix. Similarly, Karnad is leery of the United States as a provider of military technology. Yet he also admits that Indian DPSUs and industry have been spectacularly unsuccessful at indigenous development of required equipment in quality or quantity. The Americans offer a route to plug the gaps in Indian defence more immediately that bringing domestic capability up to speed and then doing so indigenously.

While Karnad is undoubtedly correct about the necessity for credibility of the Indian nuclear deterrent, he does not consider the ramifications of renewed nuclear testing. India will most likely come under sanctions from at least some of its major economic and military partners - the United States, Japan, Britain, Germany, Canada, Australia - andtheir willingness to adopt a hard-core Islamist character, and the probability of internal fighting between al-Qaeda and the other Sunni rebels in Syria.

In order to avoid airstrikes, President Bashar al-Assad has agreed to allow Syrian chemical weapon stockpiles to be destroyed. As the United States engages with Syria in a deal to disarm the regime of its chemical weapons, many still wonder if at some future point the United States could become involved in the conflict.

Germany has entered a period of navel gazing, limiting the EU’s ability to become a powerful actor on the world stage. Angela Merkel’s recent victory in the German elections reinforced domestic pressures within Germany to remain pacifist. Policy makers should attempt to strengthen ties politically and institutionally with willing EU partners in the