In a turbulent world, India needs to plan for the worst |
The US-ISRAELI attack on Iran caught New Delhi off guard. But to give the government its due, it reacted quickly, drawing up plans to deal with the coming shocks. The question now is: Could we have done better? The short answer is, yes, if we had been prepared for this contingency. It doesn’t take a genius to predict the consequences of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz on a hugely energy-dependent country like India. The purpose of this article is not to say, “I told you so,” but to describe how other countries have developed mechanisms to deal with possible catastrophes.
During the Cold War, the US’s “grand strategy ” was crafted to prevent the spread of communism. The arrival of Andrew Marshall at the US Department of Defence focused the government’s approach. The core of Marshall’s theory was that emerging scenarios must first........