Armchair Generals Are Marching India Into Trouble
New Delhi’s burgeoning military-intellectual complex is exacerbating rather than moderating the country’s warlike mood.
Cable TV was filled with analysts and ex-generals.
Photographer: T. Narayan/BloombergPeace appears to have been given a chance in South Asia. Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, striving to play the statesman, has not only released a captured Indian pilot but also detained several alleged Pakistani militants. Still, there’s good reason to worry that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi might once again ratchet up tensions against a nuclear-armed neighbor as he approaches the most crucial election of his political life.
And Modi’s militant nationalism, loudly amplified by Indian television anchors, isn’t the only flammable element in a volatile situation. India’s burgeoning military-intellectual complex also deserves the world’s close and skeptical scrutiny.