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Today's Top News
India Tests Missile Amid Tensions With Pakistan
NEW DELHI - India successfully tested a supersonic cruise missile Tuesday in a remote desert close to the Pakistan border, officials said, amid continuing tensions with its nuclear-armed rival over the November attacks in Mumbai.
In this Jan. 26, 2007 file photo, Indian Army's Brahmos missiles, a supersonic cruise missile, are displayed during the Republic Day Parade in New Delhi, India. India on Tuesday January 20, 2009, tested its nuclear-capable Brahmos supersonic cruise missile, jointly developed with Russia, amid mounting tensions with rival Pakistan following the Mumbai terror attacks, a news report said. (AP Photo/Gurinder Osan, File) Indian officials say the launch of the Brahmos was only part of ongoing reliability tests, but some analysts say the timing was sensitive and could alarm Pakistan.
"The test was successful," a defense ministry spokesman said, without giving details.
The Brahmos, which can travel at up to 2.8 times the speed of sound and has a range of 290 km (180 miles), was tested at Pokhran, a desert town along India-Pakistan border and also the site of India's 1998 nuclear tests.
Analysts say that given the acrimonious history of India-Pakistan relations, both sides are acutely aware of the signaling that goes with such military tests.
The missile can be fitted with both conventional and nuclear warheads.
"A missile test has a certain interpretative potential by the other side," said C. Uday Bhaskar, a New Delhi-based strategic analyst. "There is symbolism."
India has blamed Pakistan militants for the Mumbai attacks that killed 179 people and pressed Islamabad for action. A war of words has ratcheted up tensions, but both sides have said a war was no solution.
The Brahmos, named after India's Brahmaputra river and Russia's Moscow river, was developed by a joint venture between India's Defense Research and Development Organization and Russia's NPO Mashinostroyenia.
India, which has the world's fourth-largest military, plans to fit the missile in several ships, officials said.
(Reporting by Krittivas Mukherjee; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)
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7 Comments so far
Show AllI can't say that it's the right thing to do but after all that US/EU backed terrorism Pakistan has caused within its own remaining secular regions and that of Afghanistan and India, I can't blame India for getting fed up. Besides, if this were Pakistan testing its missiles, I'll bet CD would never bother posting that disturbing trend. Seriously though, there are harmless ways India can hold terrorists accountable but from what I see, corruption exists not only in the country's government but within all classes just like in America where the electorate is deluded into choosing simply between 2 evils once every 4 years with a few sprinkles or Congressional races based on the corporate written polls long before the election happens.
Many people think that India's problems or potential problems are only with Pakistan. No - there is also considerable unease over China's enormous military might which is being aggressively modernized, and China's intentions in the region, although the China-factor is probably not mentioned as much.
Highintel: Can we do better?
Interesting. Thanks for the additional updates. I heard Pakistan has been used as a proxy for China and if that isn't enough, there's always a "free trade" scam. An Indian American friend of mine told me she was so pissed off when India signed a "free trade" scam with China only to watch more poor quality products dilute what was left of high quality. I'd hate to see India face Walmartization as if China and Japan didn't suffer enough of the consequences. But even today as the flaws of unfettered but rigged "capitalism" are hurting America and Europe, I find it odd that those countries in the Far East are going for it even as it is causing even more poverty and misery than before though unreported I guess. What's going on there?
I know that this is a dumb thing to focus on but it kind of made me smile.
Would anyone really want to put a nuclear warhead on a missile that can only travel 180 miles? 180 miles isn't that far. Wouldn't you wan't to get the thing as far away from you as possible?
What am I saying? I'm sure the U.S. will be more than happy to supply them with what ever weapions they want and for free too.
Another anti-American squeaks.
The U.S. is the worlds biggest weapons supplier. Bigger than the next 4 combined.
If you don't like hearing things like that do something to change it or stop complaining when someone brings it up.
The US doesn't give India easy access to high tech weaponry the way they do to Israel. In fact, Pakistan while it doesn't get the kind of "free" aid unlike Israel is still given a "free" pass while India is generally given WMDs and "aid" with tougher stipulations and even religious and territorial concessions and they don't get their aid in a lumpsum. Besides, India has its own problems and would be better off healing their own. If you think society in America is so dysfunctional, India will make you weep. Society's so divided and used to thinking unfettered "capitalism" that holding terrorists accountable or even preventing terrorist attacks via harmless but useful means doesn't get a priority.
Speaking of who gets the most in foreign aid, check this out:
http://www.parade.com/news/intelligence-report/archive/who-gets-us-foreign-aid.html
Israel, Egypt, Jordan, and Pakistan. And India is nowhere close.