Antariksh Matters: Let’s Not Destroy Satellites in Peacetime — Aditya Ramanathan Is it in India’s interests to support a ban on destructive anti-satellite tests? It’s a question Delhi may have to find an answer to in the near future. The trigger for this question is Russia’s ASAT missile test on 15 November 2021. The broader context is a series of moves that could eventually lead to substantial talks on space security. On 15 November, Russia apparently used an A-235 PL-19 “Nudol” Anti Ballistic ...
Mar 09, 2022•24 min
Cyberpolitik #1: Wanted - Greater scrutiny of content takedown orders — Prateek Waghre Last week, reports suggested that the Union Government of India had issued an order to ban 54 apps. This would constitute the fifth such instance since June 2020 (when TikTok and 58 other apps were blocked), three of which have been accompanied by press releases. * June 2020: 59 apps (accompanied by a press release ) * July 2020: 47 (not accompanied by a press release) * September 2020: 118 apps aka PUBG ban (...
Feb 23, 2022•16 min
MineralPolitik: REEs, If the Price is Right — Aditya Pareek The global contention for securing Rare Earth Elements(REE) supply chains is in full swing. Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, three countries have primarily been the movers and shakers of the REE world, the current market hegemon China, Australia, and the US. This is directly consequential to India’s national interests, as China is its strategic adversary, and the US and Australia are its Quad allies willing to cooperate with New Delhi...
Feb 09, 2022•17 min
CyberPolitik: China’s Norm-game — Sapni G K In the 8th edition of this newsletter, I had written about the draft "Internet Information Service Algorithmic Recommendation Management Provisions" released for comments by the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC). After a few months of deliberations, including their process of public consultation, the draft was finalised this month. The newly released “ Internet Information Service Algorithmic Recommendation Management Provisions ” lays down rule...
Jan 26, 2022•17 min
CyberPolitik #1: When can Governments Snoop on your Personal Data? — Sapni G K Over the past couple of weeks in this newsletter, we have covered the varying aspects of benefits that DCNs bring us. In earlier editions, we covered the harms that are associated with DCNs. Personal data and its governance has been a recurring theme within both these analyses. In addition to the dynamics of private entities dealing with data, it is important to consider government access to data. After all, open-sour...
Jan 12, 2022•19 min
Antriksh Matters: Russia’s in Cooperative Mood on Space Stations — Aditya Pareek Despite the ubiquity of remotely operated space vehicles, inhabited orbital stations remain a symbol of prestige and scientific endeavour. In Russia’s case, much of its spacefaring tradition is tied to its history as a pioneer of the final frontier. Russia has continued to support the International Space Station(ISS) and has launched another module, this time a docking node called “Prichal” , the Russian word for pi...
Dec 29, 2021•20 min
Matsyanyaaya : The US-Australia Quantum Tech Agreement — Arjun Gargeyas The Quantum race has just heated up. November saw an official agreement between the United States and Australia on quantum technology cooperation. An official statement underlined the importance of science and technology in the information age along with the need for collaborative and transnational efforts in the pursuit of scientific discovery and societal benefit. The statement also described quantum technology, as being a...
Dec 15, 2021•22 min
Antariksh Matters: Will Debris-Swallowing Satellites Eat Space Norms for Breakfast? — Aditya Ramanathan On the morning of 23 October 2021, a Chinese Long March 3b rocket shot into space , putting a satellite into geosynchronous transfer orbit, the elliptical path into which any satellite must first enter before moving into a geosynchronous orbit. Under normal circumstances, the launch would have received little attention, but this Long March rocket’s payload was different. According to the state...
Dec 01, 2021•24 min
Cyberpolitik #1: France’s Influence Operations Doctrine — Prateek Waghre In October, France announced a new doctrine for Information Warfare. This development has received surprisingly little attention in English-language discourse over the last three weeks. It was initially reported by Francesco Busseletti, who highlighted: Objective: to counter the growing spread of fake news and disinformation, aimed at weakening the image of Paris and weakening its armed forces, especially abroad such as the...
Nov 17, 2021•23 min
Siliconpolitik: India and Taiwan Want to Complement Each Other’s Strengths — Arjun Gargeyas There were reports earlier this month that Indian and Taiwanese officials had met to discuss the possibility of a $7.5 billion investment in India by the Taiwanese government and its premier semiconductor foundry, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC). This was to set up a long-pending state-of-the-art semiconductor manufacturing facility in the country. While India has been strong at semicond...
Nov 03, 2021•24 min
Siliconpolitik: Where Do We Go Now? — Pranay Kotasthane I have a follow-up paper for NUS-ISAS discussing the next steps for the Quad Semiconductor Supply Chain initiative. I argue that the Quad Principles Document on Technology Design, Development, Governance and Use is a good reference point for the collaboration on semiconductors. An initiative to map capacity and identify vulnerabilities is a welcome first step. However, a lot more needs to be done to create a secure, resilient semiconductor ...
Oct 20, 2021•26 min
Siliconpolitik: Mile Sur Mera Tumhaara — Pranay Kotasthane High Technology cooperation is fast becoming a differentiating point of the Quad arrangement. It appears that the Quad Working Group, which was formed after the first Summit meeting in March 2021, has locked in space, biotechnology, 5G communications, cybersecurity, and semiconductors as five immediate focus areas. Music to my ears. As Technopolitik readers are aware, I have been making a case for a Quad collaboration on semiconductors o...
Oct 06, 2021•21 min
Siliconpolitik: Ab Dilli Door Nahin — Pranay Kotasthane Readers would've noticed that this newsletter bats for a Quad partnership on semiconductor supply chain security for geopolitical, geoeconomic, and technological reasons. In edition #5 , we proposed what an 'announcement' on semiconductors as an outcome of the upcoming Quad leaders-level summit meeting, could look like. We wrote: One, announce a Quad Semiconductor Supply Chain Resilience Fund. Think of this as a multi-sovereign wealth fund ...
Sep 22, 2021•19 min
Antriksh Matters: Is Space the Ultimate High Ground? — Aditya Ramanathan Several of the world's major powers have devoted hard cash and organisational resources to defend their interests in space. Most prominently of the new institutions created is the US Space Force, but its most notable counterpart is the PLA Strategic Support Force (SSF) in China. Even India has created a far more modest Defence Space Agency, though it is hardly comparable to the American and Chinese organisations. While thes...
Sep 08, 2021•29 min
Infopolitik: A Military Withdrawal in the Information Age — Pranay Kotasthane A month-and-half ago, I had tweeted this: I had further written that: “in the Industrial Age, such suppression could be covered up; that’s no longer the case in radically networked communities. The difference between the Afghanistan of 2001 and 2021 is mobile phones plus internet. Given these factors, the use of force against non-combatants is almost certain to receive instant condemnation from other countries. We can ...
Aug 25, 2021•27 min
Matsyanyaaya : Technology and National Power — Pranay Kotasthane To say that technology impacts geopolitics is to state the obvious. There are new books and articles written every day about how technology X might impact State Y’s politics. Yet, there are surprisingly few frameworks that precisely articulate the ways in which technologies can increase or decrease national power. It is for this reason that I found a recent CSET Report National Power after AI interesting. The central argument of th...
Aug 11, 2021•24 min
Siliconpolitik: The Upcoming Quad Summit -Pranay Kotasthane News reports suggest that the first in-person Quad summit is likely to be held in September. The last online summit-level meeting created three working groups on vaccines, critical & emerging technologies (C&ET), and climate change. Though there has been some action on vaccine delivery, there are virtually no updates about the outcomes of the other two working groups. At least on the C&ET front, it seems to me that a vast ag...
Jul 28, 2021•13 min
