In 2012, India will host two significant events. First, in the month of December, the India-ASEAN Summit will be held at New Delhi to mark the 10th anniversary of their Summit-level dialogue; and second, India and Vietnam will be celebrating 40 years of the establishment of their diplomatic relations. Both events gain salience in the broader context of the beginning of the third decade of India’s Look East Policy which has witnessed phenomenal growth over the years in bilateral and multilateral relations with the ASEAN countries.

The latest Sukhoi T-50 prototype – PAK-FA – a twin-engine fifth-generation stealth jet fighter aborted a takeoff at the recently held MAKS Air Show outside Moscow on 21 August 2011 after four days of successful demo flights. While two prototypes of PAK-FA have cumulatively made 48 flights since 29 January 2010, it will be important to know the reasons of this mishap.

The Pentagon releasing annual reports on Chinese Military Power is not new. However, for all these years Pentagon’s basic mandate has been to contextualize the Chinese threat to the US interests. Interestingly, in its latest report to Congress, titled "Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China, 2010" it highlights some issues of concern for India in regards to certain Chinese military investments.

Union Home Minister, P.Chidambaram on the 15 June 2011, revealed that the Maoist/Naxalite violence has dropped by over 40 percent and he credited this change to the success of the “two-pronged strategy”, a combination of development programme and police actions are being adopted by the Maoist affected provinces. He stressed that 80 policemen have been killed so far this year by Maoists as compared to 177 during this time last year. Civilian casualties too have come down to 190 from 296 in previous year.

The Indian Navy announced plans to dispatch a flotilla of four warships to the Asia Pacific region in March-April this year. These vessels will make goodwill visits to ports in the region and also engage in joint exercises with a number of regional navies: Singaporean Navy for the exercise Simbex in South China Sea; Malabar with the US Navy and the Japanese Maritime Self Defence Force (JMSDF) off the Okinawa coast; and Indra with Russian Navy off Vladivostok.

Both India and the United States are stable democracies. From America’s standpoint, post-World War II, a new democratic regime in India was counted upon as a strategic ally for containing Soviet influence in Asia. Yet, India refused to be an ally of the US. Strongly allied with Britain through both World Wars, the United States had a policy of ambivalence towards colonial India. F.D.Roosevelt and Truman paid scant attention to the cause of Indian independence and did not press hard Churchill or Atlee, the British Premiers during World War II to give independence to India.

After the 17th Chinese Communist Party Congress National Meeting 2007, China started focusing on South Asia, specifically India. Both have been favorably disposed towards multilateralism, with India joining the Shanghai Cooperation Organization as an observer, while China joining SAARC summit in April 2008, also as an observer. Besides, people to people diplomacy expanded with mutual tourist visits.

Cross border threats, which involve influx of counterfeit currencies, illegal arms, smuggling of narcotics, illegal wildlife trade and its derivatives and cross border terrorism, are gaining momentum along the 726 kilometer long porous India-Nepal border. It is a grave concern for India considering the present political instability in Nepal.