Indian Navy – INS Vikramaditya Carrier Is 85% Ready

Defense Technology International – The Indian navy aircraft carrier Vikramaditya is nearing completion at Russia’s Sevmash shipyard in Severodvinsk. Vice Admiral Nadel Niradjan Kumar, chief manager of production and purchase of warships for the Indian navy who inspected Sevmash this week, says the ship is 85% ready and will be handed over to the navy in December 2012.

Geopolitics / China – Arab Spring, Chinese Winter

The Atlantic – James Fallows writes that just after the streets of Tunisia and Egypt erupted, China saw a series of “Jasmine” protests-until the government stopped them cold. Its methods were subtler than they had been at Tiananmen Square, and more insidious. Was the regime’s defensive reaction just paranoia? Or is the Chinese public less satisfied-and more combustible-than it appears?