PAKISTAN AND INDIA * Colin Powel thinks things are getting better between India and Pakistan, crediting the US with helping easy tensions. Perhaps things are getting better and there is some evidence that people in Kashmir are feeling safer. * The StrategyPage notes that although Pakistan and India are making progress, even if Pakistan withdraws its support of terrorists in the Kashmir, it is still very difficult to stop the various forces that support those terrorists. * While there has been a lot of progress between Pakistan and India in the last couple weeks, we have seen in the last week this, this, and this. Terrorist attacks have gone down and people are feeling safer but terrorism is still a persistent and common problem that has killed at least 40,000 people since 1989 in the Kashmir region alone. ISRAEL INDIAN ALLIANCE * Israel and India finished their negotiations for the Phalcon radar system, which provides India with advanced airborne radars that can track enemy aircraft. It's also a component of Israel's Arrow anti-missile system. * From what Suman Palit writes here, Israel could become even more attractive to India as a supplier of small arms as well. * The StrategyPage provides a quick assessment of Israel arms trade and economic relationships. SOUTH AND SOUTH EAST ASIA * The Tamil Tigers may be preparing to break their truce with the government. Colonel Karuna says that the reason he broke away from the main Tamil Tiger group was they were preparing for war after elections in April. What really may be happening is a major split in the Tamil Tigers. Rantburg has a good round up on this story. The South Asian Intelligence Review has more here. * Indonesia’s Supreme Court amazingly reduced the sentence of Abu Bakar Bashir who had been previously sentenced with a Jemaah Islamiyah plot to overthrow the government. * Jemaah Islamiyah, which has been waning under Malaysian and Indonesian security efforts, seems to have evolved. It looks like JI and other Islamic terror groups, such as MILF, in South and South East Asia are banning together to support each other. * The US recently has been very active in the Philippines, where US Marines have joined Philippine forces in live fire exercises and training. ETCETERA * Tracking The Threat: It can be hard following the various names of individuals and organizations that we blog about in our briefings. Sentinel TMS provides a useful tool to the public to track threats world wide at Trackingthethreat.com. Check it out. * One great thing that India has contributed to the world is Indian cooking. Try out some Indian recipes and enjoy.