President Vladimir Putin chaired a meeting with Russian Defence Ministry leadership, Kremlin, Moscow, August 5, 2026 The Russian President Vladimir Putin fired the political equivalent of Oroshnik hypersonic missile Wednesday to scatter the recent pot shots by hawkish factions at the Russian ‘power vertical’, never a unified construct actually, over the future directions of Ukraine …
Continue reading “Trump returns to peacemaking in Ukraine but war must mature first”
The Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal’s characterisation of the reports suggesting the US could impose a 100 percent tariff on countries such as India that import Russian oil as speculative cannot be taken as a statement of fact. “We don’t comment on speculation,” he told the media. On closer look, it is an evasive …
Continue reading “Graham sanctions bill has bite. Trump will use it to terrorise India”
The Caspian Sea forms a strategically vital direct supply route between Russia and Iran (Source: BBC) On Friday, even as the US President Donald Trump was announcing the end of the latest round of the conflict with Iran, Pentagon unobtrusively extended the war theatre to the Caspian Sea in a hugely consequential geopolitical thrust. The …
Continue reading “US conjoins the wars in Eurasia, West Asia”
The excitement over the US-Saudi nuclear deal has proved to be short-lived. Apparently, the US President Donald Trump himself poured cold water into it by adding a caveat within 24 hours on Thursday that in order for the deal to be advanced, Saudi Arabia must first join the Abraham Accords. That is, as things stand, …
Continue reading “US-Saudi nuclear pantomime is with eye on Iran”
The Kerala Chief Minister VD Satheesan’s choice of the New Indian Express editor Santwana Bhattacharya for his first major media interview after assuming office 50 days ago comes as no surprise. Both are quintessential intellectuals and humanists at the core with a rare ability to synthesise to form a new unified whole. Ancient Greeks coined …
Delhi’s attempt to play the Shia card to moderate the Iranian disquiet over our ‘forever honeymoon’ with the Israel-UAE-Bahrain axis failed to impress Tehran. It was a clumsy attempt but was, arguably, the best card Delhi held potentially. The best alternative would have been to send an all-party delegation to represent India at the funeral …
Continue reading “India’s Persian Gulf diplomacy is churlish”
Russia’s Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev met Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian, Tehran, July 3, 2026 The government made a great decision to nominate the Governor of Bihar Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain (Retd.) to represent the country at the funeral of Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. It is an unusual choice to …
Continue reading “Musings on the funeral ceremony in Tehran”
An MSC vessel at the Vizhinjam International Seaport, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala The transformative phase of politics in Kerala shifting away from ideological paradigms surged with the announcement by the state BJP President Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Sunday that Thiruvananthapuram would be home to one of India’s first university townships. The BJP has literally co-opted a flagship of …
Continue reading “BJP scripts new paradigm of development for Kerala”
US, Iran on same page, as President Masoud Pezeshkian holds the signed MoU with President Donald Trump’s signature ending the war and lifting US naval blockade, Tehran, June 18, 2026. The authenticity of the public articulation of the stunning proposal of an alliance by Majlis speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf — ‘regional bloc’ — built around …
Rare consensus-making effort. Ministry of External Affairs Spokesman Randhir Jaiswal addresses Inter- Ministerial Briefing on Recent Developments in West Asia, in New Delhi. Make no mistake, Modi Government is squarely blaming the US for the attack on ships in the Strait of Hormuz killing seven Indian sailors. Protests have been lodged with the US charge d’affaires …
