Kerala Chief Minister EMS Nambooripad (L) received Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru (C) at Thiruvananthapuram Airport, Circa 1958. Today marks the 60th anniversary of the dismissal of the communist government in Kerala. It is a poignant occasion to do some reality check on the democratic foundations of the Indian state. Clearly, it is apparent to the …
Russia wades into oily waters of East Mediterranean
Turkish naval fleet accompanying drill ship, July 2019 in East Mediterranean. The cold war brewing in the East Mediterranean over the vast hydrocarbon reserves in the region is already ‘multipolar’. Egypt, Israel, Cyprus, Greece, the United States and Turkey figure as the main protagonists. Then, in mid-July, the European Union grew out of its observer …
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US, Pakistan move in tandem to end Afghan war
President Donald Trump (R) speaks during a meeting with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, Washington, July 22, 2019 The US State Department chose Friday to announce the decision to approve a $125 million aid package providing technical support to Pakistan’s fleet of F-16 fighter aircraft. Ironically, the news reached Delhi on the 20th anniversary of …
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Russia and China display strategic coordination in Asia-Pacific
Russian Tu-95 MS (above) & Chinese Xian H-6 strategic bombers. File photo An exciting new template has appeared in the geopolitics of the Asia-Pacific last week when Russia’s Aerospace Force and China’s Air Force carried out their first-ever joint air patrol in the region. Steadily and imperceptibly but profoundly, the regional alignments are transforming. Russia …
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Ukraine on the cusp of change
Ukraine President Vladimir Zelensky celebrated his party’s big victory in the parliamentary election, Kiev, July 21, 2019 The thumping victory by the Ukraine President Vladimir Zelensky’s Servant of the People party, securing an absolute majority of 253 seats in the 450 member parliament, can be viewed as a tectonic shift in the geopolitical landscape of …
Belt and Road takes a leap forward to the Gulf
Red carpet welcome: Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, accompanied by Chinese President Xi Jinping, reviews an honour guard at the Great Hall of the People, Beijing, July 22, 2019 The entire myth that India is engaged in some sort of “competition” with China for regional influence gets exposed badly this week …
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Iran seizes UK tanker in counter-escalation
The British tanker seized by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps in Strait of Hormuz, Jul 20, 2019 The seizure of a British oil tanker by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps on July 20 in the Strait of Hormuz has all the hallmarks of a retaliatory act in the downstream of the seizure of an Iranian …
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Kulbhushan Jadhav on re-trial. Future lies in India’s hands
Kulbhushan Jadhav, alleged Indian spy on death row in Pakistan, met his relatives from India, Islamabad, December 24, 2017 The External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar’s statement in the Parliament on July 18 regarding the judgment by the International Court of Justice on Kulbhushan Jadhav — he called it “certain important development — was noteworthy for …
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If no CAATSA for Turkey, none for India too
Turkish Foreign Ministry: Removing Turkey from from US’ F-35 fighter jet program “will irreparably damage relations”, Ankara, July 17, 2019 President Trump’s statement on July 17 to block the sale of the advanced F-35 jet to Turkey and to remove Turkey altogether from the fighter jet programme marks an inflection point in the Turkish-American relations. …
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Turkey undeterred by US sanctions threat
Components of S-400 missile defense system are unloaded from a Russian plane at Akinci Air Base, near Ankara, July 12, 2019. The loss of Istanbul to an opposition candidate in Turkey’s recent local elections was hyped up by many American commentators, especially pro-Israeli analysts, as marking the end of President Recep Erdogan’s 17-year long dominance …