The best part of the UN Security Council discussion Thursday regarding the situation in Afghanistan was the candid remarks by the Russian and Chinese ambassadors on the accountability of the Taliban government in Kabul for the crisis gripping that country today, just an year after the vacation of the NATO occupation. (here and here) There …
Ground beneath Zelensky’s feet is shifting
A HIMARS vehicle on deployment in Eastern Ukraine (File photo) Reading and rereading the US President Joe Biden’s statement last Monday on Ukraine Independence Day, one is reminded of English poet John Keats’ immortal line, ‘Heard melodies are sweet but those unheard are sweeter.’ Three things are striking. Biden repeatedly invoked the abiding nature of …
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Where JCPOA, oil conjoin stands OPEC+
Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) and then Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at G20 summit, Hangzhou, Sept. 5, 2016, where they planned an oil output task force that fructified as OPEC+ The news that made the headline today is that the Biden Administration may have inched closer to restarting the 2015 nuclear deal with …
Erdogan repairs Syria ties with eye on Eurasianism
Dogu Perincek, Chairman of Turkey’s left-wing nationalist Patriotic Party, is reportedly leading a delegation to Syria (File photo) Yesterday, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke with Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev regarding the forthcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Samarkand on September 15-16. This must be the fourth or fifth time the two leaders confabulated over the upcoming event. One …
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US taunts Russia to escalate in Ukraine
An UAV hit the roof of the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, Sevastopol, Crimea, August 20, 2022 In military terms, the crude, locally assembled drone dropping a country-made bomb or two on unguarded sites in Crimea are at best pin pricks in the big picture of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine. But it …
Ukraine war of attrition at inflection point
Two Russian soldiers patrolling in Kherson, south Ukraine The great beauty about the war of attrition is that the military strategy of belligerent attempts to win a war by wearing down the enemy may not necessarily achieve the intended strategic success. Worse still, it may remain inconclusive and it becomes difficult to distinguish between the …
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World order looks different from Moscow, Beijing
Chinese, Russian warships in joint drills, Sea of Japan, Oct 2021 The Chinese Defence Ministry announced today its participation in the Vostok 2022 strategic command and staff exercise in Russia, which is slated for August 30-September 5. The low-key statement in Beijing said China will send some troops and the participation is within the framework …
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US-Iran deal dangling in the air
Author Salman Rushdie, an ‘X’ factor in JCPOA (File photo) In an interview on The Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro Show, the former prime minister of Israel — and the likely next PM — Benjamin Netanyahu claimed on Sunday that he had an ingenuous Plan B for forcing regime change in Iran. Netanyahu said, “With low-flying …
Iran at the crossroads of history
Iranian envoy to the IAEA in Vienna, Mohsen Naziri Asl, leaves Palais Coburg, venue of closed-door nuclear talks, August 5, 2022 From the look of it, the US-Iran rapprochement is getting on to a bumpy start. The usage ‘rapprochement’ is deliberate — and will be disputed — because in the near term at least, what …
China-US decoupling gushes out
In a flurry of statements on Friday against the backdrop of escalating US-China tensions, five of China’s biggest state-owned companies announced their intent to delist from the New York Stock Exchange — PetroChina Co Ltd, China Life Insurance Co, China Petroleum & Chemical Corp, Aluminium Corp of China and Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical Co. which represent …