A destroyed building in Iran’s embassy compound in Tehran hit by an Israeli airstrike on April 1, 2024 Israel’s Damascus strike on April 1 will go down in the corpus of literature on war and diplomacy as an act of high-intensity deception. Iran wouldn’t have expected a cowardly attack using stealth fighters on its diplomatic …
Biden reaches out to Xi Jinping with eye on financial stability
The US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen arrived in Guangzhou on the first leg of a six-day visit to China, April 4, 2024 The salience of the phone call from the US President Joe Biden to Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday is their consensus that during the period since their summit meeting in Woodside, California, …
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Kuleba’s mission to India is a qualified success
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar (L) with the Foreign Minister of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba, New Delhi, March 29, 2024 The Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba’s talks in New Delhi on Friday essentially devolved upon meetings with just two Indian officials — his Indian counterpart S. Jaishankar and the Deputy National Security Adviser Vikram Misri. Prime …
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View from India: The US is determined to destabilise Russia
The prestigious Moscow journal International Affairs has reproduced extracts from my article on the terrorist attack on Moscow’s Crocus City Hall on March 22. International Affairs, March 29, 2024 View from India: The US is determined to destabilise Russia https://en.interaffairs.ru/article/view-from-india-the-us-is-determined-to-destabilise-russia/
Ukraine’s survival hangs in the balance
Moscow’s Crocus City Hall on fire, March 22, 2024 A controversy arose needlessly over the advisory issued by the American embassy in Moscow on March 7 to the effect that “extremists have imminent plans to target large gatherings in Moscow, to include concerts” and warning US citizens to “avoid large gatherings.” It took the form of …
Putin’s victory is a geopolitical reality
Thousands of people gathered on Moscow’s Red Square to celebrate President Vladimir’s election victory, March 18, 2024 The Russian presidential election has vividly brought out the fault lines in international politics in a way that seldom happens. That is because the political personality of President Vladimir Putin fills the global stage today like a Colossus. …
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France all dressed up and nowhere to go
French President Emmanuel Macron at a conference (file photo) Ever since its ignominious defeat in the Napoleonic wars, France is entrapped in the predicament of countries that get sandwiched between great powers. Following World War II, France addressed this predicament by forging an axis with Germany in Europe. Caught up in a similar predicament, Britain …
‘Novorossiya’ rising from ashes like phoenix
Russian President Vladimir Putin took a meeting on development of southern/Azov sea regions, Moscow, March 6, 2024 The Russian President Vladimir Putin’s meeting on Wednesday in Moscow with top officials of economic ministries and leaders of the southern and Azov sea regions — ‘Novorossiya’ historically — signifies a major initiative in the Kremlin’s geo-strategy, with global …
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Is ground beneath Biden’s Russia policy shifting?
In a surprise development, US Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland to retire from the foreign service The resignation of the US Undersecretary for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland, the third highest ranking diplomat in the Biden administration, came as a bolt out of the blue on Monday. An easy explanation could be that …
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Putin’s nuclear warning is direct and explicit
Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed the Federal Assembly, Moscow, February 29, 2024 The spectre of Armageddon has been raised often enough during the 2-year old war in Ukraine that the reference to it in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s state of the union address on Thursday had a familiar ring about it. Therein lies the risk …
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