President Vladimir Putin (R) hosts Chinese President Xi Jinping on state visit at the Kremlin, Moscow, June 5, 2019 The cascading tensions between Russia and the United States brought into play the Russian-Chinese “comprehensive strategic partnership of cooperation”. The topic has been the stuff of animated discussion among strategic thinkers lately. But opinions varied. The …
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Pegasus, ‘ultimate spyware’ from Israel, is back in news cycle Pegasus, CAATSA, Nagaland — prime facie, they’ve nothing in common. At least, reading the Indian press, one gets that impression. But it is always important to connect the dots to understand where the trail is leading to. The Biden-Harris Administration is sensing that Modi Govt, …
Can Europe survive without Russian gas? The formal US response to Russia’s demands for security guarantee was delivered to the foreign ministry in Moscow on Wednesday. Moscow’s worst fears came true: Washington simply ducked without addressing the main Russian concerns — NATO’s expansion, rollback of NATO deployments to pre-1997 level, etc. —and instead offered to …
Taliban delegation led by acting foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi met with Western diplomats, Oslo, Norway, January 24, 2022 40. The West co-opts the Taliban The three-day conclave in Oslo on January 23-25 for interaction for a core group of Western diplomats with Taliban officials marks a new phase in the political situation in Afghanistan. …
A radar vehicle of the S-400 Triumph surface-to-air missile system on the way to Belarus, Khabarovsk region, Russia, Jan 21, 2022 The US-Russia talks in Geneva in the last two successive weeks could not produce a breakthrough. Fundamentally, there is a contradiction that cannot be resolved easily. Russia sees in existential terms the NATO’s advance …
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warns of imminent Russian assault on Ukraine, scrambling to get allies to rally. (File photo) A special press briefing in unseemly hurry by the US state department to warn an imminent Russian assault on Ukraine; a surprise call by state secretary Blinken to his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov to …
Taliban says Afghan girls will be back in schools by March 39. Souring of Taliban’s relations with Pakistan External interference in Afghanistan has reappeared much sooner than one would have expected after the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan in August. In a familiar pattern, the rumour mill has become active. The Russian Foreign Ministry …
Indian troops guarding the border with China (File photo) Is the glass half empty? Or, is the glass half full? How would you choose to describe the recent meeting of the Indian and Chinese army commanders at Chushul-Moldo border in Ladakh? It may not seem to make a lot of difference. But it does. After …
Russian servicemen fold the national flag during ceremony marking end of CSTO mission in Kazakhstan, Almaty, January 13, 2022 The readout of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “working meeting” in the Kremlin on Wednesday with Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu regarding the Collective Security Treat Organisation’s mission to Kazakhstan needs careful analysis. As is customary with Putin, …
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A US Navy destroyer crosses the Bosphorus to enter the Black Sea, as tensions simmer around Ukraine. (File photo) Being a “swing state” may have tactical advantages but when life gets tough and the tough gets going, there could be consequences. Turkey once faced such a moment of truth a hundred years ago. It faces a similar predicament …
