India’s thirty-day tenure through August as the president of the UN Security Council has got mired in needless controversy. The issue is about the “emergency meeting” regarding Afghanistan that India convened on Friday. According to Pakistan, it had made a “a formal request” for participation in the meeting but India turned it down. Prima facie, …
Spectre of Syria haunts Afghanistan
Fencing of Durand Line is almost complete. Pakistani troops guarding the border with Afghanistan in Khyber The Moscow daily Vedomosti with links to the establishment has reported that Russia will give “limited military support” to Uzbekistan and Tajikistan in the event of attacks from Afghanistan, including weapons supplies, air support and deployment of special forces, but …
A new dawn breaks in Tehran
On Thursday, Iran’s new president Ebrahim Raisi takes the oath of office in a ceremony in the Majlis in Tehran. This will be a defining moment in the Islamic Republic’s political history, since in many ways, the country is at the crossroads. The Islamic system continues to enjoy a broad social base but erosion is …
JCPOA: A bridge too far?
Ebrahim Raisi will be sworn in as Iran’s next president on August 5, marking a defining moment in the situation around the nuclear issue On Tuesday, Ebrahim Raisi will be formally confirmed as Iran’s next president by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Two days later, he will be sworn in as president in the …
Blinken’s single-point agenda in Delhi – China
The overnight visit by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to New Delhi has been an eye-opener in many ways. It highlighted how much India has changed through the searing pain and suffering it underwent in the past one-year period and how that tumultuous period also led to a reset in the government’s calculus. A …
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Biden prepares the ground for QUAD-3
The US President Joe Biden (R) welcomes visiting Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, Washington, July 27, 2021 The US President Joe Biden’s foreign-policy team seems increasingly unsure of the ground beneath their feet. They can see that the edifice that their 78-year old chief is erecting stands on shaky ground. But they lack the presence of …
Blinken comes riding the Pegasus
Pegasus: the spyware technology that threatens democracy Pegasus, the winged divine horse from Greek mythology, symbolises a range of things. The mythological salad can include many symbolic narratives — ranging from soul’s immortality to poetic inspiration — even the Marxist eschatological myth of the withering away of the state. The Pegasus Project is a raging …
Biden approves algorithm war in Afghanistan
US President Joe Biden (R) called Afghanistan President Ghani to assure US will defend his government, July 23, 2021 If only America’s presidents exercised the option to do muscle-flexing in the White House gym, the world would have been a calmer place. This is the second time that a US president uses Afghanistan as punch …
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UK scripts new Afghan plot for US
Foreign Ministers of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation at Dushanbe with Tajikistan President Emomali Rahmon, July 14, 2021 The ministerial meeting at Dushanbe last week of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and the SCO contact group with Afghanistan left a trail of disappointment. The SCO statement on Afghanistan was a baby step — significant, nonetheless, considering the …
US-German Nord Stream 2 deal has a third partner
The undersea Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline is nearly complete The joint statement issued in Washington and Berlin on Wednesday signifies that the two countries have struck a compromise deal over the controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. Both the US and Germany were eager to simmer down the controversy. For President Joe Biden, the …
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