Houthi fighters claim to have taken control of 10 out of fourteen districts of the strategic northern city of Marib, Yemen With the world’s largest oil export terminal coming under missile and drone attack — a giant Saudi Aramco complex capable of exporting roughly 6.5m barrels a day, nearly 7% of global oil demand — …
India, Pakistan on the road to peace
New hope for India-Pakistan relations? Opportunities missed and opportunities seized in the chronicle of international diplomacy in modern history provide two outstanding illustrative examples. After centuries of enmity and the colossal destruction inflicted by two devastating world wars in the last century, France and Germany seize an opportunity to turn a new page in their …
Biden proposes a Quad summit. This is why
Quad Upgrade: US President Joe Biden plans the first-ever summit meeting with Quad counterparts from India, Japan, Australia The Axios reported Friday that President Joe Biden plans to meet his counterparts from the so-called Quad — Japan, Australia and India — later this month. Biden’s plan can potentially transform the regional alignments in Asia-Pacific. Its …
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Blinken blinks on human rights
Protesters wearing helmets, gloves stand behind makeshift shields during a demonstration in Yangon, Myanmar, March 1, 2021 On March 3, the US State Department has put on its website a hilarious statement titled The United States Opposes the ICC Investigation into the Palestinian Investigation. In a nutshell, the statement exposes that the Joe Biden Administration …
Colombo port deal calms India’s paranoia
Colombo Port needs China and India to emerge as trans-shipment hub in the Indian Ocean The Sri Lankan government has announced that it is going ahead with a project to develop jointly with India and Japan a new container terminal from the scratch at Colombo Port called the West Container Terminal. According to the official …
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Biden set to inflict wounds on Eurasia
Yet another colour revolution in Georgia, Tbilisi, Feb 26, 2021 Mikhail Gorbachev in a special interview to the Tass news agency on Monday gave a poignant message to the Kremlin by calling for the strengthening of the Eurasian Economic Union and the Collective Security treaty Organization and for mending relations with those former Soviet republics …
Iran pushes back at US overreach on nuclear issue
Iran rejects talks with US unless sanctions are lifted Tehran rejected on Sunday a pending proposal from the European Union to arrange a “diplomatic conversation” with the US. But the Iranian statement in this regard is rather nuanced. Speaking to reporters in Tehran on Sunday, foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh stated: “In view of the …
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Guns fall silent on India-Pakistan border
The extraordinary joint statement last Friday at the level of the Director-Generals of Military Operations [DGMO] of India and Pakistan came like a bolt from the blue. It triggered speculations. Of course, it is preposterous to contemplate that the Indian Army went out on a limb without political directive, or that some “grand bargain” involving …
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US exceptionalism surges again. Will it fly?
Poverty is the ultimate denial of human rights In a statement marking the “return” of the United States to the United Nations Human Rights Council on Wednesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken disclosed that the Biden Administration is placing democracy and human rights at the centre of American foreign policy. The cat is out of …
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Biden and the Saudi conundrum
King Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia (C) meeting with President Franklin D. Roosevelt (R) aboard the USS Quincy in Great Bitter Lake, Egypt, February 14, 1945. The Joe Biden Administration is expected to release the Central Intelligence Agency report on the brutal murder of the prominent dissident and well-known journalist Jamal Khashoggi in …