(Prime Minister Modi receiving Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at Delhi airport, February 20, 2019) Looking back at the one-day — actually, a little over half a day — first state visit of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud to Delhi on February 20 at the invitation of Prime Minister …
Continue reading “India gets veggie burger from Saudi Arabia”
(President Trump told reporters that it would be ‘wonderful’ if India & Pakistan ‘get along’) The US president Donald Trump told the media at the White House on February 19 while replying to a question on the terrorist strike in Pulwama, Jammu & Kashmir, and the ensuing India-Pakistan tensions: “I have watched. I have got …
(Pakistan PM Imran Khan’s Address to the Nation on Pulwama Incident) If Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s televised address today afternoon, breaking his silence on the fedayeen attack in Pulwama, is to be succinctly captured in a single pithy sentence, it is that he has thrown the gauntlet down at PM Narendra Modi. (Transcript) The real …
(Saudi Crown Prince, Pakistan PM chair joint Supreme Coordination Council session, Islamabad, February 18, 2019) It is improbable that Prime Minister Narendra Modi holds a motor car driving licence. And it is an intelligent guess that even if he did possess one, Modi will not emulate Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan by driving the car …
In a devastating condemnation of Islamabad that has no precedent, the Military Aide to Iran’s Supreme Leader, Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi has squarely blamed Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) for supporting the terrorist groups acting against Iran. This followed a fedayeen attack on a bus carrying security personnel of the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) …
Continue reading “Iran accuses Pak ISI of cross-border terrorism”
The fedayeen attack in Pulwama, Jammu & Kashmir, on Thursday killing 44 paramilitary personnel and injuring scores of others should be properly understood. At the most obvious level, the country is paying a very heavy price for the Modi government’s Kashmir policies — riveted on relentless state suppression of an alienated people — and its …
Continue reading “Pulwama shows limits to muscular policies”
The Russian daily Nezavisimaya Gazeta carried a thoughtful commentary on Tuesday titled Russia becomes China’s raw material storeroom. The argument runs like this: There has been a phenomenal shift in the structure of Sino-Russian trade through the past two decades. The share of Russian supplies of machinery and equipment to China in the export basket …
The Afghan Mujahideen leader and former president Professor Sibghatullah Mujaddidi died in Kabul on Monday at the age of 93. It marks the departure of one of the most moderate figures in the ‘Islamist’ camp. Mujaddidi was a Naqshbandi Sufi and more an Islamic scholar than an insurgent leader. Probably, the soft-spoken Mujahid with a …
Continue reading “Mujaddidi pioneered India’s Mujahideen ties”
(Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Argentina, November 29, 2018) The state visit on February 19-20 by the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to India at the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is an unusual event insofar as it was not scheduled through the diplomatic channel. …
(Congress President Rahul Gandhi (R) and CPM General Secretary Sitaram Yechury) The prospect of an electoral adjustment between the Congress Party and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in West Bengal for the 2019 poll does not come as surprise but it has a refreshing look of realism and pragmatism, nonetheless. The top leaderships of …
