Internally displaced children sit outside a tent at a refugee camp, Khost province, Eastern Afghanistan, November 17, 2020 Prospects for the resumption of the Afghan peace talks at Doha on January 5 look bright despite the recent spike in violence involving the Taliban, Afghan government forces and the US Air Force, which have caused large …
Red, red Kerala hails Pinarayi’s leadership
Jubilant communist party supporters savour massive election victory in Kerala’s local body elections, December 16, 2020 Malayalis attribute high importance to democratic elections in general, but the elections to the local bodies and the state assembly are of exceptional importance. Like in any part of the world where the roots of democracy and representative rule …
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Trump administration gives parting kick to Turkey
A Russian S-400 surface-to-air missile system (File photo) The announcement on December 14 by the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo of sanctions against Turkey under the provisions of the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) comes as a surprise, since President Donald Trump’s affection for Turkish leader Recep Erdogan is fairly well-known. And …
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Getting India out of the hole with China is still possible
Long haul in Ladakh on India-China border Two Indian correspondents based in Beijing drew out the Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying at a press briefing Thursday on the recent ‘frank’ remarks by External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar about India’s problematic relationship with China in an interview with the Australian think tank Lowy Institute. A …
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Assertive Germany muddles Iran issue
Israeli President Reuven Rivlin attended ceremony on the arrival of first of four German-made corvettes, Haifa, Israel, Dec. 2, 2020. Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s Foreign Minister, in a speech in Moscow on December 8 dwelt on the western attempts lately to maintain the model of a unipolar world order. He said the European Union’s dalliance with …
India’s Gulf strategy is chasing Chinese phantoms
Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani (R) received External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, Manama, Dec 24, 2020 The Chinese statement of December 2 at the United Nations General Assembly in New York on the ‘Question of Palestine and the Situation in the Middle East’ should trigger introspection in New Delhi. Without doubt, this …
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Medium and small states in the time of multipolarity
Three developments this week underscore that the growing multipolarity in the world order is inexorably loosening up established alliances that provided underpinnings previously for the United States to preserve its global hegemony through the past century. Given the magnitude of the domestic crisis in the US, it is not going to be able to reverse …
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Saudi overtures to Qatar and Turkey bring results
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (R) welcomes Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Ankara, Turkey, Nov. 26, 2020 A rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Qatar is on cards. An announcement can be expected in a matter of days. Kuwait, which had been mediating between Riyadh and Doha hinted on November 27 that a breakthrough …
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Biden inherits Middle East’s grapes of wrath
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (R) received US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Neom, Saudi Arabia, Nov. 22, 2020 On the arid landscape of the Arabian deserts, the outgoing US president Donald Trump and his son-in-law Jared Kushner planted a sapling called the Abraham Accords last August. They forecast it to be the harbinger of …
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Israel gets boxed in as Iran issue surges
Iran’s nuclear water reactor in the city of Arak “Iran’s scientific and defense policies won’t change because of the assassination of one scientist or general,” the spokesman of the Iranian government Ali Rabiei wrote calmly and firmly in a statement Sunday posted on the official website. Iran “shouldn’t fall into the trap of linking the …
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