Chief Executive Officer Abdullah Abdullah casts vote in presidential election, Kabul, September 28, 2019 India is probably the only country to hail the “successful conduct of Presidential elections” in Afghanistan on September 28. Everyone else is holding breath. Curiously, the unusually muted campaign highlighted that candidates themselves seemed uninterested in spending money on an election …
Ukraine gains from Trump’s impeachment inquiry
The controversy swirling around the phone conversation between the US President Donald Trump and Ukraine President Vladimir Zelensky regarding the business interests of former vice-president Joe Biden’s son is having a salutary effect on the conflict in Ukraine. The US Special Representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker has resigned from his official position once it transpired …
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Iran nuclear issue at inflection point
French President Emmanuel Macron met Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani at UN Hqs, New York, Sept 24, 2019 The unexpected move by the Pentagon to shift the Combined Air and Space Operations Center (CAOC) at al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar to the Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina 7,000 miles away from the Middle East …
A US visit PM could have avoided
BJP workers at Delhi Airport to receive PM Narendra Modi as he arrived from New York on September 28, 2019 In the South Block folklore, if a high-level visit by a foreign dignitary lacks substance, simply hype up protocol and make it look larger-than-life. The euphoric welcome accorded to PM Modi at Delhi airport by …
A reluctant foreign secretary takes leave — quietly, unobtrusively
KPS Menon (Jr.), India’s Foreign Secretary during 1987-89 KPS Menon (Jr.), former Foreign Secretary, passed away last night. He chose Thiruvananthapuram in deep south for his departure, as far away as he possibly could from the Byzantine world of the Indian capital. Was there a deliberateness in that decision? I suspect so. When KPS (Jr.) …
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Modi-Rouhani meeting is a morality play
Prime Minister Narendra Modi (L) met Iranian President Hassan Rouhani (R) at New York on Sept 26, 2019 Prime Minister Narendra Modi began his 6-day long visit to the US with a bang — a stunning stage appearance with President Trump at the Howdy Modi in Houston last Sunday. But on Thursday, he ended up …
Beware of blowback from Afghan policies
The site of a suicide attack by Taliban in Parwan province, Sept. 17, 2019, targetting a campaign rally by President Ghani, killing over 20 people. Ghani escaped unharmed. During an exclusive interview with the Associated Press this week, the former Afghan president Hamid Karzai severely questioned the rationale behind the presidential election which is due to …
Iran’s tango with Europe is rooted in its traditions and culture
French President Emmanuel Macron and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani met at UN, New York, Sept 23, 2019. The joint statement issued by the leaders of France, Germany and the United Kingdom on September 23 indicting Iran for the attacks on the Saudi Aramco plants two weeks ago is at once consequential and declaratory. The joint …
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Howdy Modi had nothing of enduring value for India
The US President John F. Kennedy (R) received India’s Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru (L) at the airport in Rhode Island, Washington, November 1961. The art of flattery, contrary to what one might think, is a complicated affair. If it is too straightforward, it runs the risk of appearing artificial, especially when the flatterer contrives to combine …
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Aramco attack a defining moment in US-Saudi alliance
Soldiers prepare a Patriot missile launcher for reloading, March 7, 2019. US Army Photo A series of interviews of Democratic presidential candidates opposing President Trump in the 2020 election by the Council of Foreign Relations in New York reveal that the perceptions regarding US-Saudi ties have dramatically changed in the Washington beltway. Two issues …
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