The US-China trade deal is harbinger of even harder talks, but apparent pragmatism on both sides is a positive sign. The agreement on the terms of the first phase of a trade deal between the US and China broadly envisages that Washington would reduce some tariffs on Chinese goods while Beijing would boost purchases of American farm, energy and manufactured …
Afghanistan, Bangladesh deserve our respect
The Kart-e-Parwan Sikh Gurudwara in Kabul, Afghanistan This had to happen: The friendliest and the closest neighbour that India ever had since its independence, Afghanistan, has cast aside diplomatic niceties and unmistakably conveyed its indignation and sense of hurt over the churlish imputation by the Indian leadership of alleged religious / racial persecution of minorities …
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Howdy Modi has an enduring legacy
Prime Minister Modi (R) and President Donald Trump (L) on stage for Howdy Modi event, Houston, September 22, 2019 The scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the recent weeks by two prominent writers in the US — the Washington Post’s Max Boot (here) and the New Yorker magazine’s Dexter Filkins (here) — is …
Rumours of NATO’s death are greatly exaggerated
NATO leaders assemble for customary group photo at Leaders’ Meeting’ in London on Dec 5, 2019 amidst much finger-pointing and discord The decision to “downgrade” the NATO’s historic summit meeting in London on the 70th anniversary of the alliance to a mere “Leaders’ Meeting” implied that no joint declaration or communique would need to be issued …
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Colombo draws the red line for India
Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa receiving ceremonial welcome on state visit, Delhi, Nov 29, 2019 Sri Lanka is a role model for the dictum of diplomacy being the extension of a country’s national policies. Sri Lanka’s performance must be commended since it also grapples with an unresolved nationality question in which its big neighbour India …
Does Japan grow onions?
India brings home onions from Turkey to ease prices which in retail market stood at Rs 80-120 per kg. The 2+2 format in inter-state relationships is an exotic thing — the raison d’être of foreign and defence ministers forming a caucus with their foreign counterparts as template of bilateral diplomacy. The United States has a …
US gatecrashes into Libyan endgame. But Russia stands in the way
Libya’s strongman Khalifa Belqasim Haftar visits Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov off Libyan coast, January 2017. File photo. The United States has alleged that Russia’s presence in Libya is having an “incredibly destabilising” impact. Washington is stepping out of the shade and making way to the centre stage of the Libyan conflict. David Schenker, the …
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The ballad of India’s Kashmir and Israel’s Palestine
Palestinian children play outside their dwelling in al-Eizariya town in the Israeli-occupied West Bank with the Jewish settlement of Maale Adumim in the background. “I believe the security situation will improve (in J&K), it will allow the refugees to go back, and in your lifetime, you will be able to go back … and you …
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US primes NATO to confront Russia, China
The December 3-4 summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) in London resembles a family reunion after the acrimony over the issue of military spending by America’s European allies. The trend is up for defence spending across European Allies and Canada. Over $100 billion is expected to be added to the member states’ defence …
Bereft of soft power, India stands diminished in Hindu Kush and Central Asia
Bagh-e Babur (Garden of Babur) in Kabul, Afghanistan The dichotomy between the regime policy and public opinion is nowhere near as sharp as in the world of diplomacy. And nowhere in the contemporary situation is this maxim so sharply visible as in the dalliance of the West Asian oligarchies with Israel. The romance began at …
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