Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman and AbuDahbi Crown prince Mohammed bin Zayed witness the signing of the Riyadh Agreement between the Yemeni government and the Southern Transitional Council, Riyadh, November 5, 2019 The power-sharing agreement signed in Riyadh on November 5 between the Saudi-backed Yemeni government headed by Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and UAE-backed southern …
Myths and reality in Saudi-Indian relations
King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (L) received Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Riyadh, October 29, 2019 Indian analysts somehow feel they are obliged to praise Prime Minister Narendra Modi whenever he undertakes a visit abroad, no matter the actual outcome of the event. The recent visit to Saudi Arabia was no exception, as analysts …
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Expectant hush in Delhi as Sri Lanka chooses president
Top presidential candidates Sajith Premadasa (L) and candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa (R) greeted each other at a chance encounter in Colombo, October 7, 2019 An engrossing presidential election is due to take place in Sri Lanka on November 16. Considering that this is the first major election in Sri Lanka following the ‘regime change’ in …
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Europe’s gas alliance with Russia is a match made in heaven
Amidst the excitement over the killing of the ISIS chief Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, a development of much impact on international security passed by when Denmark made the innocuous announcement on October 30 that it would permit the proposed Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to pass through its exclusive economic zone. Copenhagen modestly explained that it …
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US intensifies geopolitical struggle over Syria
General Kenneth F. McKenzie, commander of the United States Central Command (R) called on Kurdish commander General Mazloum Kobani at unspecified location in Northern Syria in July 2019. File photo No one would have thought that out of the US president Donald Trump’s decision three weeks ago to withdraw all American troops from Syria, a …
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Passage to the door opening to Kashmir Valley
Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a delegation of European Parliament MPs, New Delhi, October 28, 2019. The government’s initiative to sponsor the visit to J&K by a 28-member delegation of the members of the European Parliament (MEPs) is a belated step in the right direction. It is a modest step, likely tentative and probably intended …
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Kashmir: Bipartisan consensus in US is in meltdown
For an Indian who ever had anything to do with the making or implementation of India’s Kashmir policy, listening to the 2-hour long Congressional hearing in Washington, DC, on October 22 would have been a scandalous experience. There has never been such scathing criticism of our Kashmir policies in the recent decades voiced so openly …
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Trump seeks grand bargain with Erdogan
US military convoy entering Iraq from Syria The morning after a summit meeting often holds surprises. Turkey lost no time to follow up on President Recep Erdogan’s hugely successful but “difficult” talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Sochi on Tuesday. On Wednesday itself, Ankara formally conveyed to Washington Erdogan’s decision that the Turkish …
Deconstructing Putin-Erdogan MOU on Syria; this is how it looks.
Turkish President Recep Erdogan (L) and Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) held talks in Sochi, Russia, on October 22, 2019 The talks between the presidents of Russia and Turkey — Vladimir Putin and Recep Erdogan — at Sochi on October 22 relating to the Syrian question lasted close to seven hours and reportedly involved “difficult” …
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US stokes the fires of Turkish revanchism
Turkish President Recep Erdogan (C-L) and US Vice President Mike Pence (C-R) met in Ankara on Oct. 17, 2019 The extraordinary US overture to Turkey regarding northern Syria resulted in a joint statement on Thursday, whose ramifications can be rated only in the fulness of time, as several intersecting tracks are running. The US …
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