Nearly a year it took for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President to have a phone conversation. The last time they spoke was reportedly in February 2018. On Monday, Modi took the initiative to dial up. Two divergent accounts of the conversation have appeared. The Indian version labored to inject some verve into the …
Continue reading “Modi curries favor with Trump but it won’t work”
Such a lot of nonsense was dished out by the American lobbyists through the past year to the effect that Washington was straining at the leash to punish India for buying the S-400 ABM system. This phobia was carefully planted in the Indian discourses by American think tankers. The most celebrated instance was of the …
Continue reading “Why India should pay attention to US-Turkey spat over S-400”
(Toddy tapper in India’s coconut country) If the Kerala state leadership of the BJP has its way, Prime Minister Narendra Modi should return to Gujarat and resume his trademark vocation as tea vendor. That is the bizarre logic that a senior BJP leader in Kerala has applied, while making the call last week that Chief …
The highly disparaging remarks to by the US President Donald Trump on Wednesday regarding Prime Minister Narendra Modi and India’s role in Afghanistan come as a shocking revelation. Trump was talking to the press following his first cabinet meeting of 20i9 at the White House in Washington. No Indian PM has been reduced to look …
(Iran’s Chabahar Port) India has done well to put in place the nuts and bolts of a payment mechanism for its trade and investment transactions with Iran against the backdrop of the US withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal (known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) in May last year followed by the imposition …
Continue reading “India sequesters Iran ties from US predatory strike”
(Armageddon: Will it come on Trump’s watch?) Is 2019 going to be the year of the Armageddon? The answer is a definitive ‘No’. As 2018 ended, the potential for war was looming and Russian President Vladimir Putin even refused to rule out a nuclear war. But then, the statesmen grappling with international security also …
Continue reading “World is safe from global conflict in 2019”
(King Salman of Saudi Arabia & Afghan President Ghani) As surely as night follows day, in the wake of Saudi Arabia assuming the lead role in the Afghan peace talks, Tehran has unveiled an analogous peace process involving the Taliban. (See my article in Asia Times Saudi Arabia takes charge of Afghan peace talks.) The …
Continue reading “Iran challenges Saudi role in the Afghan endgame”
A German-French joint statement on Friday regarding Ukraine condemned Russia and demanded the immediate release of the sailors detained following the so-called Kerch incident in November. Moscow hit back in equally strong language summarily rejecting the Franco-German demand. The Franco-German motivation in provoking Russia remains unclear. Maybe, a combination of circumstances would be at play. …
Continue reading “Germany, France struggle with resurgent Russia”
The Syrian government forces have entered the northern town of Manbij on the Turkish border earlier today. The Syrian military command announced in Damascus that the operation stemmed from the commitment to “impose sovereignty to each inch of Syrian territories and in response to calls of locals of Manbij city.” The announcement reiterated Damascus’ twin …
Continue reading “Syrian Kurds throw Americans under the bus”
(Russian FM Sergey Lavrov receiving Pakistani FM Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Moscow, Dec 26 2018) With what mixed feelings Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi wound up on Wednesday his hurried 3-day regional tour of Kabul, Tehran, Beijing and Moscow, we will never know. What sticks out is that Islamabad’s newfound role as “facilitator” of the …
Continue reading “Pakistan’s Afghan jig irks regional states”
