The White House disclosed in Washington on January 19 that President Trump’s second summit with the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un “will take place near the end of February”. One month is a very long time in politics but the White House disclosure came at the conclusion of three-day working level talks between senior officials …
Sri Lanka’s BOP crisis is an eye-opener
In a curious twist to Sri Lanka’s famous “debt trap”, Colombo has approached New Delhi and Beijing in panic to help it somehow meet the unprecedented foreign debt obligations. Eyebrows will be raised. How come Beijing? Yes, it is about Beijing helping Colombo to tackle its real “debt trap” – namely, repayment of maturing loans …
US officials converge on Pakistan seeking Afghan peace
After a successful mission to Turkey this weekend on US President Trump’s behalf, his leading Republican ally Senator Lindsey Graham is reportedly heading for Islamabad on a similar mission seeking rapprochement with another truculent erstwhile ally of the US. Senator Graham, interestingly, used to be a hardliner on Afghanistan who once believed that a US …
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US erodes Russia-Turkey axis in Syria
(Turkish tank convoy moving to Syrian border, Jan 14.) Through the past month since US President Donald Trump tweeted his fateful decision to withdraw troops from Syria, a familiar pattern began appearing – no sooner than Trump makes a foreign-policy decision, those around him scramble to try to delay that decision. However, in the Syrian …
Debris of INF treaty will fall far and wide
The US-Russia talks in Geneva regarding the 1987 Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty have ended in failure. In a final call to salvage the treaty, Moscow offered that American experts could inspect a new suspect Russian missile, which Washington has been citing as the alibi for its decision to quite the treaty, but the US …
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With eye on Iran, US steps up presence in Iraq
(Proposed 1600 km long Basra-Aqaba oil & gas pipeline) The US’ plan to withdraw troops from Syria has electrified the Iraqi political and diplomatic landscape. The Saudi establishment daily Asarq Al-Awsat has reported from Baghdad, quoting a prominent Iraqi analyst that the American troops who are being redeployed to Iraq from Syria will be divided …
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Trump has mixed signals for Astana partners
(Turkey deploys battle tanks on border with Syria.) Trump’s tweets earlier today regarding Syrian withdrawal plan came out of the blue – “Starting the long overdue pullout from Syria while hitting the little remaining ISIS territorial caliphate hard, and from many directions. Will attack again from existing nearby base if it reforms. Will devastate Turkey …
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US takes Israel’s advice for unified ‘Syraq’ strategy
Current discussions in US media regarding the US’ troop withdrawal plans in Syria are so patently directed at Trump politically. His detractors have a field day lampooning him and his top officials than about the evolving US strategy in Syria and Iraq – more appropriately, the “Syraq” strategy. Continue reading…
‘Gadkari effect’ on growing Iran-India relations
TEHRAN – If the ‘Newton Effect’ in physics has an equivalent in international diplomacy, we can describe what is happening to India-Iran relations as the ‘Gadkari Effect’. Like in the case of the 18th century English scientist Isaac Newton’s optical property of physics, the minister in the Indian government Nitin Gadkari… Continue reading….
Pakistan wriggles out of IMF clutches
The visit by Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Khalid A Al-Falih on Saturday to Gwadar to inspect the site allocated for a multibillion oil refinery in the port city suggest that Riyadh and Islamabad are giving the final touch to reaching agreement for a Saudi Aramco Oil Refinery in Pakistan. Reports say that Saudi Arabia will be …