People lineup at the monument to Ottoman Turks, Yerevan, Armenia, April 24, 2021. Armenia is praising US’ recognition of deaths of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey as “genocide”. If there is a Nobel Prize for the US president who first recognised the 1915 ‘Armenian Genocide’, that could have gone to Ronald Reagan. But he didn’t make …
Putin recites the distribution of power in central Europe
Russian military’s armoured vehicles roll into landing vessels after drill in Crimea, Black Sea, April 23, 2021 The Colossus in modern European history with whom Russian President Vladimir Putin would draw comparison might be Otto von Bismarck, the first Chancellor of the German Empire who unified his country out of the scattered pieces. Putin is …
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Tradeoff for US vaccine unthinkable
In a sudden change of heart, US President Biden may relent to lift the ban on export of raw materials for India’s Covid vaccine. In the coming week, the commander of the US Central Command Gen Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr. is expected to provide Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin with options for potential future counterterrorism …
Modi Govt’s vaccine diplomacy unravels—within India and abroad
The viral picture that defines India’s Covid distress — an exhausted Chandrakala Singh, sitting stone-faced in an electric rickshaw with the body of her son Vineet Singh (cropped out) by her feet on a busy street in the city of Varanasi in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, emblematic of the plight of Indians trapped …
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Afghanistan: US exit is with caveats
US to withdraw troops from Afghanistan by Sept 11, 2021 The United States and NATO are yet to begin the withdrawal of their forces from Afghanistan but the eyes are cast over the horizon at what lies after the ‘forever war’ formally ends. The US exit strategy in Afghanistan assumes the look of that random …
Gulf security paradigm in historic shift
Foreign Ministers of Cyprus, Israel and Greece and the diplomatic adviser of UAE’s President met in Paphos, Cyprus April 16, 2021 The geopolitical alignments of the Gulf region are rapidly transforming both in bilateral and multilateral formats. Starting with the rapprochement between Qatar and Saudi Arabia in January, the common thread here is that the …
I pray for Manmohan Singh ji’s speedy recovery
Multiple burning pyres of patients who died of the Covid-19 infections at a crematorium in New Delhi, April 19, 2021 (Getty Images) The siren of ambulances rushing to hospitals has a plaintive sound that causes anguish. While on the treadmill this evening at home, which is situated not far from a cluster of super-speciality hospitals …
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US’ China policy at inflection point
China-France-Germany climate summit, Beijing, April 16, 2021 Considering the US media build-up as President Biden’s climate envoy John Kerry set out for China, the 4-day visit turned out to be an uneventful affair. Perhaps, the chances of President Xi Jinping participating in the signature event in Washington — the Leaders Summit on Climate on …
US expects Russia to submit. Will it?
US President Joe Biden departs after delivering remarks on Russia in the East Room at White House, Washington, DC, April 15, 2021 In his landmark foreign policy speech delivered from the US state department on February 4, President Joe Biden had proclaimed that “America is back. Diplomacy is back at the centre of our foreign …
Chronicle of the unavailing Afghan war
President Joe Biden wipes his eye as he walks through Arlington National Cemetery to honor fallen veterans of Afghan war, April 14, 2021 One missing part in US President Joe Biden’s remarks Wednesday announcing troop withdrawal from Afghanistan was that he didn’t order a commission of inquiry into the disastrous military invasion of 2001. It’s …