An undated footage from Russian Defense Ministry Press Service showing an intercontinental ballistic missile lifting off from a truck-mounted launcher somewhere in Russia. The US President Donald Trump’s remark on Monday that a G7 summit is no longer on the cards for the month of September leaves many questions unanswered. We do not know the …
The ‘foreign threats’ to 2020 US election
“The keys predict that Donald Trump will lose the White House this year.” The statement by the Director of the United States National Counterintelligence and Security Center William Evanina on August 7 giving an “unclassified overview of foreign threats” to the 2020 US presidential election selectively focuses on “the ongoing and potential activity” by three …
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Pakistan should show realism on Kashmir
Curfew in Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir, in anticipation of ‘Black Day’ protests over first anniversary of state’s integration, Aug 5, 2020 India will be keenly watching the outcome of the Pakistani brain wave “to call a meeting of the Islamic countries that are ready to stand with us on the issue of Kashmir and support …
Trump lame duck bodes well for international security
Volunteers load free groceries at a community food bank in the Crenshaw neighbourhood of Los Angeles, United States, in July. (AFP photo) The commencement of the lame duck period of the Donald Trump presidency is marked by the departure of two high-ranking officials of the US state department in the last two days. Secretary of …
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The Wars of the Maps in South Asia won’t have happy ending
The new map of India issued by the government on 2 Nov, 2019 The unveiling of a ‘new political map’ of Pakistan in Islamabad on August 4 marks the aggravation of a bizarre period of South Asian politics that draws comparison with a controversial slice of the medieval history of England known as the Wars …
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Belarus: Scramble for heart of Europe
An opposition campaign rally in Minsk, July 30, 2020 The Secretary of State in the George W. Bush administration Condoleeza Rice once described Belarus as “the last true remaining dictatorship in the heart of Europe.” She held out the assurance that it was “time for change to come to Belarus.” That was during her visit …
Shutting the door to China is self-defeating
A closed business in Santa Monica, California. (AFP) The world economic news through last week must have sent shockwaves across North and South Block where India’s ministries of finance, defence and external affairs — and the Prime Minister’s Office — are located. The post-pandemic world order is knocking on the doors. On Friday, the European …
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Australia ‘decouples’ from US China policy
“Shared values but independent thinking”: Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne (L) & US State Secretary Pompeo, Washington, Jul 29, 2020 The Asian chancelleries have a great deal to mull over after the extraordinary joint press conference by the US and Australia following the AUSMIN meeting of their foreign and defence ministers in Washington, DC, on …
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China’s Silk Road of Health appears in South Asia
Chinese medical workers in face masks on a deployment overseas. A virtual meeting of the foreign ministers of China, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nepal on July 27 becomes the third vector of Beijing’s ‘Silk Road of Health’ diplomacy in Asia. A Xinhua report on the event said China proposed that the four countries should “consolidate consensus …
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Ebb and flow of Iran’s influence in Iraq
Iraqi militia fighters attacked the US Embassy, Baghdad, Dec 31, 2019. Getting caught between a rock and a hard place is an unenviable situation for a politician. A tragic case in modern times was of Hafizullah Amin, the Cold War era Afghan communist politician who tried to reduce his country’s dependence on the former Soviet …