A meeting between special representatives of India and China on boundary question – Ajit Doval (L) and Wang Yi (R) – is on the cards The 9th round of talks at the army commanders’ level between India and China resulted in a breakthrough that since achieved the successful disengagement of troops on the north and …
India’s forever wars and forever warriors
Disengagement between Chinese and Indian forces at the banks of the Pangong lake in Eastern Ladakh The Washington-based Quincy Institute, arguably the most intellectually stimulating American think tank nowadays, in its compulsively readable publication Responsible Statecraft featured on Tuesday an investigative report titled Weapons biz bankrolls experts pushing to extend Afghan War, authored by Eli Clifton, …
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Biden resumes adult conversations with Beijing, Moscow
US envoy to Iran Robert Malley (third from left) at a 2015 meeting with Iranian officials, including Foreign Minister Javad Zarif (far R), Geneva Like a bolt from the blue, the news has appeared belatedly that the US special envoy to Iran Rob Malley initiated a call with Chinese vice minister Ma Zhaoxu on February …
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Qatar on mission to break US-Iran stalemate
Iran foreign minister Javad Zarif (L) and Qatari counterpart Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani (R), Tehran. Feb. 15, 2021 With five days to go, Iran nuclear issue is tiptoeing toward a deadline on February 21 when Tehran is obliged by its domestic law to stop allowing inspections of the International Atomic Energy Agency unless there …
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US-Indian strategic construct of Western Indian Ocean runs into headwinds
Pakistan Navy is hosting largest multinational maritime exercise ‘Aman 21’ in North Arabian Sea on February 11-16, 2021. The AMAN-21 naval exercise, the biennial event hosted by Pakistani Navy since 2007, in Karachi and the Arabian Sea from February 11-16 draws special attention. As many as 45 navies are reportedly participating, which makes AMAN probably …
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Biden kickstarts China re-engagement
What distinguishes the new US administration is that there has never been an American president before with anywhere near the foreign policy experience that Joe Biden possesses. Biden brings into the presidency enormous experience spanning over half a century, through his continuous stretch in the US Senate and the White House from 1973 to 2016 …
US reboots Quad in unseemly hurry
Protests in Myanmar’s central plains after the military coup. The Japanese news agency Kyodo reported from Washington Sunday quoting “a source” that the Biden Administration had proposed to New Delhi, Tokyo and Canberra the idea of holding an online summit meeting of the leaders of the “Quad”. The report added, “Whether the talks will materialise …
India needs course correction on Myanmar
The Modi government made a strident call on February 1 that the “rule of law and the democratic process must be upheld” in Myanmar. The statement, following a prodding from Washington, was unabashedly intrusive, and, ironically, completely overlooking that human rights, rule of law, democratic pluralism, etc. are universal values that India also can (and …
Taliban risks losing international legitimacy
A high-powered Taliban delegation led by Mullah Baradar arrived in Tehran for consultations on January 26, 2021 A high-level delegation led by Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the senior leader of the Taliban and its chief negotiator at the Doha talks, held consultations in Tehran and Moscow this week through January 26-29 amidst growing uncertainty over …
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Biden and Putin break the ice
Six days into the Joe Biden presidency, the first telephone conversation between POTUS and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin took place on Tuesday. Who took the initiative remains a tantalising detail, given the tense Russian-American relationship and the poor personal chemistry between the two leaders who are known to each other for a decade. But the …