Vietnam’s Dy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh chairs a video meeting with ministers from member countries of Association of Southeast Nations, Hanoi, Sept 9, 2020. The meeting between the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in Moscow on September 11 took place at a particularly delicate juncture …
An India-China reset is still possible
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar (L) and China’s State Councilor & Foreign Minister Wang Yi (R) met in Moscow, Sept 10, 2020 A joint statement wasn’t anticipated after the talks between the External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and China’s State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Moscow on September 10. In diplomatic terms, a …
India needs to adapt to the world of tomorrow
Pangong Tso Lake in eastern Ladakh: snapshot from 1962 India-China war. Jawaharlal Nehru began his historic “Tryst with Destiny” speech on August 15, 1947 heralding India’s independence, which is considered to be one of the greatest speeches of the twentieth century, with an immortal line, “At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world …
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Belarus, Navalny cast shadows on Russia’s ties with EU
Belarusian opposition protestors marching toward the presidential palace, Minsk, September 6, 2020 The Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu disclosed on September 6 on the state television that there has been a thirty percent increase in aerial surveillance on the country’s borders by NATO jets in August as compared to last year. Unlike in the past when surveillance …
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Homage to Guru and landmark in Kerala’s social history
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan (L) announced Kerala’s first open university named after Sree Narayana Guru, Sept 3, 2020 Pinarayi Vijayan’s historical legacy in over five decades in public life will surely have at its epicentre the establishment of an open university named after Sree Narayana Guru. Announcing the decision, Pinarayi tweeted that Gurudevan “enlightened …
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What can Russia do to ease tensions in Himalayas?
Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh (L) and Chinese Defence Minister General Wei Fenghe (R) are due to meet in Moscow on September 4, 2020 The legend is that the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, during his pathbreaking visit to India in 1955, was reputed to have told the Indians that all they had to do for …
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India gains nothing out of ‘Asian NATO’
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivered the keynote address at the annual Shangri La Conference in Singapore on 1st June, 2018. If you are in two minds about the foreign policy orientations of Modi government, what do you do? My answer: Read the lips of the US state department officials. They will give you the authoritative …
US-Russia tensions flare up on multiple fronts
Russian Su-27 Flanker jets crossing within 100 feet of the nose of a nuclear-capable US B-52 bomber in Black Sea, August 28, 2020 Amidst the escalating tensions with China, the United States should have kept the troubled relationship with Russia on an even keel. But the opposite is happening. For the first time since the presidential …
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Modi and the Abe legacy
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced his resignation from office on health grounds, Tokyo, August 28, 2020 The earth becomes a lonely planet for Prime Minister Narendra Modi as his friend and Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe announced his resignation from office on August 28 and began walking toward the sunset. Abe should have been around …
Anatomy of coup attempt in Belarus
Women protestors in Minsk, Belarus, lionised by western media The Russian President Vladimir Putin disclosed in a TV interview on August 27 that the Americans, amongst others, had fuelled the unrest in Belarus. He explained that the controversial presence of 33 Russian nationals (with military background) in Minsk in the run-up to the presidential election …