Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa receiving ceremonial welcome on state visit, Delhi, Nov 29, 2019 Sri Lanka is a role model for the dictum of diplomacy being the extension of a country’s national policies. Sri Lanka’s performance must be commended since it also grapples with an unresolved nationality question in which its big neighbour India …
Does Japan grow onions?
India brings home onions from Turkey to ease prices which in retail market stood at Rs 80-120 per kg. The 2+2 format in inter-state relationships is an exotic thing — the raison d’être of foreign and defence ministers forming a caucus with their foreign counterparts as template of bilateral diplomacy. The United States has a …
US gatecrashes into Libyan endgame. But Russia stands in the way
Libya’s strongman Khalifa Belqasim Haftar visits Russian aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov off Libyan coast, January 2017. File photo. The United States has alleged that Russia’s presence in Libya is having an “incredibly destabilising” impact. Washington is stepping out of the shade and making way to the centre stage of the Libyan conflict. David Schenker, the …
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The ballad of India’s Kashmir and Israel’s Palestine
Palestinian children play outside their dwelling in al-Eizariya town in the Israeli-occupied West Bank with the Jewish settlement of Maale Adumim in the background. “I believe the security situation will improve (in J&K), it will allow the refugees to go back, and in your lifetime, you will be able to go back … and you …
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US primes NATO to confront Russia, China
The December 3-4 summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) in London resembles a family reunion after the acrimony over the issue of military spending by America’s European allies. The trend is up for defence spending across European Allies and Canada. Over $100 billion is expected to be added to the member states’ defence …
Bereft of soft power, India stands diminished in Hindu Kush and Central Asia
Bagh-e Babur (Garden of Babur) in Kabul, Afghanistan The dichotomy between the regime policy and public opinion is nowhere near as sharp as in the world of diplomacy. And nowhere in the contemporary situation is this maxim so sharply visible as in the dalliance of the West Asian oligarchies with Israel. The romance began at …
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Russia dials back peace talks with Japan
The Russia-Japan territorial disputes surged at a meeting of the foreign ministers of the two countries, Toshimitsu Motegi and Sergey Lavrov, at Nagoya, Japan, on November 22 on the sidelines of a G20 foreign ministers’ gathering. Lavrov publicly threw cold water on the Japanese spin that Tokyo is engaged in “persistent talks” with Russia on …
Who stands to gain from unrest in Iran?
People rallied in the northwestern Iranian city of Tabriz to denounce the violent unrest in the country, Nov 19, 2019 I once had an animated conversation with the Middle East correspondent of a leading Indian newspaper regarding the resilience of the Iranian political system. The year was 2001. The conversation took place in the backdrop …
With eye on India, Pakistan strengthens military ties with Iran
Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani (R) met visiting Pakistani COAS General Qamar Javed Bajwa, Tehran, Nov 19, 2019 The low-key coverage by the Pakistani media on the 2-day visit of the army chief General Qamar Bajwa to Iran notwithstanding, the event signifies a surge in the tempo of ‘mil-to-mil’ exchanges between the two countries. The Iranian …
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Tehran loses patience with Modi government’s hide and seek
Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif received a group of Indian writers and journalists, Tehran, Nov 10, 2019 Historically speaking, India-Iran relationship had its ups and downs during the decades under Shah’s rule. The Lowest point was reached when during the 1965 and 1971 wars with India, Pakistani Air Force jets were stationed in Iran …
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