Expectant hush in Delhi as Sri Lanka chooses president

Top presidential candidates Sajith Premadasa (L) and  candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa (R) greeted each other at a chance encounter in Colombo, October 7, 2019   An engrossing presidential election is due to take place in Sri Lanka on November 16. Considering that this is the first major election in Sri Lanka following the ‘regime change’ in …

Europe’s gas alliance with Russia is a match made in heaven

Amidst the excitement over the killing of the ISIS chief Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, a development of much impact on international security passed by when Denmark made the innocuous announcement on October 30 that it would permit the proposed Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to pass through its exclusive economic zone.  Copenhagen modestly explained that it …

Passage to the door opening to Kashmir Valley

Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a delegation of  European Parliament MPs, New Delhi,  October 28, 2019. The government’s initiative to sponsor the visit to J&K by a 28-member delegation of the members of the European Parliament (MEPs) is a belated step in the right direction. It is a modest step, likely tentative and probably intended …

Kashmir: Bipartisan consensus in US is in meltdown

For an Indian who ever had anything to do with the making or implementation of India’s Kashmir policy, listening to the 2-hour long Congressional hearing in Washington, DC, on October 22 would have been a scandalous experience.  There has never been such scathing criticism of our Kashmir policies in the recent decades voiced so openly …

Trump seeks grand bargain with Erdogan

US military convoy entering Iraq from Syria The morning after a summit meeting often holds surprises. Turkey lost no time to follow up on President Recep Erdogan’s hugely successful but “difficult” talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Sochi on Tuesday.  On Wednesday itself, Ankara formally conveyed to Washington Erdogan’s decision that the Turkish …

Deconstructing Putin-Erdogan MOU on Syria; this is how it looks.

Turkish President Recep Erdogan (L) and Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) held talks in Sochi, Russia, on October 22, 2019  The talks between the presidents of Russia and Turkey — Vladimir Putin and Recep Erdogan — at Sochi on October 22 relating to the Syrian question lasted close to seven hours and reportedly involved “difficult” …

It’s curtains for US in Syria. Russia, Iran owe big thanks to Erdogan

Turkey’s Operation Peace Spring in Northern Syria has reportedly advanced to a 1000 square kilometers area. The scenario agreed on behind the curtains through months of confidential exchanges, often one-on-one, between the Russian and Turkish leaders regarding north-eastern Syria is entering a critical phase of implementation on the ground with the agreement between the Kurds …

Xi’s Nepal visit treaded softly on Indian sensitivities

Chinese President Xi Jinping on a state visit being received by Nepal President Bidhya Devi Bhandari, Kathmandu, October 12, 2019 If anyone would have thought that in the backdrop of our “muscular diplomacy” in the recent period, there could be an anti-India bias to President Xi Jinping’s state visit to China, things didn’t happen that way.  …