Next to a US armoured vehicle, Syrian Kurds protest against threatened Turkish military invasion, Hasakeh province, October 6, 2019 The US president Donald Trump is not known to practise judo. A few judo techniques he may have got to know from his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, who is a Black Belt. But what Trump has just …
Continue reading “Trump orders troop withdrawal in Syria. It could be for real.”
Indian Army holding its biggest ever mountain combat exercise in Arunachal Pradesh bordering China in Oct 2019 The ancient port city of Mamallapuram on the Coromandel Coast in southern India where the informal summit between PM Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping may take place, is frenetic with activity. The authorities are busy laying new roads, …
Chief Executive Officer Abdullah Abdullah casts vote in presidential election, Kabul, September 28, 2019 India is probably the only country to hail the “successful conduct of Presidential elections” in Afghanistan on September 28. Everyone else is holding breath. Curiously, the unusually muted campaign highlighted that candidates themselves seemed uninterested in spending money on an election …
The controversy swirling around the phone conversation between the US President Donald Trump and Ukraine President Vladimir Zelensky regarding the business interests of former vice-president Joe Biden’s son is having a salutary effect on the conflict in Ukraine. The US Special Representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker has resigned from his official position once it transpired …
Continue reading “Ukraine gains from Trump’s impeachment inquiry”
French President Emmanuel Macron met Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani at UN Hqs, New York, Sept 24, 2019 The unexpected move by the Pentagon to shift the Combined Air and Space Operations Center (CAOC) at al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar to the Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina 7,000 miles away from the Middle East …
BJP workers at Delhi Airport to receive PM Narendra Modi as he arrived from New York on September 28, 2019 In the South Block folklore, if a high-level visit by a foreign dignitary lacks substance, simply hype up protocol and make it look larger-than-life. The euphoric welcome accorded to PM Modi at Delhi airport by …
KPS Menon (Jr.), India’s Foreign Secretary during 1987-89 KPS Menon (Jr.), former Foreign Secretary, passed away last night. He chose Thiruvananthapuram in deep south for his departure, as far away as he possibly could from the Byzantine world of the Indian capital. Was there a deliberateness in that decision? I suspect so. When KPS (Jr.) …
Continue reading “A reluctant foreign secretary takes leave — quietly, unobtrusively”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi (L) met Iranian President Hassan Rouhani (R) at New York on Sept 26, 2019 Prime Minister Narendra Modi began his 6-day long visit to the US with a bang — a stunning stage appearance with President Trump at the Howdy Modi in Houston last Sunday. But on Thursday, he ended up …
The site of a suicide attack by Taliban in Parwan province, Sept. 17, 2019, targetting a campaign rally by President Ghani, killing over 20 people. Ghani escaped unharmed. During an exclusive interview with the Associated Press this week, the former Afghan president Hamid Karzai severely questioned the rationale behind the presidential election which is due to …
French President Emmanuel Macron and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani met at UN, New York, Sept 23, 2019. The joint statement issued by the leaders of France, Germany and the United Kingdom on September 23 indicting Iran for the attacks on the Saudi Aramco plants two weeks ago is at once consequential and declaratory. The joint …
Continue reading “Iran’s tango with Europe is rooted in its traditions and culture”
