The Chinese Communist Party tabloid Global Times has featured a stimulating commentary entitled Modi does balancing act between US and Russia. It discusses the ‘Chanakyan’ moorings of India’s diplomacy vis-a-vis Russia. The hypothesis is uncomplicated — namely, that India ‘balances’ its relations with the US and Russia with a view to get a good deal …
Continue reading “Russia is auxiliary to US-India partnership, not balancer”
The Houston Texans football stadium where Prime Minister Modi will address a rally on September 22, 2019 PM Modi takes to the stage Sunday at the NRG Stadium at Houston, Texas, in an event billed Howdy Modi, sponsored by “hundreds of Indian-American groups”. The event was choreographed to celebrate Modi’s return to America after what …
Continue reading “‘Howdy Modi’ is a win-win. But does it matter?”
Iran’s Supreme Leader Seyyed Ali Khamenei addressed a group of seminary students in Tehran, Sept 17, 2019. The geopolitical faultlines of the drone attack on the Saudi Aramco plants on Saturday are surfacing. These are early days but three broad trends have appeared. One, Saudi investigators have begun pointing finger at Iran, which is certain …
Continue reading “Trump is in no rush to jump into Saudi defence”
Benchmark oil futures jumped as much as US$11.73 a barrel to US$71.95 as market opened in Asia on Sept 16, 2019. The US President Donald Trump’s tweet Sunday regarding the attack on two Saudi Aramco plants says as follows: “Saudi Arabia oil supply was attacked. There is reason to believe that we know the culprit, …
Continue reading “Winners and losers from Saudi Aramco’s travails”
Drone attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels caused major fires at two of Saudi Aramco’s oil facilities, Sept 14, 2019. A terrible beauty is born on the Middle East’s strategic landscape with the massive drone attacks Saturday on two Saudi Aramco refineries. Saudi Arabia, which has a record of sponsoring terrorist groups to destabilise foreign lands …
Continue reading “Houthis strike at Saudi Arabia’s throbbing heart”
India has invited officials of the member countries of Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) to a meeting in New Delhi on September 14-15 for “discussing ideas.” This is happening only a week after the 7th RCEP Ministerial Meeting at Bangkok on September 8 in Bangkok and a week before the next negotiating round scheduled to be …
Continue reading “India prepares to shed legacy of protectionism”
Gen. Xu Qiliang, Vice Chairman of China’s Central Military Commission, met with visiting Major Gen. Mohammad Hossein Baqeri, Chief of Staff of Iranian Armed Forces in Beijing on Sept. 11,2019. The frank remarks to the media this week by Iran’s ambassador to India Ali Chegeni on the dismal state of his country’s relations with India …
Continue reading “Iran laments Indian apathy to cooperation”
Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) received US National Security Advisor John Bolton (R), Moscow, Oct. 23, 2018 At a press briefing Tuesday afternoon in Washington, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo cautioned against any rushed estimation that the exit of National Security Advisor John Bolton signalled a seismic shift in the Trump administration’s foreign policy. …
Continue reading “Bolton’s exit impacts US foreign policy. This is how”
Relatives of Ukrainian prisoners arriving from Russia at Borispil Airport, outside Kiev, September 7, 2019 The meeting of the foreign and defense ministers of Russia and France in the 2+2 format in Moscow on September 9 signified not only a warming up of relations between the two countries but a reset in Russia’s ties with the …
(Khalid Al-Falih replaced as Saudi oil minister and chairman of Saudi Aramco. File photo.) The India-Saudi relationship was historically a finely poised balance of mutual interests despite all contradictions. Its glacial pace had an inner logic — don’t push too hard, as life is real. But the Modi government quickened the pace — probably …
