Rohingya refugees in prayer at the Kutupalong camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, November 2019 The KL Summit 2019 hosted by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur on December 18-21 was originally conceived as a landmark event in the politics of the Muslim world. It still is, albeit on a wet wicket struggling …
Continue reading “Saudi Arabia reads the riot act to Imran Khan”
The US-China trade deal is harbinger of even harder talks, but apparent pragmatism on both sides is a positive sign. The agreement on the terms of the first phase of a trade deal between the US and China broadly envisages that Washington would reduce some tariffs on Chinese goods while Beijing would boost purchases of American farm, energy and manufactured …
The Kart-e-Parwan Sikh Gurudwara in Kabul, Afghanistan This had to happen: The friendliest and the closest neighbour that India ever had since its independence, Afghanistan, has cast aside diplomatic niceties and unmistakably conveyed its indignation and sense of hurt over the churlish imputation by the Indian leadership of alleged religious / racial persecution of minorities …
Continue reading “Afghanistan, Bangladesh deserve our respect”
Prime Minister Modi (R) and President Donald Trump (L) on stage for Howdy Modi event, Houston, September 22, 2019 The scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the recent weeks by two prominent writers in the US — the Washington Post’s Max Boot (here) and the New Yorker magazine’s Dexter Filkins (here) — is …
NATO leaders assemble for customary group photo at Leaders’ Meeting’ in London on Dec 5, 2019 amidst much finger-pointing and discord The decision to “downgrade” the NATO’s historic summit meeting in London on the 70th anniversary of the alliance to a mere “Leaders’ Meeting” implied that no joint declaration or communique would need to be issued …
Continue reading “Rumours of NATO’s death are greatly exaggerated”
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 …
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 …
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 …
Continue reading “US gatecrashes into Libyan endgame. But Russia stands in the way”
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 …
Continue reading “The ballad of India’s Kashmir and Israel’s Palestine”
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 …
