Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman looks on during a meeting with US President Donald Trump, White House, Washington, November 18, 2025. The telephone call from the US Vice-President JD Vance to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 8 came as a surprise. Neither the American nor the Indian side …
Kerala should prepare for AI education
The Kerala Chief Minister VD Satheesan’s choice of the New Indian Express editor Santwana Bhattacharya for his first major media interview after assuming office 50 days ago comes as no surprise. Both are quintessential intellectuals and humanists at the core with a rare ability to synthesise to form a new unified whole. Ancient Greeks coined …
China wades into the geopolitics of Iran
US, Iran on same page, as President Masoud Pezeshkian holds the signed MoU with President Donald Trump’s signature ending the war and lifting US naval blockade, Tehran, June 18, 2026. The authenticity of the public articulation of the stunning proposal of an alliance by Majlis speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf — ‘regional bloc’ — built around …
Can China curb Trump’s gambit in Hormuz?
Iran’s high-speed patrol boats in ‘asymmetrical’ naval war in Strait of Hormuz, Persian Gulf (File photo) China’s shock warning to the US President Donald Trump that his road to Beijing goes through the Strait of Hormuz has been an audacious move directly linking his planned visit to China on May 14-15 with the situation around …
US-Iran détente is inching closer
Jubilant US President Donald Trump dances at a mass rally at Dream City Church, Phoenix, Arizona, April 17, 2026 The US President Donald Trump’s initiative to calm down the Lebanon conflict has brought results as he announced a 10-day truce between Israel and Hezbollah that took effect on April 17. The ceasefire may be …
The truce in US’ Iran war is fragile
Smoke rises following Israeli airstrikes, Beirut, April 8, 2026 A Tass report with Islamabad dateline confirmed a few hours ago that the US-Iran talks will be held on Saturday at the Serena Hotel in the city “and are expected to last several days.” The incredible blunder of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Israel just …
Latin America’s putative swing to the right is in sync with Trump’s hemispheric security strategy
A far-right supporter wearing an Augusto Pinochet pin at a campaign closing rally in the presidential election in Santiago, Chile In jubilation, when news reached him from Lima that arch-conservative candidate José Antonio Kast had emerged victorious in Chile’s presidential election, Argentina’s right wing president Javier Milei posted a map of South America on X …
Syria comes in from the cold
With great prescience, late Henry Kissinger had once said, “You can’t make war in the Middle East without Egypt, and you can’t make peace without Syria.” The adage remains true even today. Syria has been an astute practitioner of diplomacy in its statecraft, which was not surprising given its origin as a modern state out …
US snubs India’s war on terror
The Indian media reports make out that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s reception for the seven parliamentary delegations waging the war on terror turned into a social occasion to celebrate the flashes of ‘national unity’ before the hurly-burly of politics returns as the election cycle picks up. The PMO did not issue any press release on …
Trump’s diplomacy gains traction, silences sceptics
US President Donald Trump (L) met privately with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine at St. Peter’s Basilica on the sidelines of Pope Francis’ funeral, Vatican, April 26, 2025 The US President Donald Trump is a lone ranger in international arena and a self-confessed practitioner of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s absolute maxim that ours is not …
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