The 13th National Congress of the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam got under way in Hanoi on January 25, 2021 The 13th national congress of Vietnam’s ruling communist party, which began in Hanoi on Monday is an event of exceptional significance for the country’s internal politics and future trajectory of development, regional politics and the …
US-Pak reset to advance Biden’s Afghan settlement
Barack Obama (C) with advisers reviewing Afghan exit plan, vice- president Joe Biden (L), White House, Washington, DC, circa 2010 Mark Twain is credited with the saying ‘History never repeats itself, but it does often rhyme.’ The echoes of history resonate as the new US administration prioritises the Afghan problem for policy review. The …
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Blinken’s diplomatic cart will have a bumpy ride
US Secretary of State-designate Antony Blinken at confirmation hearing of Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Washington, Jan 19, 2021 The confirmation of Antony Blinken as US secretary of state by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is a foregone conclusion. That makes his opening statement at the senate hearing Tuesday an important document. Blinken did not throw …
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Russia takes charge of Nagorno-Karabakh
Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) met Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev (C) and Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan (L), Moscow, Jan. 11, 2021 The trilateral meeting of the leaderships of Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan in the Kremlin on January 11, exactly two months after the ceasefire in the 44-day Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, can be seen as a robust …
Germany draws another line in the sand for the US
Russia’s pipe-layer crane ship Fortuna, capable of laying about 1km of undersea pipe a day (File photo) Exactly a week after the announcement on December 30 regarding European Union’s long-sought comprehensive investment agreement with China, the Danish Energy Agency received an innocuous revised schedule from Nord Stream 2 AG for the construction of the gas pipeline …
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Boris Johnson has done Modi a favour
Prime Minister Modi (R) and UK PM Boris Johnson. File photo Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s invitation to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson conferring on the latter the great honour of being the chief guest at the Republic Day on January 26 was a hasty and premature move. True, the Oxford vaccine can turn India’s dismal …
Preview signals Biden’s foreign policy shifts
Iran says it has resumed enriching uranium to 20% purity In his first media interview, the incoming US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan has given a preview of Joe Biden administration’s foreign policy directions in regard of Russia, Iran and China. Major shifts can be expected in the policies toward both China and Iran while …
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India’s Gulf strategy is chasing Chinese phantoms
Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani (R) received External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, Manama, Dec 24, 2020 The Chinese statement of December 2 at the United Nations General Assembly in New York on the ‘Question of Palestine and the Situation in the Middle East’ should trigger introspection in New Delhi. Without doubt, this …
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When values and interests collide, where does Biden stand?
Frau Europa: German Chancellor Angela Merkel at Brussels While addressing an online conference of legislators from across the European continent on November 30, German Chancellor Angela Merkel hit out at the concept of exceptionalism. Inevitably, Merkel’s remark has drawn much attention at a time when the Joe Biden’s presidency appears on the horizon. Merkel came …
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Return of Great Game in Post-Soviet Central Asia
The Wakhan Corridor: A narrow strip of land in Eastern Afghanistan’s Badakhshan province, 295 km long and 15 to 57 km wide, connecting Afghanistan with China and passing through the territory of Tajikistan, historically a buffer between Russian Central Asia and British India. The recent Issue Brief by the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission …
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