Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh (L) and Chinese Defence Minister General Wei Fenghe (R) are due to meet in Moscow on September 4, 2020 The legend is that the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, during his pathbreaking visit to India in 1955, was reputed to have told the Indians that all they had to do for …
Continue reading “What can Russia do to ease tensions in Himalayas?”
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivered the keynote address at the annual Shangri La Conference in Singapore on 1st June, 2018. If you are in two minds about the foreign policy orientations of Modi government, what do you do? My answer: Read the lips of the US state department officials. They will give you the authoritative …
UN Security Council resoundingly defeated a US resolution to indefinitely extend UN arms embargo on Iran, with only Dominican Republic endorsing the American move, New York, 14 Aug, 2020 The Iran nuclear issue moves to centerstage of international security with US President Donald Trump’s remarks Saturday that Washington “will be doing a snapback” against Iran …
Continue reading “Snapback sanctions on Iran isn’t open-and-shut case”
An undated footage from Russian Defense Ministry Press Service showing an intercontinental ballistic missile lifting off from a truck-mounted launcher somewhere in Russia. The US President Donald Trump’s remark on Monday that a G7 summit is no longer on the cards for the month of September leaves many questions unanswered. We do not know the …
“The keys predict that Donald Trump will lose the White House this year.” The statement by the Director of the United States National Counterintelligence and Security Center William Evanina on August 7 giving an “unclassified overview of foreign threats” to the 2020 US presidential election selectively focuses on “the ongoing and potential activity” by three …
Continue reading “The ‘foreign threats’ to 2020 US election”
“Shared values but independent thinking”: Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne (L) & US State Secretary Pompeo, Washington, Jul 29, 2020 The Asian chancelleries have a great deal to mull over after the extraordinary joint press conference by the US and Australia following the AUSMIN meeting of their foreign and defence ministers in Washington, DC, on …
Continue reading “Australia ‘decouples’ from US China policy”
US President Donald Trump (L) and Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) shaking hands after the Helsinki Summit, July 16, 2018 There was a time when President Trump’s personalised diplomacy seemed a hydra-headed phenomenon with tentacles reaching far and wide. He engaged such diverse politicians — from Shinzo Abe and Kim Jong-Un to Xi Jinping and …
Continue reading “Trump foreign policy enters lame duck period”
India-EU virtual summit will take place on July 15, 2020 under the shadows of the cataclysmic Covid-19 pandemic. One of the enduring urban legends in modern times is the quip attributed to Henry Kissinger, ‘Who do I call if I want to call Europe?’ Kissinger disowned it subsequently, but the myth lingers on. Europe is …
Continue reading “EU summit to reboot India’s world outlook”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced free ration for 800 million Indians for the coming 5-month period “to empower the poor, downtrodden and deprived sections of society”, New Delhi, June 30, 2020 Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s address to the nation today evening has been a remarkable event from several perspectives. For a start, he dedicated his …
US-China standoff hots up as White House compares Chinese President Xi Jinping with Soviet leader Joseph Stalin The world community can heave a sigh of relief that there isn’t going to be a new cold war between the United States and China. A Cold War needs two blocs: while Washington is unable to cobble together a …
