(Eye of the storm: Venezuela’s famed Orinoco Oil Belt) Russia is doing the right thing by switching tack from strident ‘anti-American’ rhetoric to focus on tamping down the tensions over Venezuela. China had counseled such an approach right from the outset when the crisis erupted last week. On day one of a looming US-Venezuelan standoff …
Maldives poses formidable challenges for India
(Maldives President Ibrahim Mohamed Soilh) In South Asia, democracy wears a tired look generally, and Maldives stands out as exception. After all, the old regime, which was much maligned by Indians, did allow free and fair elections, took their defeat gracefully (although winning over 40% votes) and when the day dawned on November 17, stepped …
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Trump’s unchecked hold on power comes to an end
The US midterm results are out. In a nutshell, Republicans retain majority in the Senate, while Democrats have seized control of the House of Representatives after a gap of 8 years. On balance, the midterm results constitute a setback for President Donald Trump insofar as while Senate confirmations for his executive and judicial appointments will …
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Sri Lanka’s Rajapaksa has the last laugh
There is poetic justice, no doubt, in former Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapksa’s return to the government – and more so in the manner in which he has done that. It is sweet revenge that the defector who backstabbed him and usurped power in 2015 – incumbent president Maitripala Sirisena – has now beseeched him …
‘Historic turning point’ in Japan-China relations overshadows Abe-Modi summit
(A view of Mt. Fuji, Japan) Hyping up the forthcoming annual India-Japan summit in Tokyo on Monday is a thankless job. Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale in his media briefing Friday performed optimally, even adding a touch of mystique to an informal lunch that Japanese PM Shinzo Abe will host for PM Modi at a …
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What Trump’s pullout from INF treaty means
(Mikhail Gorbachev & Ronald Reagan signing INF treaty, Washington, December 8, 1987) President Donald Trump’s confirmation that the US is terminating the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty (INF) with Russia will be regarded as a defining moment in international security. The INF, which was signed by then US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev …
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Time for rethink on CPEC
India needs to cut the Gordian knot of strategic stalemate in its external environment MK Bhadrakumar Former Ambassador A‘whispering campaign’ has been going on that CPEC is fated to put an intolerable burden on Pakistan’s debt repayment liabilities, with no commensurate economic returns. Fact check is uncommon in our part of the world: Moody’s says …
US-Saudi alliance in twilight zone
President Donald Trump’s remarks about the Jamal Khashoggi affair in the interview with CBS 60 Minutes turned out to be nothing earthshaking. Basically, he said three things: a) Son-in-law Jared Kushner spoke to Crown Prince but latter denied; b) Saudi culpability is yet to be established and if it gets proven, US will be “very …
India-Russia relations go way beyond defence deals
Amidst the welter of commentaries on the Indian-Russian annual summit last week in New Delhi, what stands out is that the government has outstripped our strategic analysts. The latter viewed the Russian summit last week exclusively through the prism of the $6 billion S-400 missile defence deal. Now, that turned out to be like missing …
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India must shed its strategic ambivalence in the multipolar world
By M. K. Bhadrakumar Treasured friendship: President Putin and Prime Minister Modi during their informal summit in Sochi, Russia in May 2018 | PTI A WIDELY PREVALENT REFRAIN in our strategic discourses is that the present trajectory of international politics presents India with unprecedented opportunities to advance national interests. This estimation also appears to have …
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