Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Beijing, February 4, 2022 The most animating template of the West’s “information war” lately against Russia is, perhaps, its distorted projection of the China-Russia relationship in the context of the Ukraine crisis. This dubious enterprise has practical implications for the “endgame” in Ukraine, the …
Creating cold war conditions in Asia isn’t easy
Military equipment given by Japan to Ukraine being loaded in an aircraft at Yokota US Air Force Base, Japan (File photo) Only three weeks remain for the summit meeting of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) in Madrid, which is expected to unveil a new Strategic Concept aimed at redefining “the security challenges facing the …
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CSTO won’t be drawn into Ukraine war
The leaders of the member states of Collective Security Treaty Organisation met in the Kremlin, Moscow, May 16, 2022 There should be no surprise that the summit meeting of the leaders of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) hosted by Russia at the Kremlin on May 16 fell short of articulating against the “collective West” over the …
Indo-Pacific strategy adrift in an illusion
US President Joe Biden and leaders of Association of Southeast Asian Nations at a special summit, Washington, May 12, 2022 The Chinese daily Global Times featured a political cartoon marking the US-ASEAN summit meeting in Washington on May 12-13. It showed the US President Joe Biden seeking help from a bus load of ASEAN officials …
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US’ coercive diplomacy with Saudi Arabia
Oil treatment plant in Yarakta oil field, Irkutsk, Russia. Ban on Russian oil risks sky-high prices and inflationary shock (File photo) Some three weeks after the reported meeting of the CIA chief William Burns with the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Prince Mohammed bin Sultan, the OPEC+ ministerial held a videoconference on Thursday. The OPEC+ …
Pakistan stirs up Pashtun hornet’s nest
Afghans protest against Pakistani air strikes, Khost, April 16, 2022 The Pakistani air strikes on Saturday on the eastern Afghanistan provinces of Kunar and Khost killing dozens of people may seem at first glance a crude knee-jerk reaction to the ambush in North Waziristan the previous day in which seven Pakistani soldiers were killed. But …
Asian fault lines of Biden’s war on Russia
As relations with Tokyo sour, Moscow beefs up the coastal defence systems on the Kuril Islands that Japan claims as its own The tremors of the United States’ tensions with Russia playing out in Europe are being felt in different ways already in Asia. The hypothesis of Ukraine being in Europe and the conflict being …
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India’s dilemma over West vs. Russia
There is a notion among some mainstream Indian strategic analysts, including some who held top positions in the security establishment in past regimes that what is unfolding in Ukraine is quintessentially “a war between Europeans over the European security order.” No matter the basis of this notion, such contrived naïveté can do incalculable damage …
India, US have different priorities
Prime Minister Modi and President Biden (File photo) An extraordinary week has passed for the Modi government’s dalliance with the Quad. Call it a defining moment, a turning point or even an inflection point — it has elements of all three. The last week saw a 2-day visit to Delhi by Japanese prime minister Fumio …
India Should Quit Quad Now!
Prime Minister Modi chaired a meeting of Cabinet Committee on Security and top officials, New Delhi, March 13, 2022 Hedging between superpowers — United States, Russia and China — was never the smart thing to do. India should have known that the contradictions are simply irreconcilable. This is a moment of truth, therefore, as …