The failed coup in Russia through American looking glass

The entrance lobby of the PMC Wagner Centre in St. Petersburg The former US president Donald Trump’s remarks regarding the failed coup attempt in Russia by Yevgeniy Prigozhin stood out for their sheer subtlety amidst the crass new western narrative that the dramatic events on June 23-24 highlighted “cracks” within the Russian system.  No one …

Trump’s Afghan drawdown doesn’t mean war is ending

Then Vice-President Joe Biden (L) talks with Gen. David Petraeus (R), then Commander of the ISAF and US Forces in Afghanistan, aboard a Chinook helicopter over Kabul, Afghanistan, Jan. 11, 2011 As the US President Donald Trump chalks up his measly legacy in the White House, he is bound to scrap the bottom of the barrel. …

Trump retrofits history, takes Pinochet route

A Renaissance like photograph with a hint of Caravaggio: General Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte surrounded by his military staff after the US-backed coup of 11th September 1973 , Santiago   The instances of cabinet officials being fired have become such a whimsical affair in the Donald Trump presidency that novelty has worn off. Yet, …

TikTok, Sing a Song of Sixpence, A pocket Full of Rye, Four and Twenty Blackbirds Baked in an American Pie

TikTok logo on display, Culver City, California, Aug 27, 2020   The US president Donald Trump told reporters at the White House on Saturday that he backs the deal between TikTok owner China’s ByteDance, Oracle Corp, and Walmart to create a new company known as TikTok Global.  It conflicts with Trump’s own earlier order for …

China sees Biden as tough but predictable

Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden arrives to give his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention, Chase Center, Wilmington, Delaware, August 20, 2020. Joe Biden’s acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention on August 20 has been widely acclaimed in America and it enhances the growing perception that he is likely to …

The ‘foreign threats’ to 2020 US election

“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 …

Shutting the door to China is self-defeating

A closed business in Santa Monica, California. (AFP)  The world economic news through last week must have sent shockwaves across North and South Block where India’s ministries of finance, defence and external affairs — and the Prime Minister’s Office — are located. The post-pandemic world order is knocking on the doors. On Friday, the European …