Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar with Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei , Tehran (Undated file photo) A senior US official told Washington Post that the toned-down early morning Israeli strike Saturday on military targets in Iran was a “proportional strike,” which “was moderate enough to quiet the conflict without provoking Iran into a counterattack.” However, …
The fog of war is lifting in Ukraine
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (L) and former US President Donald Trump met on September 27, 2024 in New York The alignments of the endgame in the Ukraine conflict are surfacing as never before. If much remains in the realm of speculation still, that is largely due to the inflection point concerning the outcome of the …
US-India: It’s a chicken and egg situation
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump (AFP file photo) Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s third term in office is a legacy term marked by his ‘coming of age’ — taking bold decisions in foreign policies. Hardly has the dust settled down on Modi’s controversial decision to visit Kiev as peacemaker even as the …
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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 …
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No matter Impeachment 2.0, Trumpism haunts America
US President Donald Trump faces reporters as he walks toward Marine One, White House, Washington, DC, January 13, 2021. “My crown I am, but still my griefs are mine. You may my glories and my state depose but not my griefs; still I am king of those.” (King Richard in William Shakespeare’s Richard II) For …
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Whither American Democracy?
Rioters stormed US Capitol, Washington, Jan. 6, 2021 In a poignant remark, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas reacted to the dramatic events in Washington, DC, on Wednesday — the storming of the Capitol building and President Donald Trump’s attempted coup — by recalling that Hitler’s seizure of total power started with the burning of the …
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. …
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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, …
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Adieu, Trump, if leave you must!
President Donald Trump walks toward sunset at Charlotte Douglas International Airport, Charlotte, North Carolina, Nov 1, 2020. Into the final stretch of the US elections, a Joe Biden presidency is lurking on the horizon. Votes are still being counted in Pennsylvania, Arizona, North Carolina, Georgia and Nevada. The races are too close to call. However, as …
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 …