The virtual summit meeting of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation on July 4 welcomed Iran as its tenth member To be out of sync with the contemporary life anywhere at anytime becomes indeed a despairing situation. That was the tragic predicament of the Austrian writer of the inter-war period, Stefan Zweig, who once wrote, “One must be …
Big picture of disengagement in Ladakh
The Ministry of External Affairs has done the right thing by explaining its taciturn press release on Thursday in a single sentence regarding the disengagement of troops in the area of Gogra-Hotsprings along the LAC in the Western Sector of India-China border areas. The Official Spokesman Arindam Bagchi shared on Friday more details. Broadly, a …
India’s takeaways from Bali ministerial
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar (L) met China’s State Councilor & Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Bali, Indonesia, July 7, 2022 The G20 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting at Bali, Indonesia, last week was threatened by the hot lava flowing from Eurasia. Western diplomats tried hard to “isolate” Russia but the indefatigable Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov refused …
US plays QUAD card during Beijing Olympics
Protest against Beijing Olympics in New Delhi, Feb 4, 2022 The appalling decision by the External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar to huddle together with his QUAD colleagues bang in the middle of the Beijing Winter Olympics may have unpleasant consequences. China sees QUAD as a US-led clique working to “contain” it. An action-reaction syndrome has once …
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Mixed signals from Ladakh
Indian troops guarding the border with China (File photo) Is the glass half empty? Or, is the glass half full? How would you choose to describe the recent meeting of the Indian and Chinese army commanders at Chushul-Moldo border in Ladakh? It may not seem to make a lot of difference. But it does. After …
US plays Tibet card as India seeks modus vivendi with China
Undersecretary of State Uzra Zeya has been designated as US Special Coordinator for Tibetan Issues, Washington, Dec. 20, 2021 The cracking sound of ice breaking on the frozen lake of India-China relations will trigger a new wave of US-backed media campaign to instigate the hawks. Armed with satellite imageries made available from the US and peppered …
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Colombo port deal calms India’s paranoia
Colombo Port needs China and India to emerge as trans-shipment hub in the Indian Ocean The Sri Lankan government has announced that it is going ahead with a project to develop jointly with India and Japan a new container terminal from the scratch at Colombo Port called the West Container Terminal. According to the official …
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India’s forever wars and forever warriors
Disengagement between Chinese and Indian forces at the banks of the Pangong lake in Eastern Ladakh The Washington-based Quincy Institute, arguably the most intellectually stimulating American think tank nowadays, in its compulsively readable publication Responsible Statecraft featured on Tuesday an investigative report titled Weapons biz bankrolls experts pushing to extend Afghan War, authored by Eli Clifton, …
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A Sixth Eye to spy on Tibet, Xinjiang
Road to the disputed India-China border, Ladakh (File photo) According to media reports, India and the United States are set to sign an intelligence-sharing agreement during the ‘2+2’ security dialogue between their foreign and defence ministers in New Delhi later today on October 27. The Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement [BECA] is expected to provide India …
Ladakh standoff: Breakthrough in sight?
Indian Army convoy ferrying supplies to troops in Ladakh The remarks by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in New Delhi on October 15 on the negotiations to resolve the military standoff in eastern Ladakh signal a cautiously optimistic estimation that there are serious proposals on the table and a breakthrough cannot be ruled out. Jaishankar …