(Former US Secretary of State John Kerry at Vibrant Gujarat Summit, 11-13 January 2018) Curious, isn’t it, that Prime Minister Narendra Modi began his five-year term with a visa ban on him by the United States and is now ending it with an American ‘boycott’? The snub publicly administered by Washington by refusing to participate …
Continue reading “US will return to Vibrant Gujarat provided Modi wins 2019 poll”
(Spring is in the air in Argentina — Modi, Putin and Xi exchange pleasantries) The G20 in Argentina last weekend turned out to be of great significance for India-China relations. On the sidelines of the event, PM Modi and President Xi Jinping had occasion to interact thrice – one bilateral meeting and a second meeting …
(Second RCEP Summit, Singapore, Nov 14, 2018) The ill-starred quadrilateral Joint-Secretary level format of ‘Asian democracies’ – US, Japan, Australia and India – would have held its third meeting in Singapore on Wednesday. Again, there was no joint statement issued after the meeting. In fact, unlike previous occasions when the four Asian democracies issued press …
Continue reading “Quad recedes into shade. It’s the RCEP, stupid!”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s hurried 36-hour visit to Singapore to attend the 13th East Asia Summit, Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and other associated meetings of the ASEAN Summit compares with the full five working days from Monday to Friday that his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang will be camping in the port city with much the same …
Continue reading “PM Modi’s Singapore trip prompts rethink on BRI”
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 …
Continue reading “Trump’s unchecked hold on power comes to an end”
This weekend held out surprises on two counts. One, the spectre of a US-China New Cold War met sudden death as President Trump phoned President Xi Jinping on Thursday to turn the clock back to happier times. Trump openly sought to end the trade war and to mend fences with China. As a realist, he …
Continue reading “Modi buries India’s ‘unipolar predicament’”
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 …
(Chinese and Russian Defence Ministers at Vostok 2018 exercises, September 11-17) Prime Minister Modi’s annual meeting with his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe takes him to Tokyo next week. But this time around, it will be an Official Working Visit, dispensing with the frills of bonhomie. The signal is that the discussions will be largely devoted …
The breakthrough in India’s relations with Saudi Arabia stands out undoubtedly as a foreign-policy success story of the Modi government. This was on full display at the India Energy Forum meet at New Delhi on Monday where Saudi Energy Minister Khalid A. Al-Falih praised relations with India as “a strategic priority of the Kingdom of …
Pakistan is turning into an arena of acute US-China contestation. Pakistan’s decision to approach the IMF for a full-fledged bailout package (instead of Stand-by Arrangement) will accentuate it. The decision to opt for a bailout package implies that with its back against the wall, Imran Khan government may agree to undertake structural reforms under IMF’s …
