Prime Minister Narendra Modi (L) met with Russian President Vladimir Putin at Samarkand, Uzbekistan, September 16, 2022 Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at Samarkand on September 16 after the SCO Summit turned into a media scandal. The Western media zeroed in on six words culled out of context in the …
OPEC+ agrees on oil output cut
Sun sets behind an idle pump jack near Karnes City, US The OPEC+ meeting at Vienna on Monday came amidst two events affecting the oil market — the G7 finance ministers decision to endorse the US proposal regarding price cap on Russia’s oil exports with effect from December 5 and secondly, Gazprom’s announcement on cutting …
US commits a perfect murder in Kabul
Eleven days after the US President Joe Biden’s dramatic announcement of August 1 regarding the killing of the emir of al Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri, Moscow has broken its silence. Ten days back, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova had replied to a query that Moscow was yet to “get the details” on what had happened on July …
Why the Gulf states’ SCO membership is a big deal
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (R) fist bumps US President Biden upon arrival, Jeddah, July 15, 2022 Washington has backtracked from the dissimulation by the US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan that Washington had intelligence suggesting Iran was preparing to provide Russia with “several hundred” drones to use in Ukraine, with training sessions set to begin …
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Shouldn’t Biden be talking directly to Putin?
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (L) spoke with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at latter’s request, Jul 29, 2022 No sooner than Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov returned to Moscow after the SCO ministerial in Tashkent, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s pending request for a conversation was scheduled late Friday evening. This has …
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Lavrov is on Blinken’s list of people to call
Russian FM Sergey Lavrov rounded off a tour of African states in a blaze of media publicity despite US hopes to “isolate” him The US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at a press availability at the State Department on Wednesday made the dramatic announcement that he intends to speak to his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov …
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Russia’s Vostok 2022 has big messages
Russia’s massive Vostok 2018 manoeuvres, held four years ago was first of its kind after 1981 during Soviet era (File photo) The announcement by Russian Defence Ministry on Tuesday on Vostok-22 strategic command post exercises during August 30-September 5 gives a big message to the West in political and military terms. The announcement said, “In addition to …
Black Sea and three musketeers
A 1894 image of Alexander Dumas’ Three Musketeers by Maurice Leloir, the French illustrator, watercolourist and writer As the conflict in Ukraine slouches toward Odessa, the war gets elevated to the sphere of a romantic adventure. If Alexander Dumas was alive, the idea might have struck him to write a sequel to his Three Musketeers, …
Ukraine grain deal is a feel-good event. But road to peace is long and winding
Combines work on a wheat field near the village of Talniki in Siberia (File photo). For the first time since the days of the tsars, Russia has emerged in recent years as the world’s largest wheat exporter The agreements signed in Istanbul on Friday regarding the export of grain out of Ukraine and Russia catch …
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Russia teaches Europe ABC of gas trade
Gazprom’s Nord Stream gas pipeline, Lubmin, Germany. The unthinkable is happening for the second time in five months: Russian gas giant Gazprom writes to German gas companies announcing force majeure effective from June 14, exonerating it from any compensation for shortfalls since then. The first time shock and awe appeared in German-Russian relations this year …