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 …
Shinzo Abe: A controversial visionary
‘Sayonara’ – Japan’s controversial statesman Shinzo Abe departs When politicians die, especially an untimely death in tragic circumstances, obituaries tend to go overboard. A sense of perspectives is lost when obituaries become eulogies. But you can’t falsify history. And in the final analysis, it is the forces of history that write the course of politics …
EU economies are down on their knees
Russian President Vladimir Putin (L), at a meeting with Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu, revealed proposals of army commanders in Ukraine “for the development of offensive operations”, Moscow, July 4, 2022 On July 1 at the White House, US President Joe Biden made a startling disclosure that “the idea we’re going to be able to click a switch, bring …
Turkey, NATO joined at hips but think differently
US President Joe Biden (R) met Turkish President Recep Erdogan on the sidelines of the NATO Summit in Madrid, June 30, 2022 Turkey has had an uneasy history as a NATO member country. The push and pull of strategic autonomy constantly grated against a security guarantee the alliance offered and also a way of reinforcing its Western …
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India, BRICS in cold war conditions
The phone conversation on Friday between Prime Minister Modi and Russian President Putin conveyed a big signal, coming on the morrow of the release of the new Strategic Concept by NATO which called Russia the alliance’s “most significant and direct threat.” The readouts from Moscow and New Delhi both highlighted the two leaderships’ determination to …
A pivotal moment in eastern Ukraine
Ukrainian troops retreat from Severodonetsk city in the eastern Luhansk Oblast after weeks of fighting, June 24, 2022 The retreat of Ukrainian troops from Severodonetsk city in the Luhansk Oblast of the country is a pivotal moment in the ongoing conflict. The Russian forces are now almost in total control over the Luhansk region. The …
Southern Ukraine is the priority in NATO’s planning
The desolate Snake Island in the Black Sea off Odessa has become a major theatre of contestation between Russia and NATO On the night of February 24, when Russian forces crossed the western and northern borders of Ukraine, the world’s attention was riveted on the fate of Kiev. Hardly anyone paid attention to the far …
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US-China détente on the horizon
Yang Jiechi (1st R), Politbureau member of Chinese Communist Party met with US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan (1st L), Luxembourg, June 13, 2022 The Kyodo news agency reported on Monday that Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand are holding a four-way summit on the fringes of the NATO leaders’ gathering in Spain next …
China doubles down on vision with Russia
Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Beijing, February 4, 2022 The most animating template of the West’s “information war” lately against Russia is, perhaps, its distorted projection of the China-Russia relationship in the context of the Ukraine crisis. This dubious enterprise has practical implications for the “endgame” in Ukraine, the …
NATO runs into multipolar world order
Germans say the moment of truth for most children comes at the end of Grade 4 when primary education ends in Grundschule. By that reckoning, North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) at 73 is in “second childishness and mere oblivion / Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything” — to borrow from Jaques’ famous soliloquy …