US President Donald Trump (L) and Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) shaking hands after the Helsinki Summit, July 16, 2018 There was a time when President Trump’s personalised diplomacy seemed a hydra-headed phenomenon with tentacles reaching far and wide. He engaged such diverse politicians — from Shinzo Abe and Kim Jong-Un to Xi Jinping and …
Continue reading “Trump foreign policy enters lame duck period”
Parliament in Cairo unanimously voted on July 20, 2020 to authorise dispatch of Egyptian troops on combat missions abroad Just as the Mediterranean air is thick with talk that a military confrontation between Turkey and Egypt is brewing over control of Libya, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Versihinin flew into Ankara for consultations with his counterpart …
Continue reading “Turkey, Russia take timeout in Libyan war”
Pakistan army chief Gen. Qamar Bajwa (L) met Afghan President Ashraf Ghani (R) in Kabul, June 9, 2020 As expected, the controversy over Russia’s alleged bounties for killing American and NATO troops in Afghanistan is steadily snowballing. The New York Times has come out with more leaks such as bank transfers from accounts identified with …
Continue reading “Russian bounty killing forces Trump’s hands on troop withdrawal from Afghanistan”
FILE PHOTO: US troops patrol in Logar province, Afghanistan. The sensational disclosure by the New York Times on June 26 that Russia’s military intelligence agency paid bounties to Afghan militants to kill American and NATO troops in Afghanistan, opens a can of worms. It pollutes the air of US-Russian relations with a powerful stench. The …
US President Donald Trump (R) & Polish President Andrzej Duda (L) at a press conference, White House, Washington, June 24, 2020 The visit by Polish President Andrzej Duda to the White House on June 24 marks an important milestone in the United States’ transatlantic strategies. It comes at a time when a growing number of …
Continue reading “Stars and stripes rise over Vistula River”
Land-based missile defense system, Aegis Ashore, at the US Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility in Kauai, Hawaii. File photo. Regional security in Northeast Asia underwent a jolt on Thursday with the announcement in Tokyo by Japanese Defense Minister Taro Kono that Japan would cancel the purchase of a multi-billion dollar ballistic missile defense system made …
The series of debilitating military setbacks that Libya’s renegade general Khalifa Haftar suffered in the recent weeks have spurred diplomatic activities over the conflict in the country. But the war is far from over. Haftar’s dream of capturing Tripoli from the internationally-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) led by Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj has been …
Working sessions of US-Russia summit at Camp David on the deck, outdoors –from top left, Secretary of State James Baker, President George HW Bush (3rd & 4th from left), Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze, President Mikhail Gorbachev (1st & 2nd from right), June 2, 1990. The high noon of the illustrious career of Ambala-born Lord Ismay who …
President Trump vs. the West: Iconic picture out of the G7 summit, Fairmont Le Manoir Richelieu, Quebec, Canada, June 8-9, 2018. The US President Donald Trump will be completing his first term with foreign-policy legacies, which, even detractors must grudgingly admit, are game-changing for world politics. Debris of monumental proportions surrounds him — Paris Accord on …
US President Donald Trump (R) and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He (L) after signing the US-China trade deal, Washington, Jan. 15, 2020 This past week has been a catastrophic seven days that shook America. Some of the debris may have inevitably fallen on President Donald Trump too. Most important, the Trump administration has lost …
