A large-scale NATO military exercise earlier this year. Credit…Davide Monteleone for The New York Times Viewed through the Cold War prism, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation’s decision at its recent summit meeting at the Hague to boost the defence spending by member countries to 5 percent of national income may appear to a naive onlooker as …
Middle East in Crisis – 8
Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) with French President Emmanuel Macron in talks in Kremlin early February 2022, Moscow France seeks a role in Iran situation On July 1, did you hear the crunching sound of ice cracking on the frozen lake of Russia-France ties? President Vladimir Putin’s decision to take a phone call on …
Trump won’t walk away from Ukraine war
President Donald Trump: Bracing for a longer Ukraine war One of the mysteries of the Ukraine endgame is that President Donald Trump did not issue an executive order on January 20 withdrawing all support for Ukraine. That would have been the easiest way to end the war. The conditions were propitious — Candidate Trump didn’t mince …
Putin succeeds in engaging with Trump
Playing chess on phone: US President Donald Trump (L) and Russian President Vladimir Putin in deep conversation (File photo) The mystique of engaging with the US President Donald Trump will remain a hot topic. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s sensational visit is the latest instance underscoring that it can be dangerous to get too close …
Trump unveils the Greater America project
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump addressing a press conference, Mar-a-Lago, Florida, January 7, 2025 On Tuesday, at a press conference at his Florida mansion, President-elect Donald Trump took his gloves off, after showing monumental patience in the face of the shenanigans by the lame duck president Joe Biden and his inner circle to “do an Obama” …
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Kiev plays games with Russian gas transit
A section of Bratstvo (“Brotherhood”) transit gas pipeline, in a forest near Mukachevo, western Ukraine (File photo) The dataset by the Brussels-based think tank Brugel aggregating the data on European natural gas import flows and storage levels puts in perspective Ukraine’s decision to halt the transit of Russian gas to Europe. The statistics reveal that …
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Atlanticists mobilise to salvage NATO as Russia toughens its stance
Parts of the ballistic missile named Oreshnik (hazelnut) that Russia used in a strike on Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine, November 22, 2024 The American film maker and philanthropist who created the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises, George Lucas, once said, “Fear is the path to the Dark Side. Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, …
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US-India: It’s a chicken and egg situation
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump (AFP file photo) Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s third term in office is a legacy term marked by his ‘coming of age’ — taking bold decisions in foreign policies. Hardly has the dust settled down on Modi’s controversial decision to visit Kiev as peacemaker even as the …
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Russia and DPRK rustle up an alliance
In an exceptional gesture by far exceeding protocol norms, Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) was received with a hug at the airport at 3 am by Chairman of State Affairs of North Korea Kim Jong-un (L) on arrival on a ‘friendly state visit’, Pyongyang, July 19, 2024 The Russian President Vladimir Putin’s brief visit to Pyongyang on …
Russia’s post-war dilemmas in Ukraine
Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed a meeting of senior diplomats of the foreign ministry, Moscow, June 14, 2024 In regard of the war in Ukraine, Russia’s main challenge going forward is to find the equilibrium between strategic overestimation and underestimation. “We always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underestimate …