Yars ICBM launchers participated in drills of Russian Strategic Rocket Forces, Ivanovo region, northeast of Moscow, June 1, 2022 The US President Joe Biden’s op-Ed in the New York Times on Tuesday on the Ukraine war starts with a bluff. He says President Vladimir Putin had thought Russia’s special operation would only last days. How Biden …
Biden returns to time past in the Gulf
US Vice-President Kamala Harris met UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Abu Dhabi, May 16, 2022 The extraordinary sight of the Biden administration’s entire foreign and security policy establishment representing Washington on the occasion of the passing away of the emir of Abu Dhabi and president of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Khalifa …
Why Ukraine war has no winners
Russia expects grain harvest of 130 million tonnes of grain, including 87 million tonnes of wheat – “an all-time high in Russian history,” says President Vladimir Putin, Moscow, May 12, 2022 The war in Ukraine is quintessentially Clausewitzean. And to understand it, we need to return to Carl von Clausewitz, the doyen of modern war, who recognised that war is …
India, Germany cogitate on Ukraine
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s short visit to Germany pegged on the Indian-German Intergovernmental Commission meeting in Berlin on Monday inevitably came to focus on the Ukraine crisis. The western media would have loved to grill Modi on India’s reluctance to criticise Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine. But German hosts thoughtfully skipped the customary Q&A …
US recruits Israel against Russia
Israel’s Iron Dome missile shield (File photo) For more than one reason, the US President Joe Biden’s call with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Sunday is hugely consequential. This has been Biden’s second phone conversation with Bennett in four weeks. On March 30 Biden called to express his “deepest condolences” following the terrorist attacks …
India’s dilemma over West vs. Russia
There is a notion among some mainstream Indian strategic analysts, including some who held top positions in the security establishment in past regimes that what is unfolding in Ukraine is quintessentially “a war between Europeans over the European security order.” No matter the basis of this notion, such contrived naïveté can do incalculable damage …
Biden wings his way to the borderlands of Ukraine
US President Biden (L) and Polish President Andrzej Duda (R) By a queer coincidence, former US Secretary of State Madeline Albright passed away while President Joe Biden was travelling in Air Force 1 en route to Europe on what is probably the most crucial diplomatic mission of his presidency. The general expectation is that 80-year …
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India, US have different priorities
Prime Minister Modi and President Biden (File photo) An extraordinary week has passed for the Modi government’s dalliance with the Quad. Call it a defining moment, a turning point or even an inflection point — it has elements of all three. The last week saw a 2-day visit to Delhi by Japanese prime minister Fumio …
China sees parallel between Ukraine, Taiwan
On the evening of 18 March, President Xi Jinping (R) had a video call with US President Joe Biden at the request of the latter. The Chinese stance on developments around Ukraine was initially one-dimensional, namely, there is no conceivable comparison between Ukraine and Taiwan issues, as they are fundamentally different, because Taiwan is a …
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Holy wars have no timeline
An injured European who volunteered to fight in Ukraine being evacuated at the sprawling base at Yavoriv 25 kms from Polish border following a predawn Russian cruise missile attack on Sunday A French presidency official said on Saturday that Russian President Vladimir Putin “did not show a willingness” to end the special operation in Ukraine …