QUAD foreign ministers from US, Australia, India and Japan (from left to right) met in New York, September 22, 2023 The raging controversy over alleged involvement of the Indian government in the killing of Sikh plumber-cum-religious activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in faraway Canada is snowballing. Sensing that our elites are ultra-sensitive about western criticism, Canada, …
Continue reading “Nijjar affair poses an existential dilemma”
Russian-controlled Nuclear Power Plant in Zaporozhya region where Ukrainian “counter-offensive” is expected (File photo) For all the noise out of Washington, more and more countries are integrating their supply chains with China. Even the UK Foreign Secretary is making overtures to China, while Zelensky had a “long and meaningful” phone call with Xi Jinping on …
A Ukrainian soldier adds wood to a fire to stave off the bitter cold, Bakhmut, Donbass (File photo) There was an air of magical realism in the daylong visit to Kiev last Friday by the EU’s policy commissioners comprising the executive branch of the group — the so-called College — led by the European Commission …
Continue reading “Waiting for Biden’s definition of victory in Ukraine”
A Chinese balloon in the sky over Montana, USA, Feb 1, 2023 There is no question that the circumstances surrounding the “balloon affair” between the United States and China are dodgy. Burlesque does not belong to China’s diplomatic toolbox. China never used balloons to browbeat adversaries. Unsurprisingly, expert opinion largely tends to go along with …
China’s economic data for the year 2022 has been released in Beijing on Tuesday. The striking part is that China’s GDP growth slowed down to 3 percent. From an Indian perspective, it may seem momentarily that China’s economy is slowing while India’s expanded by nearly 7 percent (per World Bank predictions.) Can India catch up …
US president Joe Biden (R) and Chinese president Xi Jinping met at Bali, Nov 14, 2022. Biden said they discussed their responsibility to prevent competition and find ways to work together. The seventeenth G20 Heads of State and Government Summit held in Bali, Indonesia, on 15–16 November stands out as a consequential event from many angles. The international politics …
Mao Zedong (L) shakes hands with US President Richard Nixon on weeklong visit to China in Feb 1972 in a historic strategic overture The tame ending of the saga of Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan leaves many intriguing loose ends, although the world is lucky that she didn’t choose to test the authenticity of the …
Continue reading “China is still playing the long game on Taiwan”
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 …
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 …
US has whipped up war hysteria over satellite image of Russian military camp in Yelnya, over 500 kms from Ukraine border, to allege Moscow’s invasion plans and to justify NATO involvement The “feel-good” from Tuesday’s virtual meeting between President Joe Biden and President Xi Jinping leaps out of the US-Russian summit in Geneva in June. Biden’s …
Continue reading “Sino-Russian collusion over Taiwan, Ukraine seems improbable but isn’t”
