An American F-35 flies over Russia’s fifth generation Su-57E fighter jet, Aero India 2025, Bengaluru, India, February 13, 2025 Well-known author, fund manager and columnist for the Financial Times Ruchir Sharma wrote this week that the perception that the US President Donald Trump’s gambit with tariffs would have grave consequences have not really been borne …
US-India: Diamonds are not forever
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang, Beijing, Sunday, April 28, 2024 The US state department disclosed on Thursday in an accounting of gifts received from foreign leaders during 2023 that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s was the “priciest” gift that President Biden received, rather, his wife Jill Biden received — a …
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 …
Continue reading “US-India: It’s a chicken and egg situation”
US engages a chastened Modi in office
Prime Minister Narendra Modi displays a letter from President Draupadi Murmu inviting him to form the next government, June 7, 2024 The US president Joe Biden has deputed his trouble shooter National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan to travel to New Delhi no sooner than Prime Minister Narendra Modi forms his new government. The White House …
India-Russia ties get a makeover
India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (L) and President Vladimir Putin (R) in Moscow during a five-day visit to Russia (Dec 24-29, 2023) The visit by External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar to Russia on December 24-29 presented an extraordinary spectacle reminiscent of the halcyon days of Indo-Soviet relations. There …
Diplomatic blow to India as Biden turns down invite
Happy Days: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (L), US President Joe Biden (C) and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (R) at 48th summit of G7, Bavarian Alps, Germany, June 26-28, 2023 It is easy at once to exaggerate or underestimate the sensational case of the aborted assassination attempt on Sikh separatist leader and US citizen, Gurpatwant …
Continue reading “Diplomatic blow to India as Biden turns down invite”
India’s BRICS quandary deepens
Pakistan’s caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar (L) met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the 3rd Belt and Road Forum, Beijing, October 18, 2023. The inevitable is finally, inexorably, happening as the government’s 9-year old strategy to isolate, demonise and brand Pakistan as a state sponsoring terrorism collapses in front of the global …
India’s Canadian riddle – To be, or not to be
The special session of the Parliament has let External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar off the hook. He skipped the BRICS foreign ministers meeting on the margins of the 78th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on 20th September. BRICS is becoming an albatross that prevents Modi government from leading a normal …
Continue reading “India’s Canadian riddle – To be, or not to be”
US stoops to conquer Global South with some Indian help
Family photo of the leaders of BRICS ‘troika’ (Brazil, India, South Africa) flanked by World Blank president Ajay Banga (L) and the US president Joe Biden (R) at the 18th G20 Summit, New Delhi, Sept 9, 2023 The impact of the G20 Summit in New Delhi on September 9-10 is to be measured by the …
Continue reading “US stoops to conquer Global South with some Indian help”
Indian diplomacy in overstretch
G7 Summit leaders at “working lunch” session, Japan, 19 May, 2023 The Foreign Secretary’s special briefing on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Asia-Pacific tour (May 19-24) dovetailed skilfully into three summit meetings, and brings to mind an institution of the Middle Ages known as the “wandering minstrels”. Wealthy people used to employ minstrels to entertain them …