China’s State Councilor & Foreign Minister Wang Yi in talks with India’s Minister of External Affairs S. Jaishankar, Beijing, Aug. 12, 2019. Editorials have appeared in two leading Delhi newspapers today (here and here) urging the government to present a credible, appealing diplomatic narrative on the J&K developments. The Indian narrative so far is largely …
The return of the strongman in Sri Lanka
Former Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa (L) and SLPP Presidential candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa (R) wave at supporters during the party’s National Convention, Colombo, Aug 11, 2019 The announcement in Colombo on Sunday by former Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa that his brother Gotabaya Rajapaksa will be his party SLPP’s presidential candidate in the election due …
A Sino-Russian firewall against US interference
A sit-in at Hong Kong international airport, Aug 9, 2019 China has explicitly accused the United States and Britain for fomenting the “pro-democracy” protests in Hong Kong. Beijing has taken up the matter via the diplomatic channel demanding that the US intelligence should stop inciting and abetting the Hong Kong protestors. Last week photographic evidence …
Continue reading “A Sino-Russian firewall against US interference”
China backs the opening of Kashmir file in UNSC
Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi held talks with Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in Beijing, Aug. 9, 2019. The “special and emergency visit” by Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi to Beijing on Friday August 9 has been highly successful in getting China to voice open support for Islamabad’s proposed move …
Continue reading “China backs the opening of Kashmir file in UNSC”
A safe zone for Syrian refugees — so near, yet so very far
People wave as a US military vehicle travels through Kurdish-dominated Amuda province in northern Syria, bordering Turkey Six years after Turkish President Recep Erdogan floated the idea of creating a safe zone in northern Syria, it still remains a chimera. When the Turks lobbied for the zone, notably in 2013 and 2015, the Obama administration …
Continue reading “A safe zone for Syrian refugees — so near, yet so very far”
India’s move on Article 370 came six months late
The site where a Taliban car bomb detonated in Kabul on Aug 7, 2019, killing 14 people and wounding 145. The statement issued by the Taliban on Thursday regarding the situation surrounding the state of Jammu & Kashmir merits serious attention. The statement recalls media reports on the abrogation of the special status of J&K …
Continue reading “India’s move on Article 370 came six months late”
China reacts to J&K, India demands reciprocity
Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir, on lockdown. File photo. In the aftermath of the Modi government’s decision to remove ‘special status’ for J&K and bifurcate the state into two union territories, the most keenly awaited regional and international reaction — and a hugely consequential one — would be that of China’s, not the US’ or even …
Continue reading “China reacts to J&K, India demands reciprocity”
What if North Korea and Iran move in tandem
An undated photo released by the Korean Central News Agency on July 26, 2019 showed North Korean leader Kim Jong Un watching a missile launch. The sensational New Yorker story on August 2 by Robin Wright on the unpublicised meeting between Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif and the American senator Rand Paul (who is a …
Continue reading “What if North Korea and Iran move in tandem”
Another ‘Arab Revolt’? History never repeats.
The Arab Revolt (1916-1918). File photo. The Arab sheikhs who instigated the US-Iran standoff have heard the African proverb, ‘When elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers’. But they chose to ignore it. The assumption in Riyadh and Abu Dhabi was that President Trump’s ‘maximum pressure’ strategy would frighten Tehran and life would be …
Continue reading “Another ‘Arab Revolt’? History never repeats.”
Iran’s Zarif drives Trump to insanity
Secretary of State John Kerry in a tightly scripted exchange with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif specifically timed to the release of several American prisoners held in Iran, Vienna, Jan. 16, 2016 At a time when the Trump administration has no problem negotiating with the secretary of the Russian national security council Nikolai Patrushev, who is …