Cutting the US-Iran Gordian knot at Munich

India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar addressing the annual Munich Security Conference on ‘constructive vocal nationalism’, Munich, Germany, February 15, 2020 The External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar chose the annual Munich Security Conference (February 14-16) as the forum to espouse a world order characterised by nationalism that is legally legitimate, constructive and vocal. It was …

Syria: M5 highway secured, time for truce

Syrian forces took control of  M5 highway connecting economic hub of Aleppo to Damascus and other key population centres to Jordanian border, February 12, 2020. The de-escalation talks between Moscow and Ankara over the Russian-backed offensive by the Syrian government forces in the northwestern province of Idlib didn’t help defuse tensions.   On the contrary, …

US uneasy as Iraq gets new prime minister

Iraq’s Prime Minister-designate Mohammed Tawfiq Allawi (L) receives appointment decree from President Barham Salih (R), Baghdad, February 1, 2020  In happier times, Washington and Tehran might well have zeroed in on Mohammed Tawfik Allawi as their consensus candidate for the post of Iraq’s prime minister.  Why not? He was opposed to Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship — …

Putin ushers Russia into transition period

Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered his annual address to Federal Assembly, Moscow, January 15, 2020  It is a common fallacy that authoritarian rulers can afford to be impervious to public opinion. On the contrary, leaders like Russia’s Vladimir Putin or Turkey’s Recep Erdogan who are democratically elected ‘strongmen’ and enjoy high popularity in their respective …

Why Turkey won’t hitch Syrian wagon with US

Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad on rare visit to frontline in northwestern Idlib province, October 2019. (File photo) The remark by President Recep Erdogan on Friday that Turkey might militarily intervene in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province fuelled speculation that tensions between Ankara and Moscow have reached a point of no return.  However, this is nothing but …