Turkish President Recep Erdogan (L) with Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) File photo The demonisation of Turkey and President Recep Erdogan has been carried too far in the most recent years in the western media. Turkey appears to be mired in controversies all across its neighbourhood — maritime boundary disputes with Greece and Cyprus; occupation …
Continue reading “Nagorno-Karabakh needs a regional solution”
An arc of instability has appeared on Russia’s peripheral regions to the west and southwest — Belarus, Nagorno-Karabakh and Kyrgyzstan. These regions are vital to Russia’s national security and weakens its capacity to be a resurgent power on the world stage. Belarus is a de facto buffer zone for Russia vis-a-vis the West. Russia …
Indian Army convoy ferrying supplies to troops in Ladakh The remarks by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in New Delhi on October 15 on the negotiations to resolve the military standoff in eastern Ladakh signal a cautiously optimistic estimation that there are serious proposals on the table and a breakthrough cannot be ruled out. Jaishankar …
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar (L) in conversation with Australian counterpart Marise Payne at Quad ministerial, Tokyo, October 6, 2020 The expectations were that the visiting US Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun would expand from a public platform in Delhi on October 12 on a theme he had audaciously expounded some six weeks ago …
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar (R) met the leader of erstwhile Afghan Northern Alliance Rashid Dostum (L), New Delhi, Sept 25, 2020 The first part of this analysis is here. The policy planning with respect to Afghanistan has become an excruciatingly difficult exercise for New Delhi. Even a veteran great game addict like National Security …
Continue reading “Quad is East, Kabul is West, Never the Twain Shall Meet”
India’s NSA Ajit Doval (L) met chairman of Afghan High Council for National Reconciliation Abdullah (R), New Delhi, October 5, 2020 The visit to New Delhi by Abdullah Abdullah, chairman of the High Council for National Reconciliation in Afghanistan, becomes an event of major importance for a variety of reasons, the most significant being its …
Continue reading “India wary as Afghans discuss interim govt – Part 1”
Walid al-Muallem, Syria’s deputy prime minister and foreign minister (L) receives the credentials of Oman’s Ambassador Turki bin Mahmood al-Busaidy, Damascus, October 5, 2020 The presentation of the Letter of Credence in Damascus on October 5 by the newly appointed envoy of Oman marks a defining moment in the Syrian conflict. The regional states recognise …
US-Israel joint training exercise ‘Enduring Lightning’ involving F-35 ‘stealth’ aircraft, Southern Israel, March 2020 The tabling of a “bipartisan” legislation in the US Congress on October 1 reiterating American commitment to Israel’s qualitative military edge (QME) creates an extraordinary dimension to the geopolitics and military balance in the Middle East region in the downstream of …
The Kuwaiti oil fields set on fire by the retreating Iraqi occupation forces during the First Gulf War, 1991 (File photo) The political transition in Kuwait with the departure of Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Sabah is a timely reminder that the Gulf Cooperation Council region is a complex mosaic not only in geography, but in politics …
Continue reading “Once upon a time, Kuwait was a key partner for India”
Women and children read books in a bomb shelter seeking refuge from shelling, Stepanakert, Nagorno-Karabakh, Oct 1, 2020 This is the concluding part of a 3-part essay. The first part is here; the second part here. Caucasian chalk circle The United States and Russia are increasingly in each other’s crosshairs on the global …
Continue reading “The Time of Troubles in Transcaucasia — Part 3”
