Ukraine’s mineral resources, December 10, 2024 [SOURCE: NATO Energy Security Centre of Excellence] Moscow and Kiev have been vying with each other to curry favour with the new US administration. Just as Russian diplomacy appeared to be outstripping Kiev, things changed dramatically on April 30 with the signing of the so-called minerals deal between the …
Continue reading “Minerals deal resets geopolitics of Ukraine”
Exchange of fire on Line of Control between India and Pakistan Time past is time present in India-Pakistan crisis. The ‘mediation’ by the United States from behind the scene on the diplomatic track appears to be once again working, which calls on both Delhi and Islamabad to show restraint and pull back from a military …
Continue reading “India-Pakistan tensions show signs of easing”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi (C) chaired a meeting with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh (L), National Security Advisor Ajit Doval (R) and the military top brass, New Delhi, April 29, 2025 In a timely reminder, even as Indians are demanding robust retaliation for the terrorist attack in Pahalgam in Kashmir, the US president Donald Trump pulled …
US President Donald Trump (L) met privately with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine at St. Peter’s Basilica on the sidelines of Pope Francis’ funeral, Vatican, April 26, 2025 The US President Donald Trump is a lone ranger in international arena and a self-confessed practitioner of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s absolute maxim that ours is not …
Continue reading “Trump’s diplomacy gains traction, silences sceptics”
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian (C) at an exhibition “National Day of Nuclear Technology”, Tehran, April 9, 2025 With the foreplay over and US-Iranian talks commencing in Muscat on Saturday, a constructive engagement has begun in right earnestness. The sure sign of it is that Iran’s currency rose nearly 6 percent on Sunday. The Tehran bazaar, …
Continue reading “US, Iran take a leap forward in trust building”
Steve Witkoff, President Trump’s senior aide on Russia negotiations, is expected to kickstart talks with Tehran (File photo) The rubric of the US-Iranian talks slated for Saturday in Muscat turned into a vanity fair of sorts — whether the talks should be called ‘indirect’ or ‘direct’. The US President Donald Trump sought direct talks and …
Continue reading “Steve Witkoff’s Iran mission holds seamless possibilities”
Russian president’s Special Representative on investment and economic cooperation Kirill Dmitriev had two days of consultations with US administration officials, Washington, DC, April 3, 2025 The visit by the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund and special representative of the Russian president for investment and economic cooperation Kirill Dmitriev to Washington on April 2-3, the …
US president Donald Trump (L) with Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth in attendance, Oval Office, White House, March 21, 2025 (File photo) The Kremlin apparently came to the conclusion last week that it was about time to do some plain-speaking that US president Donald Trump’s quest for a 30-day ceasefire in the Ukraine war was a …
Continue reading “Trump-Putin parley is a bit under the weather”
Ukraine’s president Vladimir Zelensky (L) with European leaders and NATO chief at the European summit, Paris, March 27, 2025 In an unguarded moment, perhaps, ex-UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson blurted out recently in an interview that the ultranationalist elements who rule the roost in Kiev are a formidable obstacle to ending the war in Ukraine. For …
Does the Narendra Modi government have a stance on the Ukraine conflict at all? All things taken into account, the Raisina Dialogue 2025 turned out to be a wasteful extravaganza. Someone in authority should order an auditing. Public diplomacy is not about event management. The MEA may be favouring some non-official agency for reasons best …
