India’s ‘westernism’ is its undoing in vaccine strategy

A full week after External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s extended four-day visit to the United States, the country is still in the dark as to the Biden administration’s generosity to spare some of their surplus stockpiles of Covid-19 vaccines.  We leap out of the famous Samuel Becket play Waiting for Godot — of two tramps …

Israeli politics breaks through glass ceiling

The incumbent Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has lost his last-minute legal challenge to stall government formation by opposition right wing politician Naftali Bennett and his potential coalition partner, centrist politician Yair Lapid. Bennett and Lapid have a Wednesday midnight deadline to formally submit the bid for the newly proposed government coalition before President Reuven …

Afghan nationalism faces existential challenge — Part 2

Afghan children walk past a Taliban Red Unit, an elite force, Alingar district, Laghman province in eastern Afghanistan (File photo)  Apocalyptic scenario is unwarranted  The Pakistani foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said on May 13, “We will not allow boots on the ground or military bases on our territory.” He was referring to the future …