For an Indian who ever had anything to do with the making or implementation of India’s Kashmir policy, listening to the 2-hour long Congressional hearing in Washington, DC, on October 22 would have been a scandalous experience. There has never been such scathing criticism of our Kashmir policies in the recent decades voiced so openly …
Continue reading “Kashmir: Bipartisan consensus in US is in meltdown”
US military convoy entering Iraq from Syria The morning after a summit meeting often holds surprises. Turkey lost no time to follow up on President Recep Erdogan’s hugely successful but “difficult” talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Sochi on Tuesday. On Wednesday itself, Ankara formally conveyed to Washington Erdogan’s decision that the Turkish …
Turkish President Recep Erdogan (L) and Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) held talks in Sochi, Russia, on October 22, 2019 The talks between the presidents of Russia and Turkey — Vladimir Putin and Recep Erdogan — at Sochi on October 22 relating to the Syrian question lasted close to seven hours and reportedly involved “difficult” …
Continue reading “Deconstructing Putin-Erdogan MOU on Syria; this is how it looks.”
Turkish President Recep Erdogan (C-L) and US Vice President Mike Pence (C-R) met in Ankara on Oct. 17, 2019 The extraordinary US overture to Turkey regarding northern Syria resulted in a joint statement on Thursday, whose ramifications can be rated only in the fulness of time, as several intersecting tracks are running. The US …
Continue reading “US stokes the fires of Turkish revanchism”
Turkey’s Operation Peace Spring in Northern Syria has reportedly advanced to a 1000 square kilometers area. The scenario agreed on behind the curtains through months of confidential exchanges, often one-on-one, between the Russian and Turkish leaders regarding north-eastern Syria is entering a critical phase of implementation on the ground with the agreement between the Kurds …
Continue reading “It’s curtains for US in Syria. Russia, Iran owe big thanks to Erdogan”
Chinese President Xi Jinping on a state visit being received by Nepal President Bidhya Devi Bhandari, Kathmandu, October 12, 2019 If anyone would have thought that in the backdrop of our “muscular diplomacy” in the recent period, there could be an anti-India bias to President Xi Jinping’s state visit to China, things didn’t happen that way. …
Continue reading “Xi’s Nepal visit treaded softly on Indian sensitivities”
‘Operation Peace Spring’: Turkey’s military operation inside Syria launched on October 9, 2019. Shall we sit upon the ground and tell there is no longer daylight between Russia and Turkey? We are almost there. The Turkish incursion into Syria on Wednesday is the tipping point. Turkey and Russia are closely coordinating. Consider the following. The …
Continue reading “A Turkish-Russian entente cordiale in the making”
Chinese President Xi Jinping (R) received Pakistan PM Imran Khan (L) in Beijing on October 9, 2019 The visit by Pakistan PM Imran Khan to Beijing on October 8-9 has been a runaway success from Islamabad’s perspective. It revved up the dynamics of the China-Pakistan Economic Cooperation projects, will most certainly intensify China-Pakistan defence cooperation …
Continue reading “China displays rock-solid support for Pakistan’s “core issue” of Kashmir”
Portugal’s Socialist Prime Minister Antonio Costa (C) won re-election in parliamentary poll on October 6, 2019 The renewed mandate secured by Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa’s Socialist Party minority government in Sunday’s parliamentary poll carries a special flavour for India. India has a claim over the cordial Senhor Costa, whose father Orlando da Costa was …
Continue reading “Centre-left socialists win re-election in Portugal”
Next to a US armoured vehicle, Syrian Kurds protest against threatened Turkish military invasion, Hasakeh province, October 6, 2019 The US president Donald Trump is not known to practise judo. A few judo techniques he may have got to know from his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, who is a Black Belt. But what Trump has just …
Continue reading “Trump orders troop withdrawal in Syria. It could be for real.”
