US Special Representative for Afghan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad (L) and co-founder of Taliban movement Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar (R) signed the Afghan peace agreement., Doha, February 29, 2020 The chasm between illusion and reality in politics remains perennial. Wars seldom ended according to the script of peace agreements. The fall of Saigon in April 1975 …
Continue reading “Afghan peace comes with caveats but can’t be snuffed out”
The Russian destruction of Turkish fleet at the Battle of Sinop on 30th November 1853 sparked the Crimean War. (Painting by Ivan Aivazovsky, Russian Romantic painter who is considered one of the greatest masters of marine art.) A military confrontation between Turkey and Syria has erupted in Syria’s northwestern province of Idlib. Latest reports say …
Continue reading “Turkey, Russia tiptoe toward ‘unnecessary war’”
Iran’s parliamentary election on Friday took place in extraordinary circumstances. The pandemic fear over coronavirus significantly impacted the voter turnout, which is estimated to be around 42% (as compared to 62% in the 2016 election to the Majlis). A dozen people have died so far in Iran and a few dozen diagnosed with the virus …
Continue reading “Deconstructing the election to Iran’s Majlis”
The race for Democratic Nomination in the upcoming US presidential election in November has electrified with the huge victory by Bernie Sanders in the Nevada primary on Saturday. The race has crossed a critical milestone. The primaries so far gave us a sampling of the trend in two regions of America — the American heartland …
Continue reading “Socialism rises like a phoenix to haunt America”
The acrimony over the disputed results of the Afghan presidential election notwithstanding, there has been a consensus within Afghanistan for the “reduction in violence” plan negotiated by the US and the Taliban, which commenced at midnight Friday. Hope has replaced despondency. President Ashraf Ghani, Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah and former president Hamid Karzai (who is …
Continue reading “Pakistan’s triumphalist moment in regional security”
US Special Representative Zalmay Khalilzad (L) called on former Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Kabul, Feb, 20, 2020 The manner in which the Trump administration is ramming down the Afghan throat a peace settlement is disconcerting. Delhi’s silence is more so. One shudders to think that comprador elements in the Indian establishment could be silently collaborating …
Continue reading “US rams down Taliban pact. Will Afghans throw up?”
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier delivering the opening address at the Munich Security Conference, Munich, Germany, February 14, 2020 The annual Munich Security Conference last week (February 14-16) turned out to be an iconic event, drawing comparison with the one held in the same Bavarian city on February 10, 2007 where in a prophetic speech Russian …
Continue reading “A world no longer shaped by Atlantic powers”
Turkish military reinforcements preparing to cross the border into Syria’s northwestern province of Idlib, February 12, 2020 Moscow has taken with a pinch of salt Turkish President Recep Erdogan’s statement on Wednesday that a Turkish incursion into the northwestern Syrian province of Idlib is imminent. Objectively speaking, Erdogan should be out of his mind to order …
Continue reading “Russia warns Turkey against rash moves in Idlib”
An aerial view of yet-to-be-completed Motera cricket stadium in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, where the Namaste Trump event to honour US president takes place on Feb 24, 2020 One great thing about US President Donald Trump is that he can be brutally frank. Trump recently picked up the phone and called British PM Boris Johnson to convey his displeasure …
Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena (C) summoned US envoy AlainaTeplitz to convey “strong objections” on the travel restrictions on Army Commander & Actg. Chief of Defence Staff, Colombo, Feb. 16, 2020. What cannot be lost sight of is that the “public designation” of the Sri Lankan army chief and Acting Chief of Defense Staff …
Continue reading “India should be wary of US ‘pro-activism’ on Lanka’s Tamil problem”
