European Parliament to take up Kashmir on Sept. 2, 2019. The stunning news that India’s GDP growth rate is hitting a six-year low figure of 5 percent in the past six-year period comes as reality check. Many economists even hold the view that in actuality, take away the statistical jugglery, India’s actual GDP growth figure …
Offer from Biarritz not good enough for Iran
Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif (L) held talks in Biarritz on Sunday Aug. 25, 2019 with France’s President Macron (R) and Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian. From all accounts, Tehran is struggling to cope with the startling news in the weekend from the G7 summit at Biarritz that a meeting between the presidents of the …
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Macron’s Carolingian Renaissance of the G7
India draws satisfaction that the Kashmir issue did not figure in the G7 Leaders’ Declaration issued at Biarritz, France, on August 26. Prime Minister Narendra Mod’s hectic effort canvass with French President Emmanuel Macron at Chateau de Chantilly, north of Paris, on August 22, has had the desired outcome. Macron reportedly told Modi that Paris …
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With eye on Trump, India scrambles for Russian support
Prime Minister Narendra Modi (L) and Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) at informal meeting in Sochi in May 2018 Within a week of National Security Advisor Ajit Doval’s consultations in Moscow on August 21, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar is travelling to the Russian capital for talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov on Tuesday. Prima …
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Trump fine-tunes peace deal with Taliban
Afghanistan: A war without a purpose. File photo. The US President Donald Trump’s remarks at the Oval Office in the White House on August 20 regarding the Afghan peace talks and related issues exuded an overall sense of satisfaction that the “endless war” is finally ending —although issues still remain to be sorted out before …
Trump’s Kashmir mediation takes wing
The Kashmir Triangle: US President Donald Trump (L), Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan (C) & Indian Prime Minister Modi (R) The US President Donald Trump’s extraordinary remarks to the media at the Oval Office in the White House on August 20 regarding the Kashmir issue come just a day after his telephone conversations with the Indian …
Turkey faces quagmire in Syria
Militants from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham fire anti-aircraft gun mounted on pickup truck in Syria’s Idlib province last week The three-year old Russian-Turkish tango in Syria has been incisive, exciting and provocative, but the inability of the two partners to trust each other or surrender to the care and needs of the other has deprived the …
Modi breaks the ice with Trump — and stands to gain
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called up US President Donald Trump on August 19, 2019 to discuss regional tensions. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision on August 19 to telephone US President Donald Trump has been a smart diplomatic move. Trump had told Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on August 16 that he’d speak to Modi …
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India learnt nothing, forgot nothing in the Gulf
Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit the UAE on Aug 23-24, 2019 Media reports began appearing lately that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is planning to visit the Persian Gulf region once again— this time around, to the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. Hopefully, the tour has a raison d’être despite its atrocious timing — when …
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Central Asian steppes mutely watch Taliban’s surge
Pamir Highway between Osh and Khorog near Tajik-Afghan border Compared to the events two decades ago when the Afghan Taliban appeared in the Amu Darya region in northern Afghanistan and Central Asian states and Russia went into feverish tantrums, there is an eerie calm palpable in the steppes today. The contrast couldn’t be sharper. In …
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