( L to R) Chinese President Xi Jinping, Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at BRICS Summit, Johannesburg, Aug 23, 2023 India became a beacon of hope for the Western media for a short while in the run-up to the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg — a …
AUKUS, QUAD transforming alliance-like
US President Joe Biden, Australian PM Anthony Albanese, Japanese PM Fumio Kishida and Indian PM Narendra Modi held a QUAD meeting in Hiroshima, Japan, 20 May 2023 This week augurs an acceleration of strategic realignments among the big powers amidst growing signs of a new cold war globally with particular focus on the United States’ …
Wheel has come full circle in Myanmar
Guerrilla fighters, trained, equipped and financed by Western intelligence to overthrow military rule in Myanmar (File photo) Aung San Suu Kyi, the iconic figure of Myanmarese politics, has been moved from prison to house arrest. This may seem a baby step, but make no mistake, the journey of a thousand steps begins with one step, as …
Lessons from the Korean War
The Los Angeles-class fast-attack submarine USS Springfield in Busan for a port visit, South Korea, July 22, 2023 The psychology of forgetting and why memory fails is a tantalising topic in the life of individuals or nations. Cognitive psychology spawned many theories about it. The main theory, the motivated forgetting theory, is the most charming …
Politics of hedging in the Indo-Pacific
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi (C) with Director of Foreign Affairs Commission of Communist Party of China Central Committee Wang Yi (L) and Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (R) at trilateral meeting, Jakarta, July 12, 2023 On Monday, while delivering the keynote address at the annual China Business Summit held in Auckland, New Zealand Prime …
What to expect from NATO Summit 2023
Britain’s King Charles (L) welcomed US President Joe Biden to Windsor Castle with pomp and pageantry, UK, July 10, 2023 The trajectory of the Ukraine war hangs in the balance. All eyes are on the US President Joe Biden’s arrival in Vilnius for the NATO summit meeting (June 11-12.) Biden got a big boost already …
India’s discontent with the SCO
The virtual summit meeting of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation on July 4 welcomed Iran as its tenth member To be out of sync with the contemporary life anywhere at anytime becomes indeed a despairing situation. That was the tragic predicament of the Austrian writer of the inter-war period, Stefan Zweig, who once wrote, “One must be …
Palestine is ripe for Chinese mediation
Chinese President Xi Jinping (L) with the visiting Palestine President Mahmoud Abbas, Beijing, 18th July, 2017 The US Secretary of State Antony Blinken drew a blank in Riyadh in his mission to coax Saudi Arabia to grant diplomatic recognition to Israel and resuscitate the moribund Abraham Accord. The Saudi stance is unwavering: a two-state solution …
Indian diplomacy in overstretch
G7 Summit leaders at “working lunch” session, Japan, 19 May, 2023 The Foreign Secretary’s special briefing on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Asia-Pacific tour (May 19-24) dovetailed skilfully into three summit meetings, and brings to mind an institution of the Middle Ages known as the “wandering minstrels”. Wealthy people used to employ minstrels to entertain them …
Biden can be charming. But Beijing should be wary of sequels
Pope Francis (L) meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a private audience at The Vatican, May 13, 2023 President Vladimir Zelensky’s tour of Rome, Berlin and Paris has been a success, securing for Ukraine significant additional quantities of weaponry for the upcoming offensive against Russian forces. The high water mark was Germany’s announcement of a …
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