An undated footage from Russian Defense Ministry Press Service showing an intercontinental ballistic missile lifting off from a truck-mounted launcher somewhere in Russia. The US President Donald Trump’s remark on Monday that a G7 summit is no longer on the cards for the month of September leaves many questions unanswered. We do not know the …
Japan-US alliance gets less intimate
Land-based missile defense system, Aegis Ashore, at the US Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility in Kauai, Hawaii. File photo. Regional security in Northeast Asia underwent a jolt on Thursday with the announcement in Tokyo by Japanese Defense Minister Taro Kono that Japan would cancel the purchase of a multi-billion dollar ballistic missile defense system made …
Rumours of NATO’s death are greatly exaggerated
NATO leaders assemble for customary group photo at Leaders’ Meeting’ in London on Dec 5, 2019 amidst much finger-pointing and discord The decision to “downgrade” the NATO’s historic summit meeting in London on the 70th anniversary of the alliance to a mere “Leaders’ Meeting” implied that no joint declaration or communique would need to be issued …
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Will China engage in arms control?
(Game changer: Nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine of Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy that can strike the US from thousands of miles away) The US President Donald Trump’s phone call to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Friday comes within 3 weeks of the release of the redacted report of the Robert Mueller inquiry into his …
Rows mar NATO’s birthday bash
(Elusive unity amidst growing diversity: NATO’s 70th anniversary meet, Washington, April 3-4, 2019) In his initial remarks with the NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg at the White House on April 2, US President Donald Trump charged straight into his pet grievance that America “alone accounts for the vast majority of NATO defense spending ’s spending”. Trump …
Post-cold war era barely lasted 1144 days
(‘End of Cold War’ monument in Malta marking Bush-Gorbachev summit, Dec 3, 1989) The Saturday, December 3, 1989 when the Malta Summit took place between US President George HW Bush and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, was a cold and Gothic night. So much so that the second round of talks followed by dinner had to …
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Putin warns US against misadventures
The Russian President Vladimir Putin’s address to an expanded meeting of the Defence Ministry Board in Moscow on December 18 stands out as a tour d’horizon of the global strategic balance. The speech must be seen against the backdrop of the free fall in US-Russia relations, build-up of NATO infrastructure on Russia’s western borders and, …
A sombre run-up to US-Russia summit in Paris
(Putin receives Bolton at the Kremlin, October 23) The highlight of the consultations of the US National Security Advisor John Bolton in Moscow on Monday was the announcement of a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump in Paris on November 11 on the sidelines of the ceremony marking the centenary …
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‘Military cooperation is the highlight and pillar of China-Russia strategic cooperation’
(Chinese and Russian Defence Ministers at Vostok 2018 exercises, September 11-17) Prime Minister Modi’s annual meeting with his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe takes him to Tokyo next week. But this time around, it will be an Official Working Visit, dispensing with the frills of bonhomie. The signal is that the discussions will be largely devoted …