The Middle East at an inflection point

US President Joe Biden (R) and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Ben Gurion Airport, Tel Aviv, Israel, Oct 18, 2023 It has been a perennial hope and expectation that Israel would abandon the path of repression, colonisation and apartheid as state policies and instead accept a negotiated settlement of the Palestine problem under pressure from …

No takers for a West Asian war but war seems inevitable

For the first time since Gaza crisis began, Chief of Staff of Iranian Armed Forces Gen. Mohammad Baqeri engaged with Russia’s Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu on October 19, 2023. There is no question that smart power enhances foreign policy. Since the notion of “smart power” entered international diplomacy some two decades ago, a major regional power, …

Whither Ukraine’s counteroffensive?

Russian forces delivered massive strikes on Ukrainian military  facilities to disrupt the planned “counteroffensive” The month of May has arrived but without the long-awaited Ukrainian “counteroffensive”. The western media is speculating that it may come by late May. There is also the  spin that Kiev is judicious to “buy time.”  The chances of Ukraine making …

‘Russia alone can already confront the entire West…’

President Vladimir Putin (R) and Chinese President Xi Jinping ahead of talks in restricted format, Kremlin, Moscow, March 21, 2023 The Russian media reported that President Vladimir Putin made an extraordinary gesture as President Xi Jinping left the Kremlin following the state dinner last week on Tuesday evening by escorting him to the limousine and …