Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s short visit to Germany pegged on the Indian-German Intergovernmental Commission meeting in Berlin on Monday inevitably came to focus on the Ukraine crisis. The western media would have loved to grill Modi on India’s reluctance to criticise Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine. But German hosts thoughtfully skipped the customary Q&A …
Pegasus Project: Why I am hesitant to defend the government but must
Pegasus Project: Activists, journalists, politicians have been spied on allegedly using mobile phone malware developed by Israel. The so-called Pegasus Project, which hit media headlines, has highlighted India in a clutch of countries where snooping of the telephones of citizens is widely practised as state policy. The Washington Post, which spearheaded the Pegasus Project, proposes …
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Whither India-Russia ties?
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (L) at press conference with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar (R), Delhi, April 6, 2021 On Monday, the prominent Moscow daily Kommersant commented that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s visit to New Delhi on April 5-6 “is not going to be easy because relations between the two countries are …
Quad: Say It Like Modi
Quad held its first summit meeting on March 12, 2021 India hasn’t had a prime minister to match Narendra Modi in his grasp of the power of speaking with purpose to connect with his listeners. When he speaks on foreign policy issues, however, Modi uses communication skills of a certain kind where he doesn’t have …
Joe Biden speaks on India. It’s good on the whole.
US presidential candidate Joe Biden & running mate Kamala Harris. (File photo) The Democratic Candidate Joe Biden’s remarks Wednesday on the US-Indian relationship have elements of the good, bad and the ugly. Biden, a consummate politician, poses an intellectual challenge to foreign observers. The momentous US election on 3rd November brings out his vast experience …
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An India-China reset is still possible
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar (L) and China’s State Councilor & Foreign Minister Wang Yi (R) met in Moscow, Sept 10, 2020 A joint statement wasn’t anticipated after the talks between the External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and China’s State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Moscow on September 10. In diplomatic terms, a …
India needs to adapt to the world of tomorrow
Pangong Tso Lake in eastern Ladakh: snapshot from 1962 India-China war. Jawaharlal Nehru began his historic “Tryst with Destiny” speech on August 15, 1947 heralding India’s independence, which is considered to be one of the greatest speeches of the twentieth century, with an immortal line, “At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world …
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India gains nothing out of ‘Asian NATO’
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivered the keynote address at the annual Shangri La Conference in Singapore on 1st June, 2018. If you are in two minds about the foreign policy orientations of Modi government, what do you do? My answer: Read the lips of the US state department officials. They will give you the authoritative …
Modi and the Abe legacy
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced his resignation from office on health grounds, Tokyo, August 28, 2020 The earth becomes a lonely planet for Prime Minister Narendra Modi as his friend and Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe announced his resignation from office on August 28 and began walking toward the sunset. Abe should have been around …
EU summit to reboot India’s world outlook
India-EU virtual summit will take place on July 15, 2020 under the shadows of the cataclysmic Covid-19 pandemic. One of the enduring urban legends in modern times is the quip attributed to Henry Kissinger, ‘Who do I call if I want to call Europe?’ Kissinger disowned it subsequently, but the myth lingers on. Europe is …
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