Berlin Wall at the Brandenberg Gate, November 9, 1989 The 40th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall has turned out to be a sombre occasion. Certainly, the euphoria that Europe witnessed on November 9, 1989 has evaporated. The impetus for deeper European integration, manifest in the 1992 Maastricht Treaty, which established a framework …
US stokes the fires of Turkish revanchism
Turkish President Recep Erdogan (C-L) and US Vice President Mike Pence (C-R) met in Ankara on Oct. 17, 2019 The extraordinary US overture to Turkey regarding northern Syria resulted in a joint statement on Thursday, whose ramifications can be rated only in the fulness of time, as several intersecting tracks are running. The US …
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A safe zone for Syrian refugees — so near, yet so very far
People wave as a US military vehicle travels through Kurdish-dominated Amuda province in northern Syria, bordering Turkey Six years after Turkish President Recep Erdogan floated the idea of creating a safe zone in northern Syria, it still remains a chimera. When the Turks lobbied for the zone, notably in 2013 and 2015, the Obama administration …
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Ukraine remains the signpost of world politics
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky made a working visit to the frontline positions in Luhansk region in May 2019 The ice in the frozen lake shifting is one of the coolest sounds you can hear. The air is cold but not freezing, and the woods are silent. The frozen lake looks like it’s been stopped in time, …
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Governing Ukraine is no laughing matter
(Comedian Vladimir Zelensky sweeps to victory as Ukraine’s next president, Kiev, April 21, 2019) Comedy, it is often said, is unusual people in real situations and farce is real people in unusual situations. No doubt, it can be said that by electing comedian Vladimir Zelensky as their new president in a landslide victory in Sunday’s …
If US sanctions Turkey, can India be far behind?
(S-400 : Russia’s geopolitical missile targeting the US) The Turkish-American relations are at a crossroads. Unlike past history of their troubled relationship saw hiccups but the two NATO allies moved on eventually, this time around, they are barreling toward a clash. From an Indian perspective, it is of interest that the clash is over the …
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US officials converge on Pakistan seeking Afghan peace
After a successful mission to Turkey this weekend on US President Trump’s behalf, his leading Republican ally Senator Lindsey Graham is reportedly heading for Islamabad on a similar mission seeking rapprochement with another truculent erstwhile ally of the US. Senator Graham, interestingly, used to be a hardliner on Afghanistan who once believed that a US …
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US erodes Russia-Turkey axis in Syria
(Turkish tank convoy moving to Syrian border, Jan 14.) Through the past month since US President Donald Trump tweeted his fateful decision to withdraw troops from Syria, a familiar pattern began appearing – no sooner than Trump makes a foreign-policy decision, those around him scramble to try to delay that decision. However, in the Syrian …
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, …
If US quits INF Treaty, Europe loses
(Mikhail Gorbachev & Ronald Reagan signing the INF Treaty, Washington, December 1987) The statement issued by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization on December 4 regarding the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty following the meeting of the foreign ministers of the alliance in Brussels puts the seal on the US decision to withdraw from the pact. …