Ukraine’s president Vladimir Zelensky (L) with European leaders and NATO chief at the European summit, Paris, March 27, 2025 In an unguarded moment, perhaps, ex-UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson blurted out recently in an interview that the ultranationalist elements who rule the roost in Kiev are a formidable obstacle to ending the war in Ukraine. For …
Trump’s presidential diplomacy is surging
The United States President Donald Trump (R) received the Secretary-General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation Mark Rutte, White House, Washington, March 13, 2025 The US President Donald Trump by far outstrips any of his predecessors in post-cold war era in the transparency of his foreign policy agenda and in his attempt to connect the …
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Trump invites Putin to a roller coaster ride
Top US and Ukrainian diplomats held talks, Jeddah, March 11, 2025 The political optics of the joint statement issued after the US-Ukrainian talks at Jeddah on March 11 lasting nine hours is hard to tell since President Donald Trump prides himself on his ability to strike deals. Prima facie, the optics are that Ukraine caved …
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Trump’s ingenuity vis-à-vis Russia, Iran
US President Donald Trump (L) disclosed that he has addressed a letter to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (R) suggesting talks on the nuclear issue, Washington, March 5, 2025 Through the past three year period, Moscow claimed that it faced an existential threat from the US-led proxy war in Ukraine. But in the past …
US puts firewall to protect Ukraine deal with Russia
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer (L) gave a highly public show of support for Volodymyr Zelenskyy (R) greeting the Ukrainian president on the steps of No. 10 Downing Street, walking towards him and immediately throwing his arm around him. Inside No. 10, Starmer told Zelenskyy he has “full backing across the United Kingdom.” London, March 1, 2025 …
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Trump takes on the ‘collective west’
A meeting between US President Donald Trump (C) and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (L) veered sharply off track in front of TV cameras and ended abruptly, White House, Washington, DC, Feb. 28, 2025 The dramatic scene in the Oval Office on Friday evening signals that President Donald Trump is decoupling the US from the ‘forever …
Russia and DPRK rustle up an alliance
In an exceptional gesture by far exceeding protocol norms, Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) was received with a hug at the airport at 3 am by Chairman of State Affairs of North Korea Kim Jong-un (L) on arrival on a ‘friendly state visit’, Pyongyang, July 19, 2024 The Russian President Vladimir Putin’s brief visit to Pyongyang on …
Putin resets compass for voyage ahead
Russian Foreign Ministry, Smolensky Square, Moscow For the historic occasion at the hallowed St Andrew’s Hall of the Grand Kremlin Palace in Moscow, as Russia is poised at a tumultuous juncture of sculpturing and moulding its tryst with destiny, President Vladimir Putin made a remarkably brief speech at the inaugural ceremony held on May 7. There was …
Ukraine’s survival hangs in the balance
Moscow’s Crocus City Hall on fire, March 22, 2024 A controversy arose needlessly over the advisory issued by the American embassy in Moscow on March 7 to the effect that “extremists have imminent plans to target large gatherings in Moscow, to include concerts” and warning US citizens to “avoid large gatherings.” It took the form of …
Putin’s victory is a geopolitical reality
Thousands of people gathered on Moscow’s Red Square to celebrate President Vladimir’s election victory, March 18, 2024 The Russian presidential election has vividly brought out the fault lines in international politics in a way that seldom happens. That is because the political personality of President Vladimir Putin fills the global stage today like a Colossus. …
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