ZURICH: The Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) of Pakistan must be pleased. The spy agency has patiently waged a 20-year proxy war against a superpower to a favourable outcome. Its earlier success against the Soviets (1979-89) had been gradually fading from memory. Its subsequent foray against the Indian Army in Jammu and Kashmir did not yield […]Read More
NEW DELHI: Sri Lanka’s just unveiled 2021-23 diplomatic charm offensive to make up with India includes donating a holy brick from its Sita Amman temple to the planned grand Ram temple in Ayodhya. Colombo wants to host Hindu religious leaders and encourage Buddhist leaders to visit India. There are plans to woo more and more […]Read More
NEW DELHI: Growing rivalries in the Red Sea littoral and China’s expanding military and commercial profile, saw the first ever joint naval drills between India and Saudi Arabia recently. But Africa watchers say the pressing need is for India to promote a stronger naval presence especially along the coast of East Africa, which China is […]Read More
NEW DELHI: With the first successful sea trial of the Indigenous Aircraft Carrier 1 (IAC1), to be named INS Vikrant once it joins the Indian Navy in a year or so, India has entered the exclusive group of countries capable of designing and building aircraft carriers from scratch. In the maritime domain, aircraft carriers hold […]Read More
NEW DELHI: Nearly 20 months after Sri Lankan High Commissioner to India Austin Fernando completed his term and returned to Colombo, his successor is expected to take charge later this month. Milinda Moragoda, a former Cabinet minister, knows he has to hit the ground running. Especially when relationship between the two countries has been strained […]Read More
NEW DELHI: India’s Sri Lanka policy is an unprecedented mess. The easy way out for Indians to console themselves is to blame the Rajapaksa brothers and, of course, China. The truth is, however, more bitter and complicated. A genuine self-critical autopsy will reveal that India is to blame for much of its present predicament. This […]Read More
NEW DELHI: There’s a saying that the more things change, the more they remain the same! This is especially so in the case of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) where elections to the legislative assembly will be held on Sunday. It is widely expected that Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) will win since voters tend to believe […]Read More
NEW DELHI: In the popular narrative about China being wily, manipulative and a bully, it’s easy to overlook that Chinese diplomacy and commerce, even its media, have had to adjust their strategies, working methods and culture to suit the countries they are operating in. This is so even in the case of China’s ‘Iron Brother’ […]Read More
NEW DELHI: In a little over three months from now, the Biological & Toxin Weapons Convention will hold its ninth review meeting against the background of the pandemic and amid widespread suspicions that it was engineered by Chinese scientists in Wuhan. Despite that, China in tandem with ‘Iron Brother’ Pakistan is pushing forward a proposal […]Read More
BENGALURU: In his 1994 book, On the Grand Trunk Road, American journalist Steve Coll had described Bangladesh as “the epitome of pathetic South Asian wretchedness”, encapsulating “the deepest depths of rural poverty in South Asia”. All that has now changed. At a time when South Asia has become notorious for floundering economies and pandemic mismanagement, […]Read More
BENGALURU: The recent U.S.-Russia summit in Geneva came, to use a sporting metaphor, against the run of play. The two countries have recently been caught up in an escalating spiral of economic sanctions, mutual recriminations, and confrontations—directly or through proxies—in multiple geographies, across seas and continents. In the polarised politics of the U.S. today, the […]Read More
ZURICH: Pakistan does not sponsor terrorism against India because of the Kashmir issue. It sponsors terrorism because its own people cannot hope for a better future. Their destructive energies must be deflected outward rather than allowed to fester domestically, in snowballing resentment at the commercial depredations of a mafia-like military officer corps. Kashmir only helps […]Read More
NEW DELHI: Late last month, at memorial ceremonies in the United Nations for slain peacekeepers, it was a moment for India to remind the world of the 164 lives it had sacrificed in the service of UN missions worldwide. For Indian diplomats and military personnel, it was also time to reflect on an uncomfortable fact: […]Read More
NEW DELHI: As the seven member states of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical & Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) ready for the fifth summit in Sri Lanka in August, the major takeaway of a free trade area (FTA) appears elusive. Discussions over the last 15 years have got nowhere, and under the present Indian […]Read More
Date: May 31, 2020 Place: A non-descript restaurant in Karol Bagh, Delhi Two Pakistan High Commission staffers working in the visa section of the mission approach a man sitting alone on a table in a corner of the mid-sized restaurant. This is their first meeting with the man they think is a soldier in the […]Read More
NEW DELHI: Though the fighting in Gaza is yet to come up in the UN General Assembly, many countries have spelt out their stand among them China. Addressing the Security Council via video link, Foreign Minister Wang Yi announced a four-point programme to tackle the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, thereby underscoring China’s willingness to embrace a […]Read More
NEW DELHI: The recent statement by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman that the Kingdom desires “good relations with Iran” has showcased just how much the desert Kingdom could be on the cusp of change. Apart from seeking compromises with its arch-rival Iran in West Asia, Riyadh’s bid to open talks with its once feuding […]Read More
NEW DELHI: In about four months from now, India faces a potentially crippling shortage of Helium gas due to falling levels of production in the United States. India imports around ₹55,000 crore ($733 million) of Helium from the U.S. every year for use in rockets and nuclear reactors to MRI scans and electronics. In fact, […]Read More
TAIPEI: Hong Kong is different from cities in mainland China because it still has elections. Therefore, in the logic of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Hong Kong is implementing ‘one country, two systems’. China sees Hong Kong’s current governance model as a sharp contrast to the undemocratic colonial style governance under the British Empire. But […]Read More
NEW DELHI: Reports about China’s plan to build a super dam on the Yarlung Tsangpo, rivalling even the Three Gorges dam on the Yangtze river, have a sense of inevitability. Typically, it would seem, giant projects in China are planned and carried out with little public discussion or debate and the results are there for […]Read More
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