Category : Premium

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