Indian Diplomacy’s ace performance at Samarkand
During the last fortnight, India has asserted itself diplomatically by refusing to join an important pillar of the U.S.-led IPEF, and at the same time PM Modi in Samarkand has demonstrated his government’s resolve to act glocally and resolutely in interactions with regional leaders.
The 22nd summit of the eight-nation Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) took place in Uzbekistan’s capital Samarkand, last week. The summit was held amid the growing geo-political turmoil set-off by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and China’s aggressive military posturing in the Taiwan Straits. China which initiated this regional grouping as Shanghai Five in 1996, has […]
Chinese BRI: A success or a failure?
The recent economic upheaval followed by the political disruption in Sri Lanka, has once again made the Chinese BRI, the focus of debate whether it is beneficial or insensitive to the participating countries besides being a success or a failure.
The Chinese President Xi Jinping launched the BRI with much fanfare and high promises and grandiose plans for the participating countries in 2013. It was considered to be a centrepiece of the Chinese foreign and trade policy. Basically, Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) earlier also referred to, as One Belt One Road or OBOR for […]
Iraq-Kurdistan Oil Tussle
The perilous relationship between Iraq and Kurdistan has soured once again, due to Kurdistan’s oil exports to Turkey.
There are reports that international oil firms operating in Kurdistan have asked the US to help defuse an upsurge in tension between Iraq’s central government and the Kurd Autonomous Region or Kurdistan regional government (KRG), according to a letter seen by Reuters. Over the years Kurdistan had been supplying oil to Turkey and in the […]
A New Beginning for Turkiye-Israel Relations
The reset of diplomatic ties between Turkiye and Israel may result in some new paradigm shifts at the regional level besides helping both to focus more on bilateral economic gains.
Recently there have been indications both from Israel and Turkiye that the leadership in those countries was mulling a reset in their bilateral ties. In Israel’s case it was one more step in the direction of regional rapprochement, while for Turkiye it is basically aimed at tackling and furthering its economic woes and regional interests. […]
Muslim Leaders should focus on Social Issues
Following the Supreme Court’s order in 2017, Muslim religious leaders had shown willingness to outlaw the Triple Talaq – a completely unIslamic practice, but alas even after five years they have not taken any concrete step in this regard.
It seems as if every ruling party rakes up the issues related to the Indian Muslims deliberately over the years, before any elections particularly. Further, what confounds one is why do the Muslim religious leaders try to resolve the issues facing the community near these dates only, why don’t they stick to their original plans? […]
Need to counter headwinds against democracy: USAID Chief
On her recent visit to India USAID Administrator Samantha Power observed that “headwinds” against democratic rule are “strong” across the world currently, and that there are forces in India and the United States “who seek to sow division… pit ethnicities and religions against one another… bend laws and abuse institutions”.
During her three-days visit to India last week the USAID Administrator Samantha Power met with civil society representatives in Delhi besides External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, Principal Secretary to the PM, P.K. Mishra and Foreign Secretary VinayKwatra. In meetings with civil society representatives she stressed the need to discuss freedom of expression, speech, identity, and […]
Role of Regional Powers for Afghanistan’s Development
The Tashkent Conference on Afghanistan has highlighted the need for the regional players to play a constructive role for reconstruction of Afghanistan, in collaboration with the West.
Tashkent Conference Uzbekistan hosted an international conference in Tashkent last week (27 July) to garner support for the economic and social revival of Afghanistan. The Ambassador-at-Large of the Kazakh Ministry of Foreign Affairs Talgat Kaliyev invited participants of the “Afghanistan: Security and Economic Development” conference in Tashkent to make joint efforts to ensure peace and […]
Europe Scorched
The extreme temperatures witnessed in Europe during the last fortnight, are the results of our own making, and maybe this is a wake-up call for the humans to stop playing with nature.
When we think of Europe, we mostly think of cold and enjoyable weather, as compared to our scorching heat and humid weather. But in 2022, the European continent is facing one of the worst summers. Usually, by Indian standards even the European summers were considered to be much better than our winters, but record-breaking heat […]
Biden’s Tour de Saudia Arabia
Joe Biden’s west Asian tour should have been utilised to reset the American ties with different regional players and lay foundations for a more robust engagement but the results seem to be rather disappointing.
American President Joe Biden was on a four-day trip to Israel and Saudi Arabia, his first trip to the Middle East since taking office last year, with a lot of expectations about resetting the ties with Saudi Arabia and also giving a new direction to US policies in the Middle East. The visit started with […]
Stubborn Taliban
The manner in which the Taliban have been able to retain power in Afghanistan and their latest decisions show that to save millions of Afghanis from impoverishment and death, international community will have to adopt a new approach. While the nearly one-year old Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) government trundles on in the absence of […]
