EDITOR'S CHOICE
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Maldives vital to Indo-Pacific strategy
President Donald J Trump has been the first President since the Atlantic era ended towards the close of the 1990s to acknowledge that it is no longer the Atlantic ocean but the confluence of... More
China in sights of Indo-French defense cooperation
During his just-concluded state visit to India, French President Emmanuel Macron tried to position the Dassault Rafale multirole fighter jet as the frontrunner in the competition to provide the Indian Air Force with 36... More
Is this the end of Nepal’s ‘special relationship’ with India?
There is now little doubt that India has lost strategic space to China in Nepal. Some reckon the era of “special relations” between India and Nepal is nearly over as China makes steady inroads.... More
Judiciary under pressure in Bangladesh
The judiciary in Bangladesh is so much under pressure that it is difficult to believe the five-year sentence given to former Prime Minister and Opposition leader Khaleda Zia is genuine. The judges are on... More
Lessons from Tripura election
Ten years ago, in 2008, I was invited to speak at a colloquium in Rome regarding the war in Afghanistan, which was organized by the think tank affiliated with the Party of European Socialists,... More
China, India should move beyond Doklam crisis
Indian Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale visited Beijing recently and held talks with Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi, Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Vice Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou.
Last August, the Doklam standoff was solved diplomatically.... More
Trump’s India tilt
Last week, Donald Trump Jr visited India to tour and promote properties licensed by the Trump Organisation. The visit has been controversial in the US, blurring the lines between business and politics, and creating... More
Time to think ahead on India’s Nepal ties
The shift in the Indian policy toward Nepal during the most recent months has been an extraordinary turnaround. Prime Minister Narendra Modi made three telephone calls in the recent period to the newly elected... More
Khalistan factor casts a shadow over Trudeau visit
Khalistan, the issue that kept India-Canada ties on ice through three decades from 1980, has reappeared as an issue more recently, taking away much of the warmth that was expected during Canadian Prime Minister... More
Hasina is no Mujib
Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, exudes confidence. I visited Dhaka for the first time in April 1972, within four months of the birth of Bangladesh. Dhaka, then pronounced Dacca, was a small town, desperately... More
China will not fall into the ‘Thucydides Trap’ with India
The West’s notions of history and geography between Europe and Asia, are drenched in myriad cultural implications and can be traced back to ‘The Romance of Alexander’.
This is a collection of essays mixing truth,... More
How China and Pakistan could lay the Road to Peace in Afghanistan
Referred to as an interminable and protracted war, the ongoing US-led war in Afghanistan is becoming a stalemate with no end in sight in the near or long term. Since the violence and bloodshed... More
Modi corrects course, woos farmers and poor
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced an aggressive reachout to farmers and the poor in the new Budget, but analysts say it remains to be seen if this course correction will work.
They say... More
China’s latest move in the graveyard of empires
The latest plot twist in the endless historical saga of Afghanistan as a graveyard of empires has thrown up an intriguing new chapter. For the past two months, Beijing and Kabul have been discussing... More
Modi’s embrace of Netanyahu and its consequences
In a much hyped visit, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu landed in India, for a five-day official visit on 14 January, with a large entourage of professionals and businessmen. The two countries agreed to... More
India’s Asian strategies are distinctly passé
The meeting between the foreign ministers of China and Japan – Wang Yi and Taro Kono – on Sunday in Beijing signifies the resumption of high-level exchanges after an interlude of two years. A series of... More
Indo-Pacific strategy fails to account for region’s historical ties
I recently attended the third Raisina Dialogue, hosted in New Delhi by India's Ministry of External Affairs and the Observer Research Foundation. India has been trying to forge the conference into an Indian version... More
Pakistan & China must undertake serious efforts to intensify their relationship
When in 1960 Mao Zedong sent off General Gengbiao, his second ambassador to Pakistan, he reportedly advised him: “Look after Pakistan; it is China’s window to the West”.
Mao’s depiction may have been as much... More
How far will China go to achieve its military goals?
For those in India wondering how things would pan out with China, post-Doklam, the unmistakable message was given by President Xi Jinping himself: Military power will play a big role in China’s foreign policy.
In... More
US creates Afghan transit route with counter-narrative in Central Asia
The US President Donald Trump made a significant diplomatic breakthrough in the Afghan war by getting Kazakhstan President Nurusultan Nazarbayev to commit at their meeting in the White House on January 16 to pledge... More
Revisiting Jammu and Kashmir
From time to time we are rudely reminded that there is an issue concerning the state of Jammu & Kashmir. The last reminder came on the night of 30-31 December 2017, when militants attacked... More
