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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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, 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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
Our Republic Day being an appropriate occasion to reflect on the meaning of the day, most thought provoking comments were made by the Chief Justice (CJ) of Pakistan’s Supreme Court (SC) in Lahore on March 23. Referring to remarks made by the Awami Muslim League Chief Sheikh Rasheed urging... More
Myanmar’s government, led by the National League for Democracy (NLD) government and their leader, the State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, enters its third year in office after its overwhelming victory in the 2015 national elections. In fact there will be a new president – as the titular head... More
Bengal has been known for showing the way for India in more ways than one. It may do so again in national politics.
Mamata Banerjee, West Bengal's chief minister and Trinomul Congress supremo, showed her bete noire Prime Minister Narendra Modi the power of alliance making when she put together... More
While no proper rejection has yet taken place, it is by now evident that the Afghan Taliban have partially turned down the Ghani administration’s proposal of entering into peace talks and earn legitimacy through the deal. While the talk of the town was that this proposal has placed the... More
India’s partisan intervention in the Maldives, as seen in its statement of March 22, could be counter-productive as such interventions have been in other countries in South Asia.
In Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Nepal, India is seen as an interfering country whose moves one should be wary of. One of... More
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 the Pacific and Indian oceans (the Indo-Pacific) that is at the core of global geopolitics.... More
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 new combat aircraft.
He failed, but this did not prevent France from bolstering its strategic cooperation... More
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. There has been a truly breathtaking rise in Chinese influence and a corresponding fall in... More
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 the run because of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s reported annoyance with them. One judge has... More
Just a few days ago I warned two young student leaders in Darjeeling of West Bengal, against the violent movement which has started there for a separate Gorkhaland. I told them in no way should they support this demand. This has multifarious geo-political risks. If a Gorkhaland state is... More