Russia’s military has moved into Ukraine despite threats of sanctions repeated ad nauseum by President Biden and other leaders of the West. Obviously, the repeated threats of sanctions have not made any difference to Putin’s behavior. This should not surprise anyone as the sanctions imposed on Russia when it annexed the Crimea in 2014 did not compel Putin to reverse[Read More…]
COVID-19 has come to us in 2020 where the world leaders, with a few exceptions, lack a 20-20 vision as well as the scientific temper that goes in with such a vision. To understand history, it is at times necessary to imagine what might have happened. Such counter-factual arguments often help us to understand better what did happen in the[Read More…]
The media, the Indian as well as the international, have covered the continuing plight of the inter-state migrants resulting from the nation-wide lock-down announced with a calculated abruptness, not uncharacteristic of the Government of India (GOI) judging from the disastrous demonetization and the hurried and thoughtless implementation of GST. Yet, none in the media has given a proper explanation for[Read More…]
All of us in India, including the BJP, have been stunned by the unprecedented and unanticipated landslide victory of Modi who like a juggernaut swept across the electoral landscape smashing everything standing in its way. The Opposition has been traumatized and there are feeble signs of the defeated parties endeavoring to recover. The civil society has shown more resilience. Obviously,[Read More…]
Now that the Modi government has done more than four years and we still do not know as yet whether Modi will succeed in his plan to succeed himself as Prime Minister following the 2019 general election, it is time to draw a balance sheet of India’s ‘Modified’ foreign policy with its emphasis on a “56-inch chest”. Prime Minister Narendra[Read More…]
Seventeen days after the October 2 “disappearance” of Jamal Khashoggi, Saudi Arabia officially stated that he was killed in its consulate in Turkey when he went there to collect papers permitting him to marry his Turkish fiancée Hatice Cengiz. The marriage had been fixed for October 3. Cengiz had waited for hours in vain for Khashoggi to come out of[Read More…]
It is appropriate and necessary to scrutinize the response of the Central Government in a non-partisan and fearless manner as required in a democracy. When the 2001 Bhuj earthquake occurred, Prime Minister AB Vajpayee issued an appeal for contributions in money and kind addressed to ” Dear Brothers and Sisters” giving a list of officials to be contacted along with[Read More…]
It is only a coincidence that this piece is being written on the day of protests against petrol and diesel prices , but that draws attention to the domestic impact of foreign policy. It is being argued that India could have handled the US sanctions on Iran in a smarter way. The three countries form a geopolitical triangle ,different from[Read More…]
Ambassador (Retd) KP Fabian analyses the big picture and the pros and cons of oil imports from Iran for India in the backdrop of US sanctions on Iran The US first imposed various sanctions on Iran in 1979 when the US embassy was occupied, with the staff taken hostage, following the fall of US-supported Shah. Oil sanctions were imposed in[Read More…]
Confounding his critics and an army of pundits who were confidently predicting an unsuccessful summit, President Trump has demonstrated that his deal-making approach can deliver results in an area where patient, plodding, conventional, hesitant diplomacy has signally failed. Trump deserves all credit for the historic success of his summit with DPRK’s Chairman Kim Jung Un. Equally, Kim also deserves full[Read More…]
President Trump’s decision announced on 6th December 2017 to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and to order the transfer of US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem reminds one of the 1917 Balfour Declaration that paved the way for the establishment of the State of Israel. Trump has ignored the claims of Palestinians to have their capital in[Read More…]
On 7 December, US President Donald Trump recognised Jerusalem as Israel’s capital; ordered the US Department of State to move the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem; and unleashed a diplomatic storm with the potential for disaster, not exactly unforeseeable. The US’ diplomatic isolation is almost complete. Trump’s action was shocking, but not surprising. The decision fits[Read More…]
The Gulf Cooperation Council consisting of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirate, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, and Bahrain was formally established in May 1981.The Charter stipulates that the purpose is “to effect coordination, integration and inter-connection between Member States in all fields in order to achieve unity between them.” The 1979 Iranian Revolution led[Read More…]
The U.S.-North Korea confrontation has reached a perilous level and the risk of war is serious. The best starting point to take stock of the perilous face-off betweenthe Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (D.P.R.K.) and the United States of America is President Trump’s maiden speech at the UN General Assembly on 19 September 2017.Trump said, “The United States has great[Read More…]
The crisis over North Korea’s reckless but successful pursuit of nuclear- weapon capability and the misguided response thereto by the United States (US) is taking the world nearer to an unnecessary and perfectly avoidable catastrophe. Let us see where we are, why we are there, and how we can get out of the mess. The coverage in the international media[Read More…]
The world is watching with much fear and anxiety, admixed with some curiosity, the unfolding confrontation between President Trump and Kim Jong-un the supreme leader of North Korea. We still do not know whether the confrontation will lead to hostilities with predictably unpredictable and disastrous consequences or the two sides along with other interested parties will sit down and talk.[Read More…]
April has been an eventful month geopolitically so far. President Trump carried out a much-trumpeted-about Tomahawk missile strike at the Syrian regime, held responsible by him for a nerve-agent attack on the village of Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib, a province largely held by rebels. Trump has changed his mind on China, which he previously accused as a ‘currency manipulator’. He[Read More…]
Presidents and Prime Ministers assuming office in mature democratic countries after an election start with a period of honeymoon with the public and the rest of the world. President Kennedy had a long honeymoon and President Hollande a briefer one. Trump has willfully chosen not to have any honeymoon by his pronouncements before the inaugural and the speech he made[Read More…]
Significant developments took place regarding Syria in December 2016. The partial cease-fire brokered, or rather, brokered and imposed, by Russia and Turkey, with Iran’s concurrence, on President Basher al Assad and a part of his foes, known as ‘moderates’, might mark a turning point in Syria’s tortuous and painful journey since 2011. Left to himself, Assad would have preferred to[Read More…]
Workers Protests break out in China 
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The plight of Meitei Pangals or Manipur Muslims remains unheard 
A Timely Warning on Avoiding the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework that Deserves Wide Attention 
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The Importance of Convenient Payment Options in Enhancing Travel Experiences 
Book Review – A Reader on Financial Inclusion 
Nuclear Turns Fashionable 
Taiwan’s Quest to Upgrade Its Battle Readiness Continues to Evolve 
Trade Unions in Kenya and Britain in a Changing World 
Why Phalke Award Has Eluded Classic Hindi Cinema Heroines 
Modi in Australia: Down Under Bliss for Hindutva 
Both Blocs Behind Iron Curtain? 
Demand for scrapping of iron fortified rice distribution in India’s public food schemes intensifies 
Government destroying public spaces rather than protecting them 
Dalit agricultural labour organisations stage protests in Punjab 
The Influence of Higher Wages and Better Job Opportunities on Migration from Small Towns to Big Cities or Other Regions New Parliament building- Appearance Vs Substance 
International body slams Media Repression in Kashmir During G-20 Event 
More Than 43 Million People In Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia Suffer Due To Droughts 
Shudra Wrestlers Vs Ksatriya Controllers: The Battle For Women’s Rights 
Blindman’s Buff-America’s Continuing Quest to Hide Torture 
Ever Again – Setting the Stage for the Genocide of the Palestinian People 
Does China Have a Huge Problem Despite Impressive Economic Development? 
Capitalist Exploitation Entrenched in Kenya 
A Call for Safe and Ethical AI (Artificial Intelligence) for Health 
Farruggio for President 2024 
Cracks in India’s armoury – Achilles’ heel in the security and intelligence apparatus 
Whose Sentiments are Hurt? 
On Doing the Most Important Thing 
Inauguration of new Parliament complex on Savarkar’s birthday shall not whitewash his anti-national and anti-human crimes 
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On 56th Anniversary of Naxalbari 
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Our beloved K.P.Sasi is no more. Filmmaker, cartoonist, writer, mentor, friend and above all tireless activist championing the cause of every underdog, Sasi breathed his last, mid-afternoon this Christmas day – after battling a medical condition for months. I remember the last time I met him, almost exactly a month before he passed away, at the ayurvedic healing center in[Read More…]
