Articles by: K P Fabian

Ukraine Crisis – A War of Choice

Ukraine Crisis – A War of Choice

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…]

by 25/02/2022 Comments are Disabled World
COVID-19, Scientific Temper and Governance

COVID-19, Scientific Temper and Governance

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…]

by 02/05/2020 1 comment World
COVID-19, Governance And Scientific Temper In India

COVID-19, Governance And Scientific Temper In India

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…]

by 20/04/2020 1 comment India
The ‘Modi’fied India 2019

The ‘Modi’fied India 2019

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…]

by 18/06/2019 2 comments India
Reality Check: Where Is The ‘56-Inch’ Chest?

Reality Check: Where Is The ‘56-Inch’ Chest?

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…]

by 26/10/2018 1 comment India
The Jamal Khashoggi Affair

The Jamal Khashoggi Affair

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…]

by 24/10/2018 1 comment World
Kerala Floods Disaster: No Established Policy To Reject Foreign Aid

Kerala Floods Disaster: No Established Policy To Reject Foreign Aid

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…]

by 21/09/2018 1 comment India
India should have spelt out its Iran policy clearly

India should have spelt out its Iran policy clearly

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…]

by 19/09/2018 2 comments India
US Sanctions against Iran: What are India’s Options?

US Sanctions against Iran: What are India’s Options?

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…]

by 09/07/2018 Comments are Disabled World
The Singapore Summit: A Good Beginning

The Singapore Summit: A Good Beginning

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…]

by 13/06/2018 2 comments World
Donald Trump signs an executive order declaring Jerusalem the capital of Israel at the White House on 6 December. Chris KleponisCNP

President Trump And Jerusalem

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…]

by 06/01/2018 2 comments Palestine
Donald Trump signs an executive order declaring Jerusalem the capital of Israel at the White House on 6 December. Chris KleponisCNP

Trump And Jerusalem: Long Term Implications

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…]

by 28/12/2017 1 comment World
Is It The Beginning Of The End For The GCC?

Is It The Beginning Of The End For The GCC?

                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…]

by 10/11/2017 1 comment World
US-North Korea Face-Off Escalates

US-North Korea Face-Off Escalates

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…]

by 09/10/2017 2 comments World
The March of Folly Jointly Led By Kim Jong-Un And Donald Trump

The March of Folly Jointly Led By Kim Jong-Un And Donald Trump

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…]

by 18/09/2017 1 comment World
The North Korean Nuclear Conundrum

The North Korean Nuclear Conundrum

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…]

by 06/05/2017 1 comment World
Is President Trump’s Foreign Policy Shaping Up?

Is President Trump’s Foreign Policy Shaping Up?

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…]

by 22/04/2017 2 comments World
President Trump: A Bull In A China Shop?

President Trump: A Bull In A China Shop?

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…]

by 30/01/2017 2 comments World
The State Of The State Of Syria

The State Of The State Of Syria

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…]

by 03/01/2017 3 comments World