‘India’s Covid Milestone Opens New Vistas In Healthcare And Education’

NEW DELHI : Ten days ago India crossed a milestone in Covid vaccinations: over 2 billion and counting. As of now, over 97% of the adult population has received one dose and 90% two doses. The clock is now ticking on how quickly India can do the government mandated precautionary third dose. In this conversation […]

Sources Report Breakthrough In Doha Talks

A breakthrough is reported from Doha as the two negotiating teams have agreed to include the U.S.-Taliban deal, UN endorsements for Afghan peace process, commitments of the negotiating teams and will of the Afghan people as the base for upcoming negotiations. Sources said Afghan chief negotiator Mohammad Massoom Stanikzai and presidential peace advisor Salam Rahimi […]

Look Before You Tweet, Sober Advice For US Govt On Pak Radical

NEW DELHI: Look before you leap should be standard advisory for the US government’s various Twitter handles, especially those concerning Pakistan. Days after the US Embassy in Islamabad re-tweeted a tweet critical of Prime Minister Imran Khan, another blunder, this time by the Florida-based US Central Command (CentCom). It condoled the death of Khadim Hussain […]

Trump’s Loss Is Europe’s Gain: G-20, Climate Change Hopes Revive

NEW DELHI: Ursula Von Der Leyen is acknowledged to be among the most diplomatic of diplomats, but as president of the European Commission, she could not hide her satisfaction that President Donald Trump – who has had a testy relationship with his trans-Atlantic neighbours – was finally exiting the White House. At a briefing on […]

Russia Ties Intact But China Challenge Boosting India-U.S. Partnership

NEW DELHI: The annual Modi-Putin summit looks increasingly unlikely, given the pandemic. It is Putin’s turn to visit but the Russian leader is rarely known to step outside his Kremlin residence and it seems most of his meetings are virtual affairs. Given that, there could be a bit of a risk for Putin to fly […]

India Slams Pak Move To Grant Gilgit Baltistan Status Of Province

NEW DELHI: The announcement by Pak Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday granting provisional provincial status to the disputed region of Gilgit-Baltistan has been slammed by India as one aiming to “camouflage its illegal occupation” and conceal human rights violations there. Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Anurag Srivsatava said India “firmly rejects the attempt by […]

‘War And Conflict Isn’t All About Guts, Glory And Victory’

NEW DELHI: He has two books on India’s military history to his credit but Air Vice Marshal Arjun Subramaniam (Retd) says writing his second book titled ‘Full Spectrum: India’s Wars, 1972-2020′ was tough. “Writing about war and conflict when you have lived through it and when you have engaged with people you are writing about […]

‘India Must Insist On Delineation And Demarcation Of LAC’

HYDERABAD: Colloquially, the terms boundary and border are used interchangeably. A boundary is the line between two states that marks the limits of sovereign jurisdiction. In other words, a boundary is a line agreed upon by both states, normally delineated on maps and demarcated on the ground by both states. A border, on the other hand, […]

China Tests Natuna Waters, Indonesia’s Patience

NEW DELHI: In an opinion piece in The Jakarta Post on April 14 this year, China’s ambassador to Indonesia Xiao Qian waxed eloquent about bilateral ties, where the two sides “have composed one piece after another of beautiful music about their exchanges and interactions over the centuries”. At celebrations marking 70 years of diplomatic ties, Ambassador Xiao grandly […]

Partner Turns Predator, But Vietnam Won’t Give In To Chinese Hounding

NEW DELHI: In April this year, the Chinese survey vessel Haiyang Dizhi 4 passed close to Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone in what was seen as a warning to Hanoi not to seek world court arbitration over its maritime dispute with Beijing in the South China Sea. Last week, Vietnam gave its answer: as chair of […]

China Crafts New Dispute In Bhutan Wildlife Sanctuary Bordering India

NEW DELHI: China’s land grab exercise is not limited to its attempt at altering the status quo in East China Sea, South China Sea and with India but with the Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan too. According to reports coming from Washington DC, China raised a new, non-existent dispute with Bhutan at a virtual meeting of […]

On Road To World Dominance, China Hitting Below The Belt

NEW DELHI: Readers of a certain vintage will recall the adventures of Sir Denis Nayland Smith as he sought to thwart the sinister Dr Fu Manchu and his goal of world domination. Dr Fu Manchu was, of course, Chinese and in the politically correct present day, some would fault the author Sax Rohmer for racism. But […]

Can Nepal Justify Adoption of New Map?

CHENNAI: Nepal’s Parliament unanimously passed a resolution to adopt a new map in which some Indian territory claimed by Nepal has been included. Is it plain cartographic aggression? Let us see how the claim originated. The India-Nepal boundary in Kalapani area is aligned to the Kali river, based on the Sugauli Treaty of 1816. Nepal […]

LAC Deaths: Five Agreements That China Violated

NEW DELHI: India and China have built up an impressive series of agreements to guarantee peace on the disputed boundary. The agreements have substantially held with no shots fired in decades. But Monday’s violent incident in the Galwan Valley underscores how these have failed. Indian diplomats say China has no use for such agreements when it […]