Someone suggested Jaishankar was a potential Kissinger who could try and resolve the Russia-Ukraine imbroglio through his intellectual and diplomatic strengths. But calling the spade a spade on issues like imperialism, colonialism and exploitation, he would have raised many eyebrows in the West at a time when the fractures and wounds needed to be treated and healed, observes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
'I have trained Ravish Kumar, Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh, Irfan Pathan...' 'But if I approach somebody for work, I never get it.'
A Russian court sentenced US basketball star Brittney Griner to nine years in prison on Thursday after finding her guilty of deliberately bringing cannabis-infused vape cartridges into Russia, a ruling that President Joe Biden called "unacceptable."
Merry Christmas has a breathtaking climax that will have you sighing like you've never sighed in a Sriram Raghavan movie before, applauds Sukanya Verma.
Interestingly, India had objected to the establishment of a UNHCHR when it was proposed by the US at the Vienna Conference on Human Rights in July 1993 and the whole proposal was remitted to the General Assembly in New York because India and others said that the whole issue should be examined in detail, says Ambassador T P Sreenivasan, who had led the Indian delegation for negotiating the terms of the HCHR.
As the second season of The Night Manager hits the OTT screen, Deepa Gahlot looks back at the top spy thrillers on streaming platforms.
'Two of your best players are not available for either of your series is really serious for India. They have been the mainstay of your Indian batting, and the board must find out where the problem is, if at all there is any, rather than its member tweeting that there might be a rift in the side. It is not good for the morale of the side and South Africa is a good team, especially when you are playing on good hard tracks. It's altogether different from playing in any part of the world. The wickets are different.'
'When there was no crime committed, everything had to be fabricated. They see it as a war, and everything is fair in love and war.'
On the day Russia invaded Ukraine, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan was in Moscow for the first trip by a Pakistani PM in 23 years.
'If one puts the context of what Xi Jinping said at the UN about not wanting a 'hot or cold war with any country', one realises that his speech was quite bizarre.' 'The world does not expect such statements from China, a nation aspiring to be a superpower.
DRDO's failures over the decades have contributed significantly to India becoming the world's biggest weapons importer, points out Lieutenant General Prakash Katoch (retd).
Blinken will also attend a meeting of the foreign ministers of the Quad grouping and will hold bilateral talks with his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar in Delhi.
The Modi government finds itself in a contradiction of its own making. It has encouraged pro-Russian, Westophobic public sentiment while setting strategic policy that's exactly the opposite, points out Shekhar Gupta.
Tokyo -- the songs Japan, Love In Tokyo and Sayonara from the 1966 Hindi film automatically pop up in the mind -- is buzzing and crowded like any other metropolis, discovers Deepa Gahlot. The modern apartment blocks are built cheek by jowl, so close together that one can open the window and borrow sugar from the neighbour in the next building. One of the fears of the Indian traveller is the unavailability of vegetarian food. Every city and town in Japan has an array of Indian restaurants that serve every variety of cuisine, right from Gujarati to Punjabi to Andhra and Kerala meals.
The remarks by the Chinese foreign ministry came a day after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo assured India that the US stands firmly with it to confront threats to its sovereignty.
'We have worked to create road blocks in the path of those who thought that there was space for conventional war despite Pakistan's nuclear weapons.' 'Pakistan's nuclear weapons programme is not open-ended and aligned with India only.' 'In this unstable regional environment, one nuclear power is trying to teach lessons to another nuclear power through the medium of small arms and mortar shells on the Line of Control, and bluster.' 'A historic opportunity of a lifetime beckons the leaderships of India and Pakistan to grasp, sit together and explore the possibilities of conflict resolution.'
'The Russians? had risen to great heights of sacrifice and heroism and won a victory against Hitler and Nazism at such a tremendous cost in spite of being weighed down by the tyranny and oppression of Stalin.'
India must break out of this strategic triangulation between China and Pakistan. We need to settle our issues with one of the two, notes Shekhar Gupta.
...with extravagant claims in both the eastern and western sectors, observes Ambassador Talmiz Ahmad, as India is fixated on asserting its border claims based on the McMahon Line.
'This is still a relatively immature defense and high-tech relationship.'
The pressure on India to take a hostile attitude towards Russia and China was not subtle, but it was guarded, observes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan after Monday's 2+2 ministerial meeting in Washington, DC.
As reports of political parties swiftly switching loyalties -- to quench their thirst for power -- swirl over Maharashtra, Rediff.com speaks to different players involved in the game of thrones.
The only thing that might justify a response is the desperate state of Pakistan's economy and how its people are suffering. But it's better to be heartless for now, argues Shekhar Gupta.
'The prospects for both India and the global economy is that we are headed towards a very difficult time.' 'I see very uncertain at least 8-10 months for both India and the rest of the world.'
The village in Maharashtra has continuously sent soldiers to the Army since World War I. Every other person you meet is a soldier or a retired soldier or is aspiring to be a soldier.
The US actions can be seen as a riposte to India's neutral position on the Ukraine crisis, its continuing import of Russian arms and oil thus undermining Western sanctions, argues Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
The Americans have expended a lot of diplomatic energy to coax India into toeing their line but India has refused to buckle under pressure. As Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said, India has not taken anyone's side but its own side, points out Virendra Kapoor.
'Our stomachs, accustomed now only to the blandness of stems and leaves, rumbled at unaccustomed aromas not intended for our consumption.' 'Heaven awaited on a platter -- but not for us,' sighs Kishore Singh.
Salahuddin warned that if the international community did not pay heed to the ongoing violence in Kashmir, Kashmiris from both sides of the divided valley would be forced to take things into their own hands.
'What has India got out of Howdy India in substantive terms?' asks Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Was the death sentence provoked by a retired Pakistani colonel going missing in Nepal, presumably abducted by Indian agents?
Salman and Sanjay Bhansali have made up and will work together soon.
Sunflower creates intrigue right from the start, and lives up to its potential, observes Prateek Sur.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the fatalities in Turkey alone have passed 8,500.
'There is only one common feature between Gorbachev and Putin.' 'They are both patriots, and both try to save Russia and make it great.' 'But in very, very, different ways.'
'It's a threat to whoever you want, and it includes China, and it includes Russia and it includes anybody else that wants to play that game. You can't do that. You can't play that game on me'
Poland, which has long been critical of Lukashenko and harboured many activists from Belarus, has granted her and her husband humanitarian visas.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, both 37, will visit the country shrugging off security fears to follow in the footsteps of William's grandparents, father and late mother, Princess Diana.
The Kashmir Files has done a commendable job in highlighting the plight of Kashmiri Pandits, but has dealt only with the local factors. The cover-up has multiple reasons and it is time that a debate is begun to unmask the culprits who hid the truth, asserts Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Borat being Borat, a girl juggling between suitors, a kid making a trip to the moon, a father and daughter spying over the latter's husband, Sukanya Verma makes her recommendations on the OTT for this week.
