Taliban failed to honour Doha accord, never renounced Al-Qaeda: US general Mark Milley
The move to impeach Trump gained momentum on Sunday with the House Democrats announcing to introduce the article of impeachment against the outgoing Republican president on Monday.
US proposal to raise the global corporate tax rate to 28% from 21% might face resistance from countries unwilling to give up their edge and compete with America on its terms.
The Biden team updated its website to showcase four policy areas the incoming administration will prioritise: COVID-19, economic recovery, racial equity and climate change.
'Movement of naval forces at sea is often more than just perfunctory deployment -- reading the messages that they send is important,' alerts Vice Admiral Premvir Das (retd).
'Modi-Shah have understood the risks their cynical mixing of domestic political motivations with strategic national interests was soon going to become counterproductive asserts Shekhar Gupta.
The elephant in the room will permeate the conversations, predicts Rup Narayan Das.
Considering that Qatar is a trusted ally of Washington for decades, it is expected to be a steady influence on the Taliban leadership, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
An alert government in Delhi should have begun government-to-government discussions with Moscow the moment it came to know that Russians were developing a vaccine. That is to say, almost an year's time has been lost, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
But why should India be talking to the Taliban in the first place? There is no love lost there. India will never forget or forgive the humiliation to which the Taliban subjected it in the IC-814 hijack, notes Shekhar Gupta.
Political analysts believe that an aggressive Harris, 55, will easily prevail over Pence, 61, during the only vice-presidential debate and help her running mate Joe Biden, 77, to widen his lead over Trump, 74.
It is entirely conceivable that Modi began realising at some point that it will be a liability for India if he is seen as Trump's fellow traveller, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
There is no conceivable reason for any big power to put road blocks on the path of an India-Pakistan normalisation process, asserts Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
It would be realistic to see India's position on the DGMOs joint statement more as 'engagement, different from dialogue', where our subsequent options could be decided depending on the realities of the situation on the ground, notes Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at the Research and Analysis Wing, India's external intelligence agency.
An agreement between India and Pakistan, however tenuous, has its own meaning and impact. We have not heard the last word about the ceasefire agreement, observes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
The summit probably fulfilled the expectations on both sides, but the bar of expectations was intentionally kept low, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The reduction of tension on the Chinese border may have reduced the urgency of a Biden-Modi meeting, but the sooner Modi starts a bromance with Biden the better as he had done with Obama and Trump, suggests Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
"Contradicting the emerging narrative, Indian-Americans remain committed to the Democratic Party. Nearly three-quarters of registered Indian-American voters intend to support Joe Biden this Fall, compared to just 22 per cent for Donald Trump," it said.
Communications between the USTR and the world's most powerful pharmaceutical and trade lobbying groups reveal that many raised concerns about India's push to exempt Covid vaccines from intellectual property.
The United States has announced to reduce the number of American troops in Afghanistan and Iraq to 2,500 each by January 15 next year, which drew sharp reaction from influential lawmakers across the aisle.
'It's waging an offensive with no seeming precedent.' 'The fact that it's now entering cities, as opposed to remaining massed around their perimeters, is a game changer.'
In a sign of the growing political prominence of Hindus in America, the Trump and Biden campaigns are wooing this religious minority community like never before. Hinduism is the fourth largest faith in the US, representing approximately one per cent of the US population in 2016.
Modi's hardline policy towards Pakistan and J&K has created numerous leverages and bargaining positions that New Delhi can bring to the bargaining table and translate into concessions, argues Ajai Shukla.
India needs to shed its policy of lethargy and inhibitions to engage the Taliban with an intent to maintain its influence in Afghanistan. This would not just put a spanner in Pakistani designs, but also incentivise the Taliban not to be the puppets of GHQ, Rawalpindi, asserts Colonel Nikhil Apte (retd), who served on the Af-Pak desk at the Military Operations Directorate.
Political analysts believe that an aggressive Harris, 55, who aspires to be the first woman vice-president in history, will easily prevail over Pence, 61, during the only vice-presidential debate and help Biden, 77, to widen his lead over Trump, 74.
Hitting hard on the three and half years of the Trump administration during her first appearance after being picked as the vice presidential nominee of the Democratic party on Tuesday, Harris, 55, presented a long list of missteps taken by the current United States government.
Washington might occasionally make some noises about alleged human rights violations and related issues but commonality of interests will only see the Indo-US ties grow stronger, observes Virendra Kapoor.
'When I stepped on Indian soil, I lay down on the ground and kissed my homeland.'
BWith a distracted president brooding in the White House, Pompeo seems to think his day has come. He seems to be pushing a personal agenda before a target audience in America, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'The news about the new virus strain in the UK provided them with an opportunity to take money off the table.'
The 'terrible' surge of the coronavirus cases in India has severely impacted COVAX's vaccine supply in the second quarter of this year to the extent that there will be a shortfall of 190 million doses by the end of June, according to a joint statement by the WHO, UNICEF, GAVI and CEPI.
Interestingly, in his entire remarks, Modi never once mentioned regional security, Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar points out.
'They are starting to move more quickly and we would just like to continue to see bold action being taken.'
'And we said to him, "What will you do for us if we jump in early?"' 'His answer was very simple: "I'm going to have the most diverse cabinet and administration in the history of the US".' '"You can expect that you will have a seat at the table, okay? Number one. So influence if I win".' '"Number two, you should fully expect that we will focus on the issues that you care about: Immigration".'
'We must be careful because China has not given its design in Eastern Ladakh.'
The spacecraft is the first to take the American astronauts to orbit from American soil in nearly a decade.
Third time lucky is an apt phrase to describe the remarkable rise of Joe Biden, a veteran in US politics for around five decades, from being one of the youngest senators in history to the oldest American president-to-be.
The agreement would divert China's attention and keep them busy in the Pacific theatre, probably resulting in a reduction in threat perception in our area of interest in the Indian Ocean, notes Commodore Venugopal Menon (retd).
While there were no surprises on policy issues from either side, there were far less interruptions and tense moments between Pence, 61, who comes from Indiana and his Democrat challenger Harris, 55, who is from California.
The reversal of Trump's policy with regard to Iran, like the withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, may not be a matter of just turning the clock back, but one of patient negotiations, with uncertain consequences in the post-COVID-19 world, observes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances