The India that needs strategic alliances, defence cooperation and engaging meaningfully with neighbouring countries is quietly moving ahead with confidence, says Tarun Vijay
'His secretary of defence nominee, General James Mattis, says he expects Pakistan to take action against terrorists operating from its soil.' 'Any pressure the US can bring on the Pakistani regime terror-wise would pay dividends for India.'
'Devyani -- she is a public servant and her personal life has already received far too much attention -- and her ambitious father now need to retreat to the background so that wiser diplomatic heads restore sanity to India-US relations as India prepares for parliamentary elections,' says Ambassador K C Singh.
'Instead of isolation, India should respond militarily to every act of terrorism assessed to have come from across the border, unilaterally declare Pakistan a State that supports terrorism and cease all economic dealings with it.'
'There shall be no change in India-Japan ties,' predicts Rajaram Panda.
India has become the 37th country to join the list of Strategic Trade Authorization-1 category, the only South Asian nation.
'Antony and I have been friends for over half a century, and I know the man does not tell lies. The problem is that what he believes to be the truth might not actually be true. He may believe that India needs the Congress, and that the Congress in turn needs the Nehru-Gandhi family, but that does not mean that India shares those articles of faith,' says T V R Shenoy.
President Xi Jinping's visit may put relations between India and China on a new trajectory
India and Japan have a shared interest in countervailing China's hegemonic ambitions in Asia. Although neither has an interest in forming an overt anti-China alliance, Tokyo and New Delhi feel increasingly obligated to work together to find ways to guard against a muscular Beijing's power sliding into arrogance, says Brahma Chellaney.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday arrived in Moscow on the first leg of a two-nation visit, during which he will hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin to strengthen bilateral strategic partnership.
Praising the 'frank and business-like atmosphere' of the summit, the Russian leader said he considered the talks 'very successful and useful'.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday began summit-level talks.
Describing India as an "emerging democratic superpower", Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Thursday kicked off his two-day India visit during which the two countries are likely to clinch an elusive civil nuclear deal.
The two Koreas agreed during rare talks on Wednesday to form a combined women's ice hockey team to take part in next month's Winter Olympics in the South.
'India will keep trying to avoid conflict.' 'This is the moment when we draw a line in the sand.'
'By his very presence in Delhi on Republic Day, Obama is revisiting the most defining relationship of the 20th century after a period of stagnation,' says Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
War with India is not an option as use of force could only worsen the situation, Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has said while hoping to resolve all outstanding issues between the two countries.
Diplomats agree that amid stormy relations with China and Pakistan, Modi has posted impressive foreign policy successes, notes Aditi Phadnis.
'Clearly, from the Indian viewpoint, the US retrenchment from Asia cannot be happening as good news.' 'The abandonment of the US' pivot to Asia exposes the US-Indian partnership to be a mere transactional relationship,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar
National Shiv Shankar Menon asserts that all is well in the India-US relationship. Aziz Haniffa reports from Washington, DC.
To persist with talks in the face of continuing terrorism that puts hundreds of Indian lives at stake is not only naive but morally repugnant and ethically unacceptable. It is time to see through this charade and abandon a path of high risk and no returns, says Vivek Gumaste.
India has been eyeing deeper energy ties with Iran and has already lined up $20 billion as investment in oil and gas as well as in petrochemical and fertiliser sectors there.
The visit of Park Geun-Hye to India, though a symbolic one, will certainly give a further impetus to the strategic partnership between the two countries says Rup Narayan Das.
'The Modi government's lurch toward America has not brought it any dividends so far. The Western world is simply not in a position to make big investments in India... India needs to take a leap of faith vis-a-vis China.'
Making it easier to do business is a key element of our strategy, says Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar.
The new equation between 'Namo' and 'Barack' may well 'convert a good start into lasting progress.'
Politicians, bureaucrats hold different opinions about the delaying of the 2+2 summit.
Ties with Pakistan and China which were on the centre stage of Indian diplomacy saw a "deterioration" in the year gone by, according to foreign policy experts who feel that the relationships are unlikely to see any forward movement in the new year.
The decision to not attend the forum attended by 28 heads of state and 130 national delegations is a clear break from its usual policy of going along with the crowd.
'What is the ISI doing and why can't they understand for their own interest that bringing stability to the region will help all the countries become prosperous, whereas a continuation of incitement will only lead to misery for all.'
Modi said India and Russia have been friends for a long time and thanked Putin for inviting him for the first-ever informal meeting at Sochi.
The Sheikh Hasina-Narendra Modi summit put India-Bangladesh ties on a firmer pitch. Brigadier S K Chatterji (retd) takes stock.
'As in the Panchatantra tale of the cat and the monkeys, it is possible for the clever swing State to play off the two competing powers.'
Modi, in an op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal, wrote that the US and India are forging a deeper and stronger partnership that extends far beyond the Beltway and the Raisina Hill.
'Indian and Iranian sources both confirmed to me that India and Iran are moving ahead to implement a payment system on buying oil from Iran and hope to finalise it very soon,' says Aveek Sen.
'Islamabad is only as big as a Delhi suburb.' 'How can a city with just two five star hotels and only one departure gate at their international airport be compared to Delhi with its sprawling airport?' Ambassador T P Sreenivasan finds the pulse of Pakistan after visiting Islamabad for the first time.
India's low passion, very cautious, relationship with Iran of the last 36 years awaits transformation, says Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain (retd). Prime Minister Modi's visit cannot be a negotiating event; it is a symbolic one to strengthen the politico-diplomatic relationship.
'The past year has yielded extraordinary results in the strategic, commercial, and people-to-people components of the India-United States partnership, US Ambassador to India Richard Rahul Verma tells Aziz Haniffa/Rediff.com in an exclusive interview.
'A bit of marketing, a bit of positioning, and a lot of strategic thinking is required, and all this should be in aid of India's strategic intent: Becoming the third pole in a global G3 and aiming for Numero Uno,' says Rajeev Srinivasan.
'To expect that he has a magic wand to resolve all differences and announce breakthroughs in all issues during his first visit to the US is to be unrealistic,' says Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
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