The pro-Pakistan tilt of the United States administration continued well into mid-70s, with the then Secretary of State Henry Kissinger expressing concern over Russia's arms sale to New Delhi warning that this could trigger another Indian attack on Pakistan.
Had India agreed to join the trade pact, Indian markets would have been flooded with cheap Chinese products.
Pakistan is once again becoming a frontline State in big-power rivalry. But this time around, Pakistan stands to gain out of its geography, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'India will come increasingly in the US crosshairs if it insists on maintaining its strategic autonomy, warns Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'Any future course of action towards active participation in the alliance when formed would need a lot of deliberation, long term vision and should be in our best national interests,' notes Commodore Vengalil Venugopal (retd).
Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla terms India's relationship with China as "complex".
Modi held several bilateral and trilateral meetings with world leaders.
Not a single reference to the LeT. Not a single reference to its continuing terrorist infrastructure. And, we have provided dignity to Pakistan's baseless allegations against Baloch freedom-fighters by agreeing to make a reference to Balochistan in the joint statement in the context of terrorism by indirectly bringing on record Pakistan's projection of the late Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti and other Baloch leaders as terrorists, bemoans B Raman
The regular membership of India and Pakistan, who are observers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, has been approved and they will be inducted formally next year.
'2020 will show whether India's troubled domestic economic and political house reveals a mismatch in their strategic association or whether closer strategic ties are yet possible,' says Anita Inder Singh.
In bilateral interfaces relations with China have also to be given due weight, opines Premvir Das
Singh, in his address to the Indian-American community in San Francisco, also sent a subtle message to the United States that New Delhi does not believe in a diplomacy of 'zero-sum game' and its relationship with one country cannot be at the expense of the other.
'As far as acquisition of Russian equipment is concerned, with about 70% of Indian military equipment being of Russian origin, a sudden decision to abandon imports from Russia is not feasible,' points out Brigadier S K Chatterji (retd).
Indian tennis ace Leander Paes and his Swiss partner Martina Hingis crashed out of the mixed doubles competition of the Australian Open with a straight-set defeat in the quarter-finals, in Melbourne, on Thursday.
"We have many relationships...they have a history. We will do what is in our national interest and part of that strategic partnership is the ability of each country to comprehend and appreciate the national interest of the other," Jaishankar said.
In any conflict with China, the unmanned BrahMos could be advantageously used in the opening stages for pinpoint strikes on heavily defended targets -- such as air bases, headquarters, key roads and railways or logistics dumps -- which are too dangerous for manned fighter aircraft to attack.
According to Jaishankar, much has changed, mostly to India's disadvantage, since November 1950, when Sardar Patel and Jawaharlal Nehru had a famous exchange of views on how to approach China.
India must be aware that there is no question of the US fighting the Chinese on land. We have to fight our own battles, points out Virendra Kapoor.
'This is a historic juncture when the US is in great need of an alliance with India to strengthen its hands in the fierce struggle with China in the Asian theatre,' points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Biden said that 100 days since he took the oath of office on January 20 and inherited the worst pandemic in a century and the worst economic crisis in a decade, America is on the move again, turning peril into possibility, crisis into opportunity and setback into strength.
When Vietnam's India born Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh arrives in New Delhi on Wednesday evening, he will have many areas of similar interest to discuss with his counterpart, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid.
It is a timely reminder that when faced with twin threats, India has succeeded by wisely choosing allies, points out Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Trump was good for world peace. He didn't start a war anywhere, which is not something that can be said for most of his predecessors, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Thiem, Wawrinka stay positive after defeats on return
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has raised with Russia the issue of delay in the delivery of Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier to the Indian Navy, saying it was important for India that the ship arrives in time. The Gorshkov issue was raised by the prime minister during the 12th Indo-Russian Summit talks with President Dmitry Medvedev at the Kremlin on Friday. Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai told newsmen that both India and Russia were clear that they would take action.
Exporters are of the view that while direct exports to Pakistan will be nearly nil this month, and in the coming few months, alternative markets can be explored for exporting tea, which was originally meant for Pakistan.
A round-up of sports action from around the world.
India's Mahesh Bhupathi and Elena Vesnina of Russia advanced to the mixed doubles final of the Wimbledon after pipping Australian Paul Hanley and Chinese Taipei's Su-Wei Hsieh 6-2, 3-6, 7-5 in a gruelling three-setter that lasted close to two hours.
Interestingly, in his entire remarks, Modi never once mentioned regional security, Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar points out.
The BRICS summit made clear that China's support for Pakistan is unwavering. China will continue to pressure India to ease tensions with Pakistan and resolve the Kashmir dispute.
India has already shortlisted the names of two-three heads of states for extending invitation to be chief guest at the Republic Day parade.
Thimpu apparently didn't think it necessary to take Delhi into confidence. Bhutan is loathe to getting dragged into the geopolitical rivalry between India and China. And for Beijing, this was too good an opportunity to be missed to thumb its nose at the powers-that-be in Delhi, points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
America had postponed the much-awaited dialogue due to "unavoidable reasons" last month.
The entire gamut of China's activities is aimed at keeping India on tenterhooks, cause fatigue to its troops and keeping its security system unstable, so that it cannot play a meaningful role in international geopolitics as an effective partner of the US and Japan, observes Lieutenant General Syed Ata Hasnain (retd).
'Clearly, Washington has all but given up hope following US Acting Assistant Secretary of State Alice Wells's stormy visit to Colombo last month where she read the riot act to Sri Lankan leaders to sign the pending status of forces agreement allowing American troops to use Sri Lanka as a hub for operations in the Indian Ocean,' points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Snooping is one of the oldest peccadilloes of man, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
And will sell its 50 per cent stake to State Bank of India in Russia as part of rationalisation of overseas branch network.
The trust some people in India had that the Biden-Harris administration would be friendly to India has been eroded already, observes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
India has told China not to "shift goalposts" and "confuse" managing the border affairs and restoring peace at the frontiers with the larger issue of the resolution of the boundary question, which is dealt with by different designated mechanisms.
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