Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday handed over the mantle of World Cup host to the emir of Qatar, whose country will stage the 2022 edition of the tournament.
Both statesmen possess a cultivated pugnacious style which they keep in reserve and can at will bring into play, and despite the mutual distrust in Russian-American relations, they are proponents of detente, quintessentially, who take their mission deadly seriously, points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Khan met Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin on February 24, the day the Russian leader had ordered a "special military operation" against Ukraine.
"There is no truth to these allegations," a State Department spokesperson said soon after Khan made the allegations in a live televised speech from Islamabad on Thursday.
Only 13 nations voted in favour of Russia's call for a secret ballot on draft resolution on Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin showed off his stick skills with a goal and two assists in an amateur ice hockey game at a 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics venue on Tuesday.
"People's republics of Donbass approached Russia with a request for help. In connection therewith, I made the decision to hold a special military operation," Putin said in a special television address.
China is going to be an indispensable partner in Russia's ongoing crisis with the US, while on its part, China cannot remain indifferent if Russia gets crushed by the US, lest it loses 'strategic depth', observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'The escalation of tension along the border of Ukraine with the Russian Federation is a matter of deep concern'
The attack would be preceded by a fabricated pretext that the Russians use as an excuse to launch an invasion.
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Tuesday that he would like to have a TV debate with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi to resolve differences between the two neighbouring countries.
'Like everyone else addicted to Kremlin politics, I too have a thesis.' 'Foreign policy is known to be Putin's forte -- and Russia's stability his obsession.' 'As we enter the 2020s, it is clear that an extraordinary turbulent decade lies ahead in world politics and it casts dark shadows on Russia's future,' notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Investors and companies should brace for higher commodity prices over the next few weeks in the backdrop of Russian troops attacking Ukraine on Thursday. Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden threatened new sanctions against Russia for an act of aggression against Ukraine. All this, analysts believe, can push prices of key commodities such as crude oil, ammonia, urea, potash, and phosphates higher.
'Putin is just flexing his muscles. He is not going to do anything. He is not that crazy.'
Tea planters and exporters are "extremely worried" over the possible impact on their shipments to Russia, India's second largest buyer of tea, in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine crisis. Western sanctions and disruption of payments in dollars as well as transhipments to Russia are expected as a fall-out of Russia launching an attack on Ukraine on Thursday. "The Russian market for Indian tea is extremely important as there are payment issues for shipments to Iran, another vital tea export destination. "Around 18 per cent of India's tea shipments go to Russia," India Tea Association chairperson Nayantara Palchoudhuri told PTI.
Biden said the US will continue to escalate sanctions if Russia escalates.
Russian President Vladmir Putin on Thursday gifted Prime Minister Narendra Modi a hand written page from Mahatma Gandhi's diary.
The most likely scenario is that in order to stop Ukraine from retaking any Russian occupied territory, Russia may well use a small (1 to 2 kilo tonne) tactical nuclear weapon in Ukraine, warns military historian Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Russian troops have targeted areas where civilians are present, including apartment buildings, schools and hospitals.
The 193-member general assembly voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to condemn Russia's "illegal so-called referendums in regions within the internationally recognised borders of Ukraine and the attempted illegal annexation of the Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine, following the organisation of the above-mentioned referendums".
'Putin is in danger of losing face in his Ukrainian adventure. His bluster is a response to this.'
Grand Slam champions Daniil Medvedev from Russia and Belarusian Victoria Azarenka will not be able to participate in the June 27-July 10 tournament.
"We share important interests with India. We share important values with India. And we know India has a relationship with Russia that is distinct from the relationship that we have with Russia. Of course, that is okay," Price told reporters at his daily news conference on Friday.
Sports bodies moved quickly to strip Russia of events,
'We know that our Indian partners are committed to that rules-based international order. There are any number of tenets in that order. One of them is that borders cannot be redrawn by force'
He said as per the US, India was a sovereign state, so "what are we then?" he asked.
"The letter stated that the no-confidence motion was being tabled even before it was filed, which means the Opposition was in contact with them," Khan alleged in his address to the nation.
Unless the Taliban goofs up in a big way, which seems highly unlikely, we are looking at a regime that will be around for quite a long while and present a level of governance that the puppets of the richest and most advanced countries failed to provide, predicts Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Anett Kontaveit handed Czech Karolina Pliskova a 6-4, 6-0 drubbing to become the first player to qualify for the semi-finals while Garbine Muguruza came from behind to defeat Barbora Krejcikova 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 at the WTA Finals in Guadalajara, Mexico on Friday.
The Xi Jinping regime might try to quell internal distress by directing nationalism and militarism against India, warn Ajay Shah and Gautam Bambawale.
At her daily news conference on Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki was asked how the world's largest and oldest democracies are working together to bring peace in the region amidst the war in Ukraine.
In a television appearance Monday, Putin said Russia had struck military and infrastructure targets across Ukraine following the Crimea bridge blast.
The defence secretary was responding to a question from Congressman Joe Wilson, a friend of India in the Congress who, of late, has been critical of India deciding to take an independent position on the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
'The clean break between Russia and Europe that this foolish attack is creating may actually last long.' 'It will undermine Europe and benefit the US and China.'
The 2022 World Cup in Qatar, the only major scheduled football event left unchanged after this year's calendar was wrecked by the coronavirus, has become the focus of fresh FIFA corruption allegations after the release of a new US Department of Justice indictment. According to the prosecutors, representatives working for Russia and Qatar bribed FIFA executive committee officials to swing votes in the crucial decision of world football's governing body.
The US is ready to respond "decisively" to a Russian attack on Ukraine which is still very much a possibility, President Joe Biden has said, urging Moscow to step back from the brink of war.
Andy Murray took a step closer to a first title in arguably the toughest year of his playing career, grinding out a 3-6, 7-5 ,6-2 win over Ugo Humbert on Saturday to reach the final of the European Open in Antwerp.
Pakistan's new Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Russian President Vladimir Putin have quietly exchanged letters to strengthen bilateral relations, a media report said on Sunday, amidst allegations by Imran Khan that his maiden visit to Moscow, much against Washington's wishes, led to his ouster.
The National Assembly session for the move is expected to be convened on March 21 and the voting is likely to be held on March 28.
Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Beijing on Friday for the 2022 Winter Olympics and a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, bringing with him a deal to increase natural gas supplies to China amid rising tension with the West.
