The US Congress could certify just 12 Electoral College votes on Wednesday before pro-Trump rioters stormed the US Capitol, interrupting a joint session of Congress where lawmakers were set to certify President-elect Joe Biden's win.
Despite increased political and economic relationship between India and China, tensions remains along their border with rising instances of border violation and aggressive border patrolling by Chinese soldiers, the Pentagon has informed the United States Congress.
Asserting that the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation strike that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers was a "military engagement", the United States has said it is carrying out a crucial investigation to determine the circumstances that led to the tragic incident but Islamabad has refused to participate in the probe.
United States President Barack Obama on Thursday said that the US has delivered justice to Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden and put his terror group on the path of defeat.
Breaking its silence on its tumbling space rocket, whose debris is expected to fall on Earth this weekend, China said most of it would be burnt during re-entry and it is "highly unlikely" to cause any damage on the ground.
'Chinese experts estimate that the new US administration is 'at the crossroads of how to re-manage and control' Sino-American differences and strategic divergences and Biden's bottom line is that the US would have 'extreme competition with China, but won't allow competition to develop into conflict',' notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Defence Secretary Mattis said he cannot certify that Islamabad has taken 'sufficient actions' against the dreaded Haqqani terror network.
Both Mahinda Rajapaksa and Modi have learnt from their past mistakes. Modi has understood that Rajapaksa is a 'forever politician' that India has to live with, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
India's unusual tough stand on the arrest of its diplomat Devyani Khobragade has forced the United States to initiate an "inter-agency review" to look into the lapses that happened in the high-profile case that triggered an uproar in India and strained bilateral ties.
Once installed, the LAIRCAM system increases crew-warning time, decreases false alarm rates and automatically counters advanced intermediate range missile systems.
President Trump, a Republican, however, did not formally concede the election to Biden, saying he would 'continue to fight and will prevail'. He has launched a slew of lawsuits in key states, but has not provided any evidence to back his claims of electoral fraud. Many of the lawsuits have been dismissed by courts.
The US military fired an intercontinental ballistic missile-type weapon on Tuesday from the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. It then fired a missile to intercept it from Vandenberg air force base in California.
Prime Minister Modi needs to call Biden next month and clearly say: 'Mr President, the threat from China is clear and present. We, in New Delhi, have determined it to be an urgent national priority to outfit our submarines and aircraft carriers with nuclear propulsion and we want to cooperate with America on this programme",' advises Ajai Shukla.
The Pentagon has been unable to locate hundreds of sensitive nuclear missile components in the United States inventory, according to top officials familiar with a highly confidential report by the American defence department.The finding comes after the air force last year found that a bomber mistakenly flew across the US with six nuclear warheads onboard.Washington recently dismissed its top air force officials, including the Chief of Staff and Service.
After the United States intercepted Al Qaeda's most serious threat in recent years to target its embassies, country's Special Forces have been put on high alert to hit potential targets of the outfit in the Middle East, a media report has said.
'Everybody spies on their friends as well as their enemies. That's the way the world works these days'
Dismissing allegations that it is singling out China in maritime disputes, the United States has said in the last one year it has challenged the maritime territorial claims of 18 countries, including some of friendly nations like India and Brazil.
A Sikh can be allowed to enter the United States military with turban and beard, the Pentagon has said, noting that the approval in this regard would be given on a case by case basis and there is no universal or automatic approval to the new relaxed religious norms.
'For Indian firms supplying global majors, coronavirus is both a threat and an opportunity.'
"I have been in contact with our ambassador in India, with Indian military leaders, and I am grateful for the very measured response that India has demonstrated. We have not done anything significantly different from the Pacific Command in terms of military presence or posture in the wake of the terrorist attacks," a top Pentagon official said.
'The Modi government would chaff at the very idea of holding talks with Pakistan, facilitated by Washington and under close US monitoring, when the 2019 poll is sailing into view.' 'But in politics and diplomacy, there may be moments when drinking from the chalice of poison is necessary,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'Why wouldn't so strategically-minded an adversary, such as China, not militarily exploit to the maximum Indian timidity, stupidity, and cupidity all along the LAC and legitimate, as it has done so often in the past, the fait accompli of incremental territorial grabs which, by the way, is its strategy and policy as implemented on the ground?'
Powerful senators write to US Defense Secretary Hagel to support a robust defence relationship with India to achieve shared goals and form an unwavering bond between the world's two largest democracies. Aziz Haniffa in Washington, DC
Posts on pro-Trump and far-right online networks have called for protest action on a number of dates, including armed demonstrations in cities across the country on January 17 and a march in Washington DC on inauguration day itself.
Trump, who has launched a slew of lawsuits in key states, but has not provided any evidence to back his claims of fraud, announced on Twitter on Tuesday that he has fired Christopher Krebs, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) at the Department of Homeland Security.
The US Department of Defence has awarded a $284.6 million contract to Lockheed Martin to produce infrared target sight systems for the US Navy and Pakistan, a media report said on Saturday.
The US military has around 2,200 service members and civilian employees in Turkey, which is a NATO member and a crucial regional partner for Washington.
A senior Pentagon official has said that India is the "base of stability" in South Asia and "the United States does not want to get involved in any muddling in India's region."
'India should not be taken by surprise if the Biden administration seeks China's cooperation at some point,' alerts Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'If there's one administration that would be likely to put the squeeze on Pakistan, it's the Trump administration.' 'This is an administration that views terrorists as a black and white issue (kill them all, no questions asked), and will have little patience for Pakistan's selective policy toward terrorism.'
United States president-elect Donald Trump's tweet for strengthening and expansion of country's nuclear arsenal is indicating a major policy change as against the Obama Administration which had pushed for reduction and ultimately elimination of nuclear weapons.
'We're paying them nothing because that's what they've done to help us. Nothing'
Indians at large harbour a notion that their country is cherrypicking out of the American basket of goodies, but the policymakers in Delhi and the political leadership are well aware that it can only be a pipe dream since a military alliance with a superpower is a profound irrevocable commitment, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'India is still a small market but whatever we do, we do it with full focus.'
The United States has announced the end of its 20-year-old war in Afghanistan as the last American military flight flew out of the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul shortly before the August 31 deadline.
Jerusalem considers New Delhi as a prime market for the Arrow missiles, but Washington is said to have increased its efforts to compete on the Indian deal.
As the United States withdraws its forces from neighbouring Afghanistan, the Obama administration has armed Pakistan with 14 combat aircraft, 59 military trainer jets and 374 armoured personnel carriers, an internal Congressional report has said.
Dr Anthony Fauci has been named as Chief Medical Adviser to the President on COVID-19, while Dr Rochelle Walensky has been named as Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; and Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith as COVID-19 Equity Task Force Chair.
'If the US intention was to use the FATF platform to isolate Pakistan and impose sanctions against it, that is not going to work when influential countries such as Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia, China and Russia will not lend support to the US campaign,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The Trump regime has informed the Congress that it 'strongly supports' transfers of F-18 and F-16 fighter proposals put forth by Boeing and Lockheed Martin respectively.
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