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.
The navy wants to spend Rs 40,000 crore on INS Vishal, a choice the army and air force oppose. This is as much about turf as about funding. explains Ajai Shukla.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned the United States against any unilateral military stike on Syria, saying it would trigger a new wave of terrorism, result in the collapse of the United Nations and claim more innocent victims as the conflict could spread beyond Syria's borders.
China has not limited the 'battle' to the diplomatic field alone; the People's Liberation Army has become aggressive on the ground too. The recent 'fights' in Northern Sikkim and Ladakh are part of the pattern, asserts Claude Arpi.
'Astad had the courage to plough a lonely furrow. He made a life of his own, on his own, and created a path-breaking dance style.' 'Only a few in the performing arts could do what he did.' 'A classical dancer can fall back on tradition, but Astad created something absolutely new.'
From DIY submarines to diets of 20,000 calories is part of this week's collection of weird, true and funny news.
As the pandemic unfolded, the India-China relationship has come under severe stress. To restore normalcy, agreements between the two countries must be respected scrupulously in their entirety. Where the Line of Actual Control is concerned, any attempt to unilaterally change the status quo is unacceptable, declares External Affairs Minister Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.
'Even if someone other than Trump had become president, the US distancing from Pakistan and coming closer to India was already set in motion.' 'With Trump openly declaring his intent to take on Islamic extremism, the days of US political correctness are over,' says Colonel (Dr) Anil A Athale (retd).
'Is Xi's China stable?'
'No one can say whether the regime will fall all at once or if its leaders are devising a new solid and competitive -- anything but democratic -- model.' A fascinating excerpt from Francois Bougon's Inside The Mind of Xi Jinping.
'India-US relations seem to have soured when the US expected India to not only balance China in the Asia-Pacific, but also make concessions to Pakistan as a price for US technological help,' says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Economics and politics both have major roles in determining oil prices.
Rediff.com gives you a flashback of these events in pictures snapped right here...
In bilateral interfaces relations with China have also to be given due weight, opines Premvir Das
'You can ascribe any ideology to him, and it will be equally right - or equally wrong.' 'Even though the comrades on the Left will never admit it, he seems as much Stalinist as capitalist.'
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Sunday
The PM has been named second year running; other contenders include Google's Sundar Pichai, US President Barack Obama, Islamic State leader Abu Bakr Baghdadi.
China will also set up 50 joint laboratories with countries participating in the Belt and Road initiative to enhance cooperation on innovation.
After hitting a record low of 68.85 to the dollar last week, a Reuters poll suggests the rupee will stabilise at 66 to the dollar by the end of September, while technical charts also point to a period of relative calm.
'Only when India's adversaries are convinced that India has both the necessary political and military will and the hardware to respond to a nuclear strike with punitive retaliation that will inflict unacceptable loss of human life and unprecedented material damage, will they be deterred,' says Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd).
'In the next three decades up to 2050 there will be three important players at the world level.' 'India, US and China will be playing a very important role globally as the largest economies in the world.' 'These three countries will have to interact with each other much more closely because what they do and what they decide will impact the entire world.'
IMAGES from Day 6 at Wimbledon on Saturday.
It's been 100 years since Lenin and the Bolsheviks overthrew the government, and its legacy remains visible even today in the buildings and monuments scattered throughout St Petersburg.
India's full membership of the grouping would extend its reach to the Central Asian region in whose peace and stability it is a major stakeholder, says Sana Hashmi.
'Chinese leaders rarely receive their foreign guests in cities other than Beijing. Such respect for India!' 'Does it mean that Modi could replicate "the warmth and unconventional way" by sending Indian troops into Tibet, as Xi did in Chumur (Ladakh) when he arrived in India? Of course, Indians are far too polite to do so,' says Claude Arpi.
Top 20 images of all the events of the week that was.
It was Obama's eighth and final address to the UN General Assembly as the US President
Swiss National Bank shocked the currency markets on Thursday by abolishing their currency -- franc's three year-old cap of 1.20 per euro
Practo is an online health service platform which assists patients to meet the best doctors and keeps digital records.
'Alas, the Congress party offers no suggestions as to how to unscramble the omlette it cooked during 2004-2014 on which the Modi government may have since lavishly spread some tomato ketchup,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'We have been found seriously wanting in addressing our undersea warfare capability and China's emergence is a cause for concern.'
North Korea considers Assad's Syria an ally, so it views Donald Trump's decision to strike Syria as a message to Pyongyang as well.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe may attend the opening ceremony for the Sochi Winter Olympics, but China has ruled out any formal meeting with President Xi Jinping whose attendance at the Games has already been confirmed.
The winners of the 60th annual World Press Photo Contest have been announced. The winning shot was taken by Turkish Associated Press photographer called Burhan Ozbilici, with an image he has simply titled An Assassination in Turkey. Showing Mevlut Mert Altintas shouting after shooting Andrei Karlov, the Russian ambassador to Turkey, at an art gallery in Ankara, Turkey, on December 19 2016.
The White House said it has 'a large body' of evidence indicating that the Assad regime was responsible for the April 7 chemical attack in Duma.
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.
Check out the gold medallists on Day 12 of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro on Wednesday.
'The response to terror is not always reciprocal terror, nor is launching a conventional response the best response.' 'The best response is to make the sponsor pay a price he cannot afford,' says former RA&W chief Vikram Sood.
Policy of continuity won't help India earn business or respect, says Pramod Kumar Buravalli.
Olympic champions the United States reclaimed their women's 4x400m relay world title as Jamaica suffered more injury heartbreak in the World Championships final on Sunday.*
