Key to China's decision regarding Taiwan will be its leadership's assessment whether the US will come to Taiwan's defence, explains Jayadeva Ranade, the former senior RA&W officer and China expert.
If you are serious about countering the Chinese threat, then the best weapon is investing in real freedom, plurality, elections and democracy. Unfortunately, it isn't an approach all Indians currently seem to agree on, asserts Shyam G Menon.
American help in defending our independence will send a strong signal to the Chinese, argues Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
China is a permanent member of the UNSC while India began its two-year tenure as a non-permanent member on January 1.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, in a telephonic conversation with his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Tuesday, "recalled France's constant position on Kashmir", which being that "it is up to the two countries (Indian and Pakistan), under the framework of their bilateral political dialogue, to resolve this dispute so as to establish lasting peace."
World champions Germany and perennial also-rans Albania do not share much in common in football but both were united in joy on Sunday when they qualified for Euro 2016 in France along with Romania and Poland.
Chinese hubris and the slippery slope it finds itself on have important lessons for authoritarian leaders elsewhere, including in India, observes Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
The parties intend to start the production of Sputnik V in the beginning of 2021, it added. Currently, Phase III clinical trials are approved and are ongoing in Belarus, the United Arab Emirates, Venezuela and other countries, as well as Phase II-III in India, RDIF said.
With 100 days until the start of the Winter Olympics, Beijing is promising a "simple and safe" 2022 Games - although preparations are anything but simple as China readies to host thousands of athletes and personnel as it battles COVID-19 flare-ups.
Facing accusations of delay in placing orders for vaccines, the government on Thursday defended its vaccine procurement policy saying it has been pursuing Pfizer, J&J and Moderna since mid-2020 for the earliest possible imports, and has even waived local trials for well-established foreign vaccine makers.
Pakistan is making efforts at multiple levels for the Taliban government to have a soft landing, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
China on Tuesday alleged that US billionaire Elon Musk-owned SpaceX's satellites had two 'close encounters' with its space station in orbit, and has complained to the United Nations about the incidents which endangered the safety of the Chinese astronauts.
The Summit for Democracy seems to have done more harm than good, notes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
If New Delhi finds itself out in the cold in Afghanistan, both the Congress-led UPA and BJP-led NDA have only themselves to blame. Each has been in power for a full decade from 2001, without reaching out to the Taliban, points out Ajai Shukla.
India lost around 38.5 thousand hectares of tropical forest in the last decade. Nearly 14 per cent of the country's tree cover! It is one thing for Modi to announce that India will reach a net-zero level of emissions in 2070. But if it is serious, it needs to start today, points out Ramesh Menon.
The Padma Bhushan was conferred on 17 personalities including N Chandrasekharan, chairman of Tata Sons, Krishna and Suchita Ella of Bharat Biotech, Cyrus Poonawalla, Satya Nadella, chairman of Microsoft, Sunder Pichai, chairman of Google.
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.
Taliban failed to honour Doha accord, never renounced Al-Qaeda: US general Mark Milley
The world's attention is on the new Taliban and the imminent announcement of an inclusive government in Kabul, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar
A moment at a piano on the front lines in Ukraine, United States President Trump's State of the Union address and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra taking charge. This is the best of the week gone by.
'It is a testing time for our foreign policy which may involve a certain element of taking risks, assessing costs, and expecting failures,' asserts Commodore Venugopal Menon (retd).
China is all set to send on Thursday the first three crew members to its under-construction space station which is expected to be Beijing's eye in the sky and will rival the ageing International Space Station (ISS).
US noted that India has described the actions in J&K as "strictly an internal matter".
Police staffing is so stretched in several Russian cities as officers are deployed to bolster security at soccer World Cup venues that one union leader says criminals could benefit.
There are 1,53,106 active cases of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), while 1,69,797 people have recovered and a patient has migrated, according to the ministry data updated in the morning.
'No Indian political party functions in a democratic way.'
Hitting out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the issue of tax cuts on petroleum products, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Thursday said people were aware of the fact behind the issue and pointed out at his government effecting a Rs 3 a litre cut on petrol earlier.
In its explanation of vote, India said 'we find that our views have not been reflected in the draft being considered for adoption today. We would like to reiterate that a consultative and constructive approach involving the neighbouring countries and the region, remains important as the international community strives for the peaceful resolution of the issue'.
The Russian Football Union's director general, Aleksandr Alaev, urged football fans from across the world to ignore "some critical remarks" on the country hosting the tournament.
13 Russian nationals and 3 Russian companies have been indicted for interfering in the 2016 US presidential election through social media propaganda.
Expressing concern over the situation in Afghanistan, a group of eminent persons, including former ministers K Natwar Singh, Yashwant Sinha and Mani Shankar Aiyar, on Wednesday urged the government to continue engaging with the Taliban and not allow any political party to use the developments in that country to communally polarise Indian society for electoral gains.
The rover, Zhurong, named after a god of fire and war in Chinese mythology, landed at the pre-selected area in Utopia Planitia on Mars, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
China has not yet come out with an official reaction to Biden and Kamala Harris' victory in the November 3 presidential election even though official media here are carrying out commentaries on their election.
22 cases of the Delta Plus variant of the coronavirus have been detected in India, with 16 of them being reported from Maharashtra and the remaining from Madhya Pradesh and Kerala, the government said.
Talks between Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Xie Feng and US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman to improve the relations got off on a rough note at the northeastern Chinese port city of Tianjin, with Xie launching a blistering attack on Washington, accusing it of being the "owner of coercive diplomacy".
The two leaders said they would work to "bring them (bilateral ties) to the framework of constructive cooperation.
Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in New Delhi late on Friday night for annual summit talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday that is aimed at building on the already close strategic ties, particularly in the fields of nuclear energy, hydrocarbons and defence.
'India needs to closely monitor the discussions at the UNSC and make counter-measures as this touches its core interests', points out Srikanth Kondapalli.
The Trump Administration plunged into another crisis on Thursday after reports surfaced that United States Attorney General Jeff Sessions met twice with Russian envoy to Washington during the presidential elections last year.
Hours after the multi-lateral conference began in Moscow, India made it clear that its participation was in sync with its Afghan policy and asserted that attending the meeting was not talking to the Taliban at all.
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