'As the global economy undergoes significant transformations in 2025, India's ability to navigate the complexities of trade wars, financial realignments, and emerging blocs will be pivotal,' explain Harsh V Pant and Soumya Bhowmik.
Will Russia's entry deter Trump on his warpath?, asks Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Trump has a major decision to take in coming days -- specifically, how to rescue Israel from the attritional war that lies ahead, points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Trump knows by now that the western narrative of Biden's war is a load of bullshit peppered with falsehoods and outright lies, and that the war erupted only out of the diabolic western plot to poke the bear, which got provoked finally and hit out, explains Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
At the end of the day, for many worldwide, the ongoing mutual attacks between Israel and Iran would seem a contest devoid of any moral high ground and only a bout between two ordinary adversaries, one that nevertheless risks spinning out of control into a larger conflagration, notes Shyam G Menon.
Modi's remarks came in response to a congratulatory message from Taiwan President Lai Ching-te on his election victory.
Putin's remarks came within two weeks after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's historic visit to Ukraine where he held talks with President President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
After the 1962 War with China, there was a demand to forge greater defence cooperation between India and the West. One such voice was that of Sudhir Ghosh, a distinguished MP, to tie up strategic cooperation with the USA immediately after the Chinese attack on India, recalls Rup Narayan Das.
The government will send seven all-party delegations to key partner countries, including members of the United Nations Security Council, later this month to convey India's message of zero tolerance against terrorism following the Pahalgam terror attack and Operation Sindoor.
India, the world's third largest oil consuming and importing nation, bought crude oil worth 49 billion euros from Russia in the third year of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, a global think tank said. India, which has traditionally sourced its oil from the Middle East, began importing a large volume of oil from Russia soon after the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
China on Thursday said it 'firmly opposes' the United States recognition of Arunachal Pradesh as part of Indian territory and affirmed that Washington, DC has nothing to do with the India-China border dispute.
The Border Security Force has ordered mobilisation of additional manpower at posts along the India-Pakistan border in Punjab and Jammu as part of its measures to strengthen the anti-infiltration grid and check the intrusion of drones carrying ammunition or drugs, official sources said Monday.
'India has gone some way to meeting its objectives because it has established a deterrent value that Pakistan will have to take into account when it plans future terrorist attacks.'
India, the world's third largest oil consuming and importing nation, spent 112.5 billion euro (about Rs 1.5 lakh crore) on buying crude oil from Russia since the start of the Ukraine war, a European think tank said on Thursday. The Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) released a report on payments to Russia for fossil fuels since February 24, 2022. "According to our estimates, since the beginning of the war, Russia earned EUR 835 billion in revenue from fossil fuel exports," it said.
Rediff reports on the reasons behind this dramatic shift.
'India for its survival has to change its doctrine from no first use to a pre-emptive attack in case of any hostile move by Pakistan,' recommends Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
According to the 'Military and Security Developments involving the People's Republic of China' report 2023: "Since early May 2020, sustained tensions along the India-China border have dominated the Western Theater Command's attention."
'There's no pro-China tilt in BRICS.' 'All these countries want to be close to China, but they are all good friends of India also.'
'The Galwan clash in 2020 resulted in a large number of troops being moved from J&K to Eastern Ladakh which caused a thinning of deployment in the Jammu area.'
As India's tea exports reach their highest in years, a sharp rise in imports is raising concerns among producers. In 2024, India took the third spot in tea exports, pipping Sri Lanka after exporting 254.67 million kg (mkg) of tea, up from 231.69 mkg in 2023.
This may be in line with Russia's private military company, Wagner Group, which was controlled until 2023 by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a former close ally of Russia's president Vladimir Putin. The group used the infrastructure of the Russian Armed Forces.
'They will continue to keep pricking at places where both of us are sensitive and keep the LAC alive.'
'The country is a good test bed for enterprise adoption, but to scale rapidly, companies will need to look outside the country for customers.'
The Janata Dal (United), an ally of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has sought an extension in the tenure of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) scrutinising the bills proposing simultaneous elections. The party argued that the committee, which has only met once, requires more time for extensive consultations. Meanwhile, the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), another BJP ally, has demanded a "special industrial package" for Bihar, highlighting the state's low per capita income compared to the national average.
The education minister has ordered varsities to ban western textbooks
This comes as the neighbouring country strengthens defence ties with Gulf and Western European countries, and its long-standing ally Turkiye, the officials said.
Terrorism and insurgency in J&K had subsided when India demolished East Pakistan -- for the simple reason that Pakistan understands power. We need to follow Chanakya's dictum of Saam, Daam, Dand, Bhed for strategising against Pakistan, asserts Lieutenant General Prakash Katoch (Retd). The ground truth is that unless we are prepared to acknowledge our shortcomings, including massive intelligence failures, punish those responsible and take corrective actions, we will continue in the same vein, asserts Lieutenant General Prakash Katoch (Retd).
China criticised western attempts to "demonise" the BRICS.
This could become tricky territory for India, given its basically adversarial relationship with China, its moves to block imports and investment from that country, and to deny market access for Chinese technologies, observes T N Ninan.
The China threat continues to resonate in the strategic partnership between India and the USA, points out Rup Narayan Das.
China is also providing supertankers and insurance coverage to move Russian Urals crude to PRC ports, as Moscow seeks vessels for exports after a G-7 oil price cap restricted the use of Western cargo services and insurance.
Putin said that the Indian leader had "aptly" noted that it is "not an anti-western one but a non-western one".
Putin expressed concern over the situation in Gaza, and said Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has been invited to BRICS events.
We need to equip the Indian Armed Forces, not 'commercial' as Trump wants, but 'operationally' looking at growing Chinese military capabilities, asserts Lieutenant General Prakash Katoch (retd).
Any miscalculation and miscommunication are fraught with the risk of a major catastrophe, warns Rup Narayan Das.
From the outcome of the general elections and then Union Budget to tepid corporate earnings in the September 2024 quarter (Q2-FY25), sticky inflation and Reserve Bank of India's stance on interest rates, extreme weather conditions, Indian stock markets have braved it all in calendar year 2024.
China's state media on Thursday attacked what it said were arrogant and prejudiced views of the country's athletes at the London Olympics.
China, governed by one-party system since 1949, will carry out political reforms to allow more involvement of people in decision-making process but will not ape western-style democracy, President Hu Jintao said on Thursday.
Russian shipments averaged 1.67 million barrels per day in January compared to 1.48 million bpd in December and 1.53 million bpd a year earlier.
China on Monday signed a defence cooperation agreement with the Maldives to provide free military assistance to foster "stronger" bilateral ties with Male, weeks after President Mohamed Muizzu set a deadline for the withdrawal of the first group of Indian military personnel from his island nation.