'Pakistan's trump card is that it is the only credible guarantor on the horizon who can reasonably assure the Western world that Afghanistan will not again become the revolving door for international terrorism.' 'Trust Pakistan to play this card optimally,' explains Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The United Nations General Assembly today elected Angola, Malaysia, New Zealand, Spain and Venezuela as the new non-permanent members of the Security Council for a two-year term beginning in January next year.
The annual 'People's Choice' for Royal Air Force image of the year has opened for public voting.
'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).
All that India must aim for is to match China's military prowess adjusted to equal Beijing's India-specific military capability, argues Vivek Gumaste.
'It will be a repeated folly to ever think that China will not attack us.'
For the second successive year, Monsoon is likely to be below normal with parts of north-west and central India to be the most affected.
A top United States senator has unveiled an 18-point plan, including enhancing military ties with India, to hold the Chinese government accountable for its "lies, deception, and cover-ups" that ultimately led to the global COVID-19 pandemic.
In the years to come, India's space assets will play a much bigger role if and when hostilities break out on our borders, says Pallava Bagla.
President Xi Jinping's visit may put relations between India and China on a new trajectory
Snooping is one of the oldest peccadilloes of man, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
India and Japan are natural partners at sea, and Narendra Modi's recent visit underlined the need to keep the association going
'But India, increasingly, is not that far behind, which is a story I never expected to tell.'
For the past few years the top brass at Pearson did pretty well to grapple with the threat of digital disruption.
Any additional effort to assuage the growing worldwide hunger for infrastructure funding is more than welcome, says Barun Roy.
Here's a collection of some of the best photos from around the world shot in the last 24 hours.
'Pakistan has worsted India in the Afghan proxy war and the defeat becomes a template of regional politics,' points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'A sense of purpose is lacking in India's diplomacy.' 'This is what happens when foreign policy becomes the stuff for grandstanding before the domestic audience,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The differently-abled deserve a normal life. Nothing will stop Poonam Natarajan from ensuring that India, slowly but surely, gives it to them, discovers Shobha Warrier.
'What gives hope is that Modi's own leadership is vitally linked to his capacity to deliver on the economic front. Indeed, if he succeeds, India's foreign policies will have changed beyond recognition,' feels Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
India tried to block the project at the fund's board meeting in South Korea, but later agreed to approve it with new condition, reports Nitin Sethi.
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.
As someone with nostalgia for the good cheer and friendly feelings of Brazilian people, former Ambassador to Brazil B S Prakash can only hope that when they see on their TV screens their President being feted on Rajpath, they will sense India's goodwill for Brazil.
The onus today is on China, but it also requires a little diplomatic finesse from India, backed by a modernised armed force, argues BJP MP Subramanian Swamy in this excerpt from his new book, Himalayan Challenge: India, China And The Quest For Peace.
'Clearly, from the Indian viewpoint, the US retrenchment from Asia cannot be happening as good news.' 'The abandonment of the US' pivot to Asia exposes the US-Indian partnership to be a mere transactional relationship,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar
India needs to have a re-look of whole gamut of its relations with major powers and also prepare for a more turbulent neighbourhood. But such is the tyranny of Indian status quo mindset that any talk of re-look at nuclear doctrine or foreign relations is treated as blasphemy, says Colonel (retd) Anil Athale.
'It is crucial today to realise where we have reached in this 15 year-period in order to fully and properly assess the profundity of what General Rawat has said,' points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Dozens of farmers have already committed suicide in India after damage from unseasonal rains this year.
Modi knew in his heart that India does not have the financial muscle to support the new bank with offers of co-financing international projects, something China can do from the bank's base in Shanghai. If established in Mumbai, it may have employed a few Indian bankers and satisfied the national ego but there was little financial value to be drawn from it.
The panel will also recommend a fiscal consolidation road map for the central and state governments, study the impact of GST on the divisible pool, and propose performance-based incentives for states.
New Delhi and Beijing are the only two regional capitals that have commented on US President Donald Trump's speech on August 21 outlining the way forward in Afghanistan. The Indian foreign ministry statement was effusive in praise, while the Chinese statement has been one of cautious and guarded hope. Delhi has identified itself with Trump's Afghan strategy, whereas the Chinese stance is calibrated -- observant and objective, keeping a distance, says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'Modi is a symbol of Asia Rising; and, for the first time in decades, a non-white has the potential to be the most compelling global leader.'
'No amount of digression can hide deflect the fact that the PM's visit was badly conceived, planned and executed,' argues Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Japan has the capital and needs to pull out of China, which has been its major destination. India, on the other hand, desperately needs capital especially for infrastructure, argues Rajeev Srinivasan.
'Modi's initial forays into foreign policy had the flavour of Aswamedha Yagas launched by ancient kings to conquer the world.' 'He overcame the hesitations of history and explored unconventional ways to win friends and influence people.' A fascinating excerpt from Ambassador T P Sreenivasan's new book, Modiplomacy -- Through a Shakespearean Prism.
The venture is seen as a rival to the World Bank.
They will grow at 5.8 per cent a year.
'It affects our economy, it is very important in many ways.' 'So we have to be the foremost experts in the world on the monsoon.' 'But the best minds in India have not devoted their time to the study of monsoon and they have followed the fashions of the West.'
With Beijing having had a profound rethink on India's admission as a full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, the tectonic plates of the geopolitics of a massive swathe of the planet stretching from the Asia-Pacific to West Asia are dramatically shifting. That grating noise in the Central Asian steppes will be heard far and wide -- as far as North America, says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'Modi's recent decisions to improve India-China relations, adjust India's neighbourhood policies and to rebalance India's ties with the major powers are linked to his political agenda.' 'Of course, the good part is that this agenda is also in the national interest,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
