'To the members of the Security Council, I must say, enough is enough'
'Both Doval and Jaishankar are savvy enough to know what is good for them and won't want to meet the fate of Icarus in Greek mythology,' argues Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The death of six Indians working on a United States Agency for International Development-funded road project between Khost and Paktia provinces in southern Afghanistan last week and confirmation from Pakistan that it is concerned over India's "over-ingress" in Afghanistan is setting the stage for a new round of regional diplomacy, when US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton comes visiting later this month.
'Those who follow the workings of the establishment believe that Indian diplomacy has managed more by the individual flair and brilliance of a few individuals than its systemic strength or organisational excellence.'
'Pakistan,' says former US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs R Nicholas Burns, 'has an obligation to work with India and to give India the type of support needed to ensure that these types of attacks will not occur again. Therefore you cannot hide behind the definition of non-state actors. Every government has a responsibility to control the situation on its own territory. India needs the kind of reassurances from Islamabad that has not yet been forthcoming.'
'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.'
India's naivete and Pakistan's deceit have inadvertently conspired to produce a stalemate that maintains a dangerous status quo between Pakistan aided terror and India's inertia. To break this logjam, we need to be pragmatic. A military option kept hanging like a Damocles sword in tandem with an ongoing dialogue is vital to ensure results.
Considering that Qatar is a trusted ally of Washington for decades, it is expected to be a steady influence on the Taliban leadership, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Has the Modi government ensured that the MEA keeps abreast of the times, asks Ambassador Vivek Katju.
Gilani, however, said it would take time to normalise relations that had worsened in wake of the Mumbai terror attacks, the News International daily said on Friday.
'The Congress party hated him because he had not gone to jail, he was not lathi charged, he had not gone on hunger strike.' 'They felt he had lived in London all his life and then he came to India and became an MP and a minister.'
Perhaps the calculation is that economic recovery will have been achieved before the next general election comes around, but such assumptions can come unstuck if current directions are not reversed quickly, cautions T N Ninan.
This year's Padma awards took place at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi on Monday. Mohanlal Viswanathan, Prabhu Deva and Shankar Mahadevan have been conferred with honours. Take a look.
'We must compartmentalise issues, ensuring that one disagreement does not sour everything,' advises Ambassador Kishan S Rana.
With Modi's international image seriously damaged -- perhaps, irrecoverably -- and Indian foreign policy finding itself in drift, we move on to the New Year in a depressing scenario, points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
For the US to proclaim Modi guilty even when there was no evidence against him despite investigations and re-investigation amounts to immature diplomacy. It constitutes interference in India's internal affairs, says BJP leader Arun Jaitley.
Pulwama must become the defining moment in our fight against terror, effecting a sea change in our mindset. The erratic, blow hot blow cold approach, the hallmark of our anti-terror-Pak-Kashmir policy must end. In its place is required a pragmatic, comprehensive, robust hard line course that is relentlessly pursued even in times of relative calm until the final objective is met, namely the eradication of separatism and the total annihilation of terror, says Vivek Gumaste.
The Pakistan Foreign Office gave no reason for Lodhi's removal in a statement late on Monday.
He said there would be progress on some issues soon while it will take time for progress on others.
'How could we have gone from a position of strength in the international community to virtual isolation,' asks Karl F Inderfurth, former US assistant secretary of state for South Asian affairs.
'The Indian version is that the two top diplomats merely exchanged pleasantries, while the Pakistani side characterised the encounter as an 'informal dialogue'.' 'The truth, as always in such piquant situations, is somewhere in between.' 'It stands to reason that ice has been broken,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'The curtain is coming down on India's leadership role as a regional power even before the drama of the Asian Century truly began,' warns Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'The visit by the MEPs and their photo-op with Modi would suggest that we have now given a quiet burial to the 'internal matter' charade,' notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
BJP would observe the next 10 days -- from Sunday to September 17, the birthday of the PM -- as 'seva parva'.
The reduction of tension on the Chinese border may have reduced the urgency of a Biden-Modi meeting, but the sooner Modi starts a bromance with Biden the better as he had done with Obama and Trump, suggests Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
Underlining that cross border attacks have greatly "diminished" Pakistan's international standing, an American think-tank expert has said that as a result of India's new policy of retaliation Pakistan is in a bind of "its own making".
For Pakistan, 'bending is not an option; either forward or backwards. We bend and we get a kick,' Malik, who retired as defence secretary in 2014, was quoted as saying by the Dawn on Friday during the seminar organised by the Strategic Vision Institute.
In a letter signed by 16 of 17 committee members including two Indian-Americans Jhumpa Lahiri and Kal Penn, they said reproach and censure are necessary following Trump's "support of the hate groups and terrorists who killed and injured fellow Americans in Charlottesville."
A 1979 batch Indian Foreign Service officer, Singh said it is generally recognised that Indian diplomacy over a period of time has gained "more and more impact".
'We don't need to hinge India-UK relations on shared hostility toward China,' observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Arunabha Ghosh on why India will increasingly become an energy great power, but not an energy hegemon.
The new missile could deliver 2,000 to 3,500 kilograms of payload to any point in the continental US, notes Rajaram Panda.
'A breakthrough in eastern Ladakh leading to disengagement and creation of a buffer zone will obviate the need of military deployment through the winter months ahead,' notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Sonia Gandhi's iftar was meant to be a powerful show of unity of Opposition parties to take on the Modi Sarkar, but that was not to be...
The prime minister said Iran needs time to come out with its detailed response as it had "several elements" in its administration.
'A conventional war is not in fashion today and not seen as being able to deliver the objective.' 'Perhaps surgical strikes that are deeper, this time not on Pakistan's terrorist facilities, but on Pakistan army facilities.' 'The nation has to be prepared for losses.' 'War is not something that can be pussyfooted around.' 'If we go for limited number of posts in Kashmir, these are very difficult posts to capture and very difficult operations.' 'Be prepared for 200 to 300 killed.'
'Much depends on Moon's persuasive skill to make both Trump and Kim shed some of their rigidity and be flexible to accommodate contrarian viewpoints,' says Dr Rajaram Panda.
A former top American diplomat, considered to be the architect of the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal, on Friday urged US President Barack Obama to reach out to India's prime minister-designate Narendra Modi for an early meeting.
