'Putin is just flexing his muscles. He is not going to do anything. He is not that crazy.'
The US drone strike that killed Ayman al-Zawahiri has raised questions over Pakistan's possible role in the raid amid reports suggesting that the country's airspace could have been used for carrying out the precision strike on the Al Qaeda chief's safe house in Kabul.
The Indian Navy, which regards itself as the 'net security provider' in the Indian Ocean Region, has also stepped up to the plate, with a warship stationed at all times off the Gulf of Aden for counter-piracy tasks. 91 Indian warships have been deployed in the region since 2008, patrolling high risk areas where piracy was rampant.
Israel needs to come terms with the new reality that they are no longer invincible or the dominant power in the West Asian region, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Biden said over a year later Russian President Vladimir Putin has "failed and he continues to fail".
The IAF chief also said Pakistan has become a pawn of Chinese policy and its dependence on China would increase further in future. He said India needs to understand the interplay of some major events in its vicinity that would impact the security scenario of the region.
India has maintained communication with both Russia and Ukraine. It is time Narendra Modi steps up on the world stage and plays the role of peacemaker, suggests military historian Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
The United States will soon impose more sanctions on Syria in response to a chemical attack blamed on President Bashar al-Assad's regime after an "overwhelming" successful military operation, the Trump administration officials said on Saturday.
Oil sank to the lowest level in a month after shedding all of its gains from the US-Iran clash as traders waited to see whether any further hostilities will disrupt exports from the East Asia.
Would Ukraine be such a pushover if it had that nuclear stockpile?' asks Shekhar Gupta.
'There are reports that the Biden administration is contemplating imposing CAATSA sanctions against India, the largest democracy on Earth'
Green Zone of the Iraqi capital houses government agencies and foreign embassies. 'Two Katyusha rockets fell in the Green Zone, no people were injured,' Iraq's security services said.
'History will repeat itself after a decade or so and historians will point to the folly of May 2017 as the event that sowed the seeds of another 9/11,' warns Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
India is hosting the fifth Army International Scout Masters Competition as part of the games in Jaisalmer .
Now, as before, India's vote at the UN was dictated by paramount national interests. Though the Indian vote was 'neutral', its explanation was explicit in its criticism of the Russian actions. India took back with the left hand what it had given with the right, explains Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
Kim Jong-un declared he would never surrender North Korea's nuclear weapons weapons even if his country faced 100 years of sanctions. Dr Rajaram Panda explains Pyongyang's new nuclear doctrine that makes the world a much more dangerous place.
Pompeo defended the killing of Soleimani saying he was making efforts for an attack on Americans in the region.
In his maiden address to the employees of the State Department, the US president said he has come to the building to send a clear message to the world: America is back. America is back. Diplomacy is back.
Why is Xi Jinping visiting Saudi Arabia, Egypt and China this week? Former RA&W officer Jayadeva Ranade explains the significance of China's outreach to the Middle East.
Sanctions against North Korea following its H-bomb test could have serious repercussions and may prove disastrous for all the players involved, says Debalina Ghoshal.
Swaraj expressed satisfaction over the agenda of the inaugural dialogue while giving the details of the deliberations.
"We have many relationships...they have a history. We will do what is in our national interest and part of that strategic partnership is the ability of each country to comprehend and appreciate the national interest of the other," Jaishankar said.
India is apprehensive about the Taliban's return as it would mean loss of access to Baluch rebels and help to the restive tribals of Waziristan. This would be a setback to the Indian strategy of returning the compliments of death by a thousand cuts to Pakistan, notes Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
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.
'Mr Trump is too capricious to be trusted,' says Sunanda K Datta-Ray.
On the White House website, his staff post a variety of proposals ranging from an "American First Foreign Policy" to killing former President Obama's climate action plan with agenda largely echoing his campaign website.
The fault line between the West and Russia has widened into a deep chasm and this is likely to endure in the foreseeable future. Far from forcing its way into the European tent, Russia may be reduced to the status of an even more sullen and weakened bystander on its periphery. The US appears to have won this hand with little cost to itself, observes former foreign secretary Shyam Saran.
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.
'Drone warfare has come to stay.' 'India should exploit the expected Reaper acquisition from the US to build an effective counter terror campaign,' argues Group Captain Murli Menon (retd).
The Modi government has been put on notice.'Will it buckle under such pressure? These are times when the moral fibre of the leadership makes all the difference, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'The most unfortunate part is that after precipitating the crisis situation on Tuesday, the government ducked and took help from Saudi Arabia and the UAE to 'de-escalate' the situation.' 'Make no mistake, this fateful move has grave implications.' 'You don't take help from the wolf to guard the sheep, right?' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Russia and China have a broad consensus today on almost all core issues related to global strategic stability, which is unprecedented in modern history, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied that his country meddled in the 2016 US Presidential election.
'China's growing nexus with Pakistan and the two countries' unresolved territorial disputes with India continue to pose a formidable national security threat to India,' says Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd).
Referring to Kim Jong-Un, Trump said 'Rocket Man', is on a suicide mission for himself and for his regime.
The strategy, President Donald Trump said, is tailored and flexible to address the wide array of threats in the 21st century.
The Saudi-Pakistan nuclear weapons cooperation is meant to sound alarm bells in Washington, reminding the Obama administration that its overtures to Iran would have serious negative consequences in terms of its ties with its closest allies in the region, says Ambassador Talmiz Ahmad. Exclusive to Rediff.com
'Bolstering India's conventional military capability against China is in America's strategic interest,' says military historian Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Officials said the addition shows the measure was set on the basis of security and was not a 'Muslim ban'.
