'When I met the prime minister, he asked me, "Dr Ganguly, what do you do with people in your company who lie to you?"' 'I said, "Prime Minister, we counsel them and give them a gentle warning. If they lie again, they are sacked".' '"This is my problem,'" Rajiv responded. "I can't sack people in government".' A revealing excerpt from former Hindustan Lever Chairman Dr Ashok S Ganguly's We Are Our Future: Reflections On Life.
Gorbachev was the last leader of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).
After Donald Trump became president of the United States, he unleashed economic weaponisation, upsetting the old world order, leading to much unrest. If that wasn't all, the threat of an imminent nuclear war was issued by the US, Russia, China, North Korea and Pakistan. In today's fractious times, Dr Paulos Mar Gregorios would have made a dent, notes His Holiness Baselios Marthoma Mathews III.
Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed optimism about Russia-US relations, citing potential cooperation in the Arctic and Alaska. He acknowledged the current low level of relations but sees improvement with President Trump's administration. Putin also emphasized the importance of Russia's sovereignty and the role of its nuclear industry.
India and the US have collaborated through the past one month on launching a powerful satellite; are commencing joint production of GE Aerospace's F414 jet engines in India; India is participating in a massive three week-long military exercise in the Western Pacific, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
On May 16, Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in China for a two-day State visit as both countries looked to further deepen the relationship between Moscow and Beijing.
'There is only one common feature between Gorbachev and Putin.' 'They are both patriots, and both try to save Russia and make it great.' 'But in very, very, different ways.'
He may have been hailed as The Great Reformer in nations elsewhere, but in his motherland, Mikhail Sergeyevich was a hate figure for his policies ending the chimera of Russian dominance in the world.
'It would be a huge mistake to think that Gorbachev's reforms did not achieve anything.' 'We all live in the world, which is in many respects a result of Glasnost and Perestroika.'
The scaling up of the India-US strategic partnership to the level of non-NATO ally with defence deals, sharing and transfer of defence technology, interoperability, joint collaboration and joint production of defence equipment has exacerbated Moscow's anxiety, notes Rup Narayan Das.
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin cited engagements in Kaliningrad to skip the funeral for the Soviet Union's last leader, but thousands of Russians gathered outside the Column Hall of the House of Unions in Moscow on Saturday to pay homage to Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev, the man who gave them freedom from six decades of fear and terror imposed by the tyranny of the Communist party.
Hollywood stars, singers and politicians all turned out on Wednesday for the eclectic birthday bash of Mikhail Gorbachev, the last head of state of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, who turned 80 earlier this month.
Spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar became the first Indian to receive the Crans Montana Forum Award.
Musharraf will have to strain every nerve to gain political traction in Pakistan
'He has about as much chance of coming back to power as (former Soviet) President (Mikhail) Gorbachev,' The News quoted Richard Holbrooke, US administration's Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, as saying to a gathering of American diplomats and security experts.
A Moscow court has rejected a libel suit filed against a newspaper, by the grandson of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, to protect his grandfather's name.In his plea, Stalin's grandson Evgeny Jugashvili had demanded that the liberal Novaya Gazeta, co-owned by last Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev, should retract parts of an article that said Stalin personally signed death warrants.Novaya Gazeta spokesperson said the article was based on recently declassified documents.
Reagan, who denounced the then USSR as the 'evil empire', was won over by the charm of the Soviet Union's final leader, Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev.
Unlike United States President George W Bush, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev on Wednesday hailed the growth of food consumption in India and China as he sought expansion of the United Nations Security Council to include some 'most important states' to address the global food crisis. "we need to rejoice that millions of people are coming out of poverty and can afford a normal diet. Our planet is capable of feeding them," he said.
Growth of food consumption in rapidly developing India and China is named as the primary reason for the crisis, which some have dubbed as 'silent tsunami,' the former Soviet President wrote in the official Rossiskaya Gazeta daily. "This is an objective reason: we need to rejoice that millions of people are coming out of poverty and can afford normal diet. Our planet is capable of feeding them," he said.
Domestic wind power firm Suzlon Energy chief Tulsi Tanti, along with Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology's D P Dobhal, have made to a list of global environment champions prepared by the Time magazine.
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He shared the Grammy for 'Best Spoken Word Album for Children' with another former world leader, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, and actress Sophia Loren.
And it was won when it ended, says former Soviet leader, asserting that Reagan decided to be a peacemaker at just the right moment
'An old party like the Congress cannot rely solely on the prescriptions of a 'Doctor' whose motives and intentions are still unknown and that he does not look attached towards any party or ideology,' point out Sunil Gatade and Venkatesh Kesari.
'He is not that crazy.' 'He is driven by a deep sense of Russian power have been diminished.'
After receiving the award, Chanda Kochhar said, "As I see the list of past recipients of this honour, I feel inspired to be counted as one among them.
The Taliban is highly pragmatic and would regard it wasteful to resume military offensive to capture Panjshir. The Taliban's preference, historically, has been to keep the military option as the last resort, explains Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar
The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty was one of those agreements and is set to expire in the next two years. The 1987 pact helps protect the security of the US and its allies in Europe and the Far East.
The Gate has now come to represent German unity and freedom since the end of the Cold War and divided country.
Karimov portrayed himself as guarantor of stability and bulwark against radical Islam on the borders of Afghanistan, crushing fundamentalist groups at home.
The summit probably fulfilled the expectations on both sides, but the bar of expectations was intentionally kept low, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'The picture only looks worse from where Bajwa sits.' 'He sees a domineering India to the east, an unravelling Afghanistan and a complex Iran to the west, an overbearing China on the north and a US which is no longer an ally,' observes Shekhar Gupta.
The road ahead will be long and winding and much resistance can be expected from the high-flying 'hawks' in our skies. But that should not deter the policymakers from planning a road map with the 'big picture' in mind, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'As for tricky relations with China, India needs less of summitry type event management and more anticipatory analysis and management of events,' says Ambassador Jaimini Bhagwati.
Any form of entanglement with India or the US on the strategic plane will be anathema to Sri Lanka's Rajapaksa rulers, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Taking on the government in Parliament a second time in three days Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday attacked the government on the issue of net neutrality.
'It's a threat to whoever you want, and it includes China, and it includes Russia and it includes anybody else that wants to play that game. You can't do that. You can't play that game on me'
The stagnation in US-Russia relations does not augur well for New Delhi's strategic interests, says Harsh V Pant and Raj Kumar Sharma.
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