Michael Knights, a Boston-based Lafer Fellow of The Washington Institute who specialised in the military and security affairs of Iraq, Iran, and the Persian Gulf, spoke to Rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa about power of the ISIS and the reasons behind its growth
One of the major advantages of buying Iran crude is the additional credit period of 90 days that the country gives to India, compared to 30 days by other countries.
'The attacks made clear to all the Gulf States that Pakistan was the nursery and sanctuary of extremist violence and that this violence threatened all the countries in the region.'
'Movement of naval forces at sea is often more than just perfunctory deployment -- reading the messages that they send is important,' alerts Vice Admiral Premvir Das (retd).
Pakistan is once again becoming a frontline State in big-power rivalry. But this time around, Pakistan stands to gain out of its geography, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'India would not like to see Pakistani domination and tutelage of Afghanistan against Indian security and economic interests.'
Support for the dreaded Haqqani network across the militant group's historical stronghold in eastern Afghanistan is gradually turning into "resentment" as local leaders say the Haqqani supremo's war is for "Pakistani rupees and power" and they cannot follow him "blindly".
'Does the country risk being enclosed in a geographical cocoon if it spurns a multi-continent project for which everyone else has signed up,' asks T N Ninan.
'Mr Trump is too capricious to be trusted,' says Sunanda K Datta-Ray.
'Trump's anti-trade, anti-immigrant rhetoric reminds me of Chinese history,' says A V Rajawade.
'By annoying the Arabs and cozying up to Iran, Pakistan may end up losing Arab economic support, annoying the Americans and increase Shia-Sunni tensions domestically,' Colonel Anil A Athale (retd) points out.
'Modi has visited all these three countries (the UAE more than once, inexplicably) but has left out Kuwait and Oman, the two Gulf countries that are closest to India in their political, cultural and civilisational ethos,' notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that countries like India, if it gets the exemption, would be asked to bring down their oil imports from Iran to zero in six months' time.
General Soleimani headed the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps's Quds Force and also served as Iran's pointman on Iraq.
'Tehran,' Foreign Minister Zarif said, 'had expected the Modi government to be "more resilient" in the face of Washington's bullying,' notes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The government has to take a call on reducing or retaining the excise rate.
India is ready, after battling the pandemic for two years, to travel once again.
The USS John Paul Jones acted like a dog marking the lamp post, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The advance booking of Salman Khan's eagerly awaited film Jai Ho have started and although the sentiment regarding the movie is buoyant in markets such as Uttar Pradesh, metros such as Delhi and Mumbai have shown a softer response than usual.
India, China and other countries that have been cutting their oil imports from Iran have reached a point where it is "very very difficult" to reduce any further without seriously impacting their economies, US Secretary of State John Kerry has told lawmakers.
"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.
Pompeo defended the killing of Soleimani saying he was making efforts for an attack on Americans in the region.
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.
Higher crude oil prices also translate into better corporate earnings for India's top companies
India would have responded differently to "Pakistan-sponsored" Mumbai terror attacks had there been a different "mix of people" at the helm, according to former foreign secretary and national security advisor Shivshankar Menon.
The Al Qaeda, the Islamic State or Daesh, as it is also called, will continue to exploit the fault lines and the many contradictions in the approaches of different countries, says Hardeep Puri.
As a model of transport, the A380 strikes a parallel -- a shared fragility -- with giant container ships, observes Shyam G Menon.
'The ceremony on May 30 is all about Modi and there is the great risk that Imran Khan who is a rockstar among Indians might end up stealing the show,' says Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Saudi Arabia on Sunday came under attack globally a day after it carried out mass execution of 47 people, including Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr who was a vocal critic of the government and the Saudi monarchy.
Investors accumulated quality stocks at valuable and attractive levels.
Picking up the pieces is not going to be easy for the families of the missing fishermen. More than the compensation, what they seek is closure, discovers A Ganesh Nadar in Kanyakumari, one of the districts worst affected by the cyclone fury.
'It was incredibly heart-wrenching to see people waiting to be evacuated -- children, parents and grandparents. Many families did not get to leave together. An order of priority was drawn up, and the first ones to be evacuated were pregnant women, single and/or older women and dialysis patients. Most were happy to be on the plane but also very distressed to have left behind family and friends.'
When Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor-Khan decided to name their firstborn Taimur, Syed Firdaus Ashraf delved into history to bring back into focus the fierce warrior king who bore that name many centuries ago.
"We should make it clear to Pakistan that any LeT attack upon our homeland, they will bear responsibility for that because of their close relationship between ISI and LeT," Congressman Peter King said during a Congressional hearing on Wednesday.
Stellar rally in ITC shares along with strength in the Asian equities capped the downside.
Despite the Indian government's recent efforts anecdotal evidence indicates that there has been little change in the extortionist behaviour of a significant proportion of tax and police officials, says Jaimini Bhagwati.
The prime minister's visit to Washington should focus more on shopping for energy security and stopping the US from snooping on us, reigning in its popular and innocuously operated instruments to gather intelligence like Google, says Tarun Vijay.
'If the almost literally heart-stopping Suez block has any positive outcome, it is to be hoped that it will accelerate the setting up of a fab (perhaps Taiwanese) in India,' asserts Rajeev Srinivasan.
When Mariappan approached the Indian embassy in Kuwait to get back his passport after deciding to leave his employer, he ended up in jail.
'The osmosis between Hinduism and Islam that really gave birth to the Hindustani or Indo-Islamic civilisation was due to the conversation between Muslim mystics and yogis.'
