'It is no accident that politicians strive to control sports bodies, and get their names associated with popular sports, sometimes by renaming stadiums after themselves,' observes Devangshu Datta.
Biden's lengthy remarks on Afghanistan contained no condemnatory references to the Taliban, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar, who played a stellar role in beginning India's systemic dealings in Afghanistan in 1994.
In its sheer audacity, the initiative with Russia has the potential to transform world politics in the same way as the 1972 Nixon visit to China and 'Shanghai Declaration' changed world dynamics, says Anil Athale.
'What was the need for the investigating officers to tell the journalists about the place where the surviving Lashkar terrorist was being detained and where he is going to be transferred next? Don't they realise that such information would be useful to the Lashkar and the ISI if they want to mount an operation to rescue or eliminate him? What was the need for the journalists to find out such sensitive details and disseminate them in the media?'
Rather than talking endlessly about lost and marginal opportunities, India's climate envoys need to start thinking bigger, says Mihir S Sharma.
'Bolstering India's conventional military capability against China is in America's strategic interest,' says military historian Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
India must develop structured multilateralism to its defence buys
Admitting that Russia's relations with India have not "developed properly" after the breakup of the Soviet Union, a Russian indologist has called for a proactive approach with focus on cooperation in the energy sector, including nuclear. "Celebrating 2008 as the Year of Russia and 2009 as the Year of India is not enough. These are mere symbolisms. We have to be active, otherwise we will lose," says indologist Felix Yurlov.
The $10.5 billion arms and equipment deal helped to arrest the recent drift in the 'special and privileged' strategic partnership, observes Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd).
The days of a thousand cuts are over. These mini wars will remain under the threshold of undeniable war, but will escalate closer to that threshold when their big brother pushes in. Chinese aggression has changed the matrix, the strategies, and surely the objectives too, warns David Devadas.
The heart of the matter is that the Indo-US nuclear deal, unless it is closed now right now and on American terms, will soon need to be harmonised with the new Russian-American format and the international regime emanating out of it
In this era of numerous invisible fences, globalism is the new villain and patriotism the new virtue.
Reliance Industries, India's most valued company, and state-run gas firm GAIL India have identified 10 countries including Qatar, Australia and Russia for setting up a multi-billion-dollar petrochemical plant.
In its upcoming issue, Newsweek magazine has described the movement as President Vladimir Putin's shock forces and contends that the movement is newest weapon in the drive to reclaim Russia's bygone regional dominance.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said the upcoming moratorium does not stipulate permanent withdrawal from the CFE Treaty, adding that Russia will resume its obligations as soon as NATO countries ratify the adapted version.
Dmitry Medvedev, the chosen successor of outgoing President Vladimir Putin was on Wednesday officially sworn in as Russia's third President since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Medvedev took the oath of office in an elaborate and lavish ceremony, in the Kremlin's golden-hued St Andrew's Hall, bringing Putin's eight years as President to an end. Medvedev in his speech said he attached special importance to "the fundamental role of law".
Russia on Thursday marked the golden jubilee of the launch of the first artificial satellite Sputnik, which sparked off a space race between the then Communist state and the US 50 years ago.
Pranab lost his cool with a scribe.
The greatest challenge before India is how to strike a fine balance of its relationship between its neighbour and strategic rival China, and the US.
'Transformation of Ukraine into some kind of permanent strategic challenger, which Russia would have to contain and deter, spend a significant part of political and strategic resources on it.'
'The prime minister and his colleagues thought the Bush administration's promises were as good as gold. But, as the Americans would now have you believe, gold is no better than bronze.'
The league has proved an unlikely draw for fans overseas who are starved of matches in their own countries. In choosing to stay open, it took its cue from President Alexander Lukashenko, who has resisted imposing strict lockdown measures.
The American-born chess ace, who settled in Iceland in 2005 and was later granted Icelandic citizenship, died of an unspecified illness at the age of 64.
Putin is pouring billions into boosting the tech sector. The country has a skilled workforcebut cronyism and copyright issues pose problems
Garbine Muguruza has to be the one taking charge in the Australian Open final against "fighter" Sofia Kenin if she is to win her third Grand Slam title, the Spaniard's coach Conchita Martinez said.
Google urged the US government on Thursday to raise the number of H-1B visas by highlighting the contributions of its co-founder Sergey Brin and the company's principal scientist Krishna Bharat, both foreign-origin workers.
Around 120 people had been evacuated from the burning centre, rescuers said on Sunday.
'Frankly, India has no role to play.' 'This is a showdown between the US and NATO on one hand and Russia on the other.' 'That said, the outcome of this titanic struggle in Central Europe will remould the world order and affect India profoundly,' argues Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Yeltsin was widely hailed as an effective reformer but his era was a traumatic period in Russian history.
The new warhead, due to be operational in five years' time, will be used to replace Trident missiles on submarines.
American analysts and their camp followers in India are talking absolute rubbish when they try to establish that India is facing a Hobson's choice in regard of Donbass, called upon to take sides between Russia and the West, asserts Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'Once positions are hardened and troops start building defences, it is difficult for soldiers to step back.'
How a free Web could harm you, now and in the long run.
The successful test -- a first -- has alarmed America.
'Khrushchev, of course, abused Bhutto and said should Pakistan look towards India or Afghanistan, the Soviets would take our eyes out,' said a noting made by Ayub Khan.
The ambassador, though, admitted that the Communist Party of India received financial assistance from its Soviet counterpart.
Russian President Vladimir Putin showed off his stick skills with a goal and two assists in an amateur ice hockey game at a 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics venue on Tuesday.
