Trump is confident the US will eventually emerge the winner from whatever turmoil his policies cause, notes T T Ram Mohan.
The G20 foreign ministers' meeting on Thursday was unable to come out with a joint communique due to sharp differences over the Ukraine conflict despite persistent efforts by host India to build consensus.
India's purchase of Russian oil has risen to 2 million barrels per day in August, as refiners continue to prioritise economic considerations in their sourcing decisions. As much as 38 per cent out of an estimated 5.2 million barrels per day of crude oil imported in the first half of August came from Russia, according to global real-time data and analytics provider Kpler.
Several Indian students stuck in eastern parts of Ukraine, which is largely affected by the Russian military offensive, are facing a grim situation as it is difficult for them to travel by road to reach the western borders and move out of the war-hit country, one of the students returned to India said.
Glimpses from around the world that will make you smile and cry.
Congress general secretary, communications, Jairam Ramesh said the G7 Summit of the presidents of the US and France; the prime ministers of the UK, Japan, Italy and Canada; and the Chancellor of Germany is taking place in Kananaskis in Alberta, Canada, from June 15.
Mrs Gandhi's power ebbed and peaked with the times. Mr Modi's has almost been constant, barring the few months of hard dip after the 240 seats of 2024, points out Shekhar Gupta.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday told Russian President Vladimir Putin that a solution to the Ukraine conflict is not possible on the battlefield and peace efforts do not succeed in the midst of bombs and bullets even as he flagged concerns over a missile strike on a children's hospital in Kyiv.
'The ruling elite are supporting those attacking the people of Gaza.' 'As a nation we should not cooperate with the oppressor regime that is allowing mass starvation as a weapon of war.'
India's annual oil import bill could rise by $9-11 billion if the country is compelled to move away from Russian crude in response to US threats of additional tariffs or penalties on Indian exports, analysts said. India, the world's third-largest oil consumer and importer, has reaped significant benefits by swiftly substituting market-priced oil with discounted Russian crude following Western sanctions on Moscow after its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
With these propositions in mind, India started "some exploratory discussions" he said, adding that it started during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Italy during G-7, and then during his visit to Moscow.
It said a resolution to the conflict requires a "sincere and practical engagement" between the two parties, clearly referring to Russia and Ukraine.
India's External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has called on Europe to display sensitivity and mutuality of interest for deeper ties with India, stating that New Delhi seeks partners, not "preachers." Jaishankar emphasized the importance of "Russia realism" in India's foreign policy, highlighting the natural complementarity between India and Russia as a resource provider and consumer. He criticized attempts by the West to address the Russia-Ukraine conflict without Russia's involvement, arguing it "challenged the basics of realism." Jaishankar also stressed the importance of finding common ground with the US, suggesting that focusing on mutuality of interest rather than ideological differences is key to successful engagement.
Brent crude oil prices can touch $150 a barrel (bbl) - up a whopping 103 per cent from the current levels - in the worst-case scenario if the Israel-Iran geopolitical tensions escalate, suggest analysts.
Indian refiners are likely to import 2-2.2 million barrels per day of Russian crude oil in June - the highest in the last two years and more than the total volumes bought from Iraq, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait, preliminary data by global trade analytics firm Kpler showed.
'Putin will not be bound by any kind of deal he would sign with the US.'
Israel's aerial assault on Iran is widely viewed as an act of naked aggression with no basis in international law, carried out unilaterally despite US opposition and aimed at derailing ongoing US-Iran nuclear negotiations, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said he will be attending the G7 Summit later this month in Canada and that he looked forward to meeting his newly elected Canadian counterpart Mark Carney.
It is learnt that Ottawa is yet to send an invitation to the Indian prime minister for the summit, but Modi, in any way, would have skipped it as such a visit would have required a lot of groundwork considering the current state of ties between the two sides, said the people cited above.
'The West has always opposed a strong nationalist leader in India and Narendra Modi is no exception.' 'The West prefers weak leaders who are amenable to Western pressure and Mr Modi's independent stance is not to the liking of the West,' asserts Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
An inconclusive end to this war will pose high risk for Netanyahu of a cascading demand for a regime change in Israel, predicts Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Chinese import tariffs have unwittingly come to India's assistance to help boost imports of US liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) at rates cheaper than what it pays for supplies from West Asia, according to industry sources and shipping data.
At the end of the day, for many worldwide, the ongoing mutual attacks between Israel and Iran would seem a contest devoid of any moral high ground and only a bout between two ordinary adversaries, one that nevertheless risks spinning out of control into a larger conflagration, notes Shyam G Menon.
The responsibility for peace in Ukraine now rests in the hands of the two principal belligerents, Russia and the US, and the prime victim of this great power rivalry, Ukraine, points out Nitin Desai.
The unalloyed truth about the Ukraine-Russia conflict is that it is a war that Russia cannot lose and Ukraine cannot win, observes Colonel Anil Athale (retd).
Trump has a major decision to take in coming days -- specifically, how to rescue Israel from the attritional war that lies ahead, points out Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
The Kananaskis gathering on June 16-17 is the Prime Minister's 6th consecutive participation in the G7 Summit.
The US move to align with Russia is prompted by fear of a Sino-Russian joint threat. Russia, fully aware of its military vulnerability vis a vis China may cautiously welcome the American move, assesses Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
In his media statement following talks with his Croatian counterpart Andrej Plenkovic, Modi said both leaders agree that "terrorism is an enemy of humanity" and is inimical to forces that believe in democracy.
Only the future will tell if Modi can leave his mark on the Ukraine crisis. Nonetheless, it is both a challenge and an opportunity for India's diplomacy, notes Rup Narayan Das.
The reality is that far from being friendless, India is better positioned in the world than at any point post-Cold War, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will represent India at the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 47th President of the United States on January 20.
'Trump would like the war in Ukraine to be over, and that it would be weighing on his mind even before the Inauguration ceremony in January next year.'
Notwithstanding how the current impasse is solved, at some point in the future, Russia will realise that just as centuries ago it developed the paradigm of securing its heartland's safety through annexing vast buffer zones between itself and the enemy, a more modern security is possible only through friendly relations and sustainable peace, observes Shyam G Menon.
According to Kyiv, Russia blew up the dam "in panic" ahead of a planned Ukraine counter-offensive, while Russia accuses Ukraine of launching "mass artillery attacks" on the structure to deprive Crimea of water and provide a distraction from the battlefield.
Indian Armed Forces brought down a number of these drones using kinetic and non-kinetic means.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and United States President Donald Trump on Monday vowed to work towards a 'trusted' partnership with a focus on boosting India-US cooperation in areas of trade, energy and defence in their first phone conversation since the American leader's inauguration last week.
Notably, Ukrainian forces disabling bridges across the Dnipro river and attacking Russian supply lines made it very difficult for Russia to defend the occupied territory.
'And this will persist given the two-and-a-half-front threat we face.'
'When one air force (India's) hits the other's airbases with impunity and that air force (Pakistan's) is not able to respond, then the air force, which has put the other's airbases out of commission, has won.'
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