Category: India
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US troops to stay put in Afghanistan
American troops are unlikely to withdraw from Afghanistan by May 1 as envisaged in the “peace deal” signed by the Trump administration and Taliban leaders last year. Days after US President Joe Biden said it would be “tough” to meet the May 1 deadline, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin made a surprise visit to…
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Indian PM Narendra Modi to Visit Myanmar, Australia and Fiji
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will have an unusually-long 10-day foreign trip starting November 11, 2014. “Starting 11th November I would be travelling to Myanmar, Australia and Fiji to participate in various summits and bilateral meetings,” Modi said in a statement. The Indian PM is to attend two key multilateral summits – ASEAN & East…
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Geopolitics of the Syrian Civil War
By Reva Bhalla International diplomats will gather on January 22 in the Swiss town of Montreux to hammer out a settlement designed to end Syria’s three-year civil war. The conference, however, will be far removed from the reality on the Syrian battleground. Only days before the conference was scheduled to begin, a controversy threatened to…
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Manmohan Singh’s speech at the 68th UN General Assembly
September 28, 2013 Your Excellency, President of the General Assembly, Excellencies, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, Let me first of all congratulate you, Mr. President, on your election to the presidency of the 68th session of the UN General Assembly. We wish you every success and we assure you of our fullest co-operation. Mr. President, At…
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Manmohan-Obama joint statement
September 27, 2013 Washington DC The Prime Minister of India Dr. Manmohan Singh and the President of the United States of America Barack Obama met this morning followed by a working luncheon at the White House. Marking their third bilateral summit, the two leaders reflected proudly on the transformation of United States-India relations during the…
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India’s exports rebound
Is Indian economy slowly coming out of the woods? The country’s February exports figures seem to indicate so. The latest exports data, released today, showed that India exported goods worth $26.26 billion in February, a slight improvement over January’s $25.5 billion. When compared to the figures in February last year, the latest exports figures show…
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Inadequate Budget for India’s defence forces
Amid a slowing economy and dismal foreign investor confidence in the country, India has sought to present a subdued annual Budget for the next financial year (April 2013 to March 2014). In the Budget released on 28 February, Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram proposed to tax the super rich, and increase allocation to pro-poor schemes such…
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Delhi gang rape protests shadow Putin’s India visit
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to India comes at a most inopportune time. New Delhi is witnessing an unprecedented massive protest campaign – mostly led by the city’s University students – against the increasing incidence of rapes in the capital city. The latest trigger is the gang rape of a 23-year-old para medical student in…
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Japan’s LDP sweeps to power
After about three years in opposition, Japan’s conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) won the national parliamentary elections on Sunday, paving the way for former Prime Minister 58-year-old Shinzo Abe’s return to power. LDP and allies won 325 seats in the 480-seat lower house. Abe, who is widely described as “hawkish” and “nationalist”, was Japan’s PM…
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Egyptian Military Forces Morsi To Compromise
Three weeks after issuing it, Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi today revoked the controversial decree that gave him sweeping emergency powers. This is expected to defuse the violent protests and growing political tension gripping the country. The decision came after exhaustive talks among representatives of Muslim Brotherhood, the political movement to which Morsi belongs. Although invited,…