Profile of Seema Guha
Ukraine and Russia are points of difference between India and Japan, but beyond that and specifically on the Indo-Pacific there is complete convergence of views
Japan’s Prime Minister Kishida will discuss his Quad plans with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit. India will be happy to see the focus shift from the distant war in Europe to issues that affect lives in the Indo-Pacific, including China’s aggressive moves in Asia.
The United States wants India to develop as a balance to China in Asia. Economic growth and access to top-end technology is essential for New Delhi to be able to compete with China in the next decade or so.
There is a lot of hype about the Quad, yet, not much is evident on the ground as it continues to be a work in progress. But one thing is evident, all four democracies that make up the Quad are together in the Indo-Pacific battle to checkmate a rising and belligerent China.
India and Australia signed a strategic agreement in 2009, but it’s in recent years that ties have gathered additional momentum under the shadow of a rapidly rising and assertive China.
Australian Prime Minister Albanese gets a flavour of India as he swings through three states. Relations between the two countries have moved beyond curry and cricket.
There is a major economic crisis in Pakistan, topped by a political slugfest that has continued since former prime minister Imran Khan lost a no-confidence vote last April. Add to this, the repeated terror strikes by a resurgent Pakistan Taliban. What will it take for Pakistan to come out of this situation?
Since the beginning, Pakistan has lived beyond its means. Its strategic location during the Cold War helped the country receive generous military funding from the US. USAID had also poured in money for education, health and power projects. But with the change in geopolitics, Pakistan is left to fend for itself.
Pakistan is paying the price of soft-peddling on terror. Arming and funding terror outfits against India in the past may have played dividends at one time, but today it is bleeding Pakistan.
At the heart of Pakistan’s political crisis is the army’s constant interference in civilian affairs. Pakistan will become a much more stable nation if the army sticks to General Bajwa’s promise of remaining neutral instead of playing political parties against each other.
Blinken reassures sceptics that as a major power, the US is capable of handling both, the war in Europe as well as in Indo-Pacific, meaning both Russia and China. 'We can run and chew gum at the same,' Blinken said in a throwback to former president Lyndon Johnson’s famous remark about his rival Gerald Ford.
India pushed hard to highlight issues of the global south but the foreign ministers of Russia and the west were distracted and kept throwing barbs at each other over the Ukraine war.
If India is able to get G20 foreign ministers to lend a helping hand to poorer countries struggling since being hit by the double whammy of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, the meeting would be a major achievement.
All eyes will be focused on Italy's first woman Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, as she arrives in Delhi on a two-day state visit. Meloni will hold talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and be the keynote speaker at the Raisina Dialogue, New Delhi’s flagship conference on geopolitics and geoeconomics.
Neither Russia nor Ukraine has benefited from a year of warfare. Why is the international community not doing more to stop the war?
Politics is not forgotten even during a major humanitarian crisis, the politics within the country as well as that of major powers in an area of conflict.
Earthquakes in Turkey, Syria: Sadly, there is politics even in response to a deadly disaster. Countries look to their strategic and political interests in calculating how fast and how much humanitarian aid should flow.
An agreement on the Teesta water-sharing was close to being signed in 2011, but Trinamool Congress (TMC) and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee threw a fit. The opportunity was lost in the absence of Mamata’s consent to the deal that the then-Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was close to signing with Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
The Narendra Modi government’s decision to up the ante on Indus Waters Treaty is in line with its muscular foreign policy which is much appreciated by its domestic constituents, particularly in the run-up to the 2024 general elections. It remains to be seen if it’s just posturing or New Delhi means to take it to a logical conclusion.
As a responsible member of the international community and the host of this year’s G-20 Summit, New Delhi is unlikely to pull out of the Indus Water Treaty that has stood the test of time. Asking for modification is one thing but walking away from an agreement on water can hurt India’s image.
As consciousness of racial and gender injustice grows, sportspersons are becoming more vocal about bringing activism into the game
Egypt is a significant Arab power and straddles both North Africa and West Asia—areas of great interest to New Delhi in pushing its strategic and economic interests. Egypt could act as a gateway to Africa for Indian goods.
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s olive branch is ill timed and unlikely to yield any results. The question is why did he bring it up at this point.
India has just concluded hosting a two-day virtual summit of nearly 120 developing countries from Latin America, Africa and Asia to share their perspectives and highlight their problems at the G20 summit scheduled for later this year.
As the US-China rivalry intensifies, the Gulf region could emerge as an important geostrategic arena where the two big powers would jostle for influence. With oil and gas playing an important part in world diplomacy, the Gulf Cooperation Council nations, the Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar, assume added significance.