Category: India

St. Petersburg sets the stage for the War of Economic Corridors

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Saturday, 18 June 2022 — The Cradle

In St. Petersburg, the world’s new powers gather to upend the US-concocted “rules-based order” and reconnect the globe their way
https://media.thecradle.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG-20220618-WA0016.jpgAt St. Petersburg on Friday, backers of multipolarity pushed forward integration of their networks * Photo Credit: The Cradle

The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum  has been configured for years now as absolutely essential to understand the evolving dynamics and the trials and tribulations of Eurasia integration.

St. Petersburg in 2022 is even more crucial as it directly connects to three simultaneous developments I had previously outlined, in no particular order:

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Why India must decouple from I2U2

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Friday, 17 June 2022 — Indian Punchline

by M. K. BHADRAKUMAR

Foreign Ministers of India, Israel, UAE, US (clockwise) held a videoconference in October 2021 to launch a ‘Quad’ for West Asia

Indian diplomacy is descending from the sublime to the absurd. Such wild swings signal rank opportunism. These are extraordinary times when to be smart is equated as being opportunistic.

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IPEF will be a hard sell in Indo-Pacific

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Tuesday, 24 May 2022 — Indian Punchline

by M. K. BHADRAKUMAR

From L-R: Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, US President Joe Biden, and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the launch of Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity at Izumi Garden Gallery in Tokyo on May 23, 2022

A new economic bloc comprising twelve countries of the Indo-Pacific region and the United States was unveiled on Monday in Tokyo on the sidelines of President Joe Biden’s visit. Christened as the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), it is conceived as the economic correlative of the US Indo-Pacific Strategy.

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India, Germany cogitate on Ukraine

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Tuesday, 3 May 2022 — Indian Punchline

by M. K. BHADRAKUMAR

Germany to send fifty Leopard 1 tanks to Ukraine to fight Russia

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s short visit to Germany pegged on the Indian-German Intergovernmental Commission meeting in Berlin on Monday inevitably came to focus on the Ukraine crisis. The western media would have loved to grill Modi on India’s reluctance to criticise Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine. But German hosts thoughtfully skipped the customary Q&A after the joint appearance of Modi and Chancellor Olaf Scholz before the press.

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India’s dilemma over West vs. Russia

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Wednesday, 6 April 2022 — Indian Punchline

The information war over alleged killings in the town of Bucha near Kyiv underscores the high stakes in smearing the Russian operation in Ukraine. Pentagon has distanced itself saying it has no independent  information.

There is a notion among some mainstream Indian strategic analysts, including some who held top positions in the security establishment in past regimes that what is unfolding in Ukraine is quintessentially “a war between Europeans over the European security order.”

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India, US have different priorities

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Wednesday, 23 March 2022 — Indian Punchline

M. K. BHADRAKUMAR

The cruelty and cynical complacency with which the Biden Administration and the EU conduct their foreign polices is absolutely stunning. And, mind you, all this is happening in the name of “democratic values” and “international law”!
Prime Minister Modi and President Biden (File photo) 

An extraordinary week has passed for the Modi government’s dalliance with the Quad. Call it a defining moment, a turning point or even an inflection point — it has elements of all three.

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India Should Quit Quad Now!

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Monday, 14 March 2022 — Indian Punchline

by M. K. BHADRAKUMAR
Prime Minister Modi chaired a meeting of Cabinet Committee on Security and top officials, New Delhi, March 13, 2022  

Hedging between superpowers — United States, Russia and China — was never the smart thing to do. India should have known that the contradictions are simply irreconcilable.

This is a moment of truth, therefore, as the US unsheathes the sword to bleed and dismember Russia, and gives an ultimatum to China to stay out of it.

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Just Beyond the Pale

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Sunday, 13 March 2022 – The New Dark Age

By Supratim Barman

In a Globalised World, when we see images of the conflict that is currently occurring in Ukraine on our News Feeds, Whatsapp Groups, Telegram Twitter and Instagram; as well as of course on our TeleVision sets; we tend to lose sight of the human element and how close it could have been us instead. We sit far away and analyse it, show our support for the Corporation side by posting stickers and flags on our social media profiles and we feel good; as if we have done something worthwhile with our day. As if we have somehow “helped”.

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India shouldn’t miss world war pointer

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Sunday, 27 February 2022 — Indian Punchline

Prime Minister Narendra Modi (L) and Russian President Vladimir Putin had a phone conversation on February 17, 2022

The transition of India’s foreign-policy mindset during the post-cold war period from an international outlook to a national one, and then its colossal drop to a ‘mofussil’[1] thinking, is a tragic phenomenon. One outcome of it has been the tendency to reduce foreign policy to a single theme — India’s relations with the United States — which began after the Narasimha Rao government.

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India and the Donbass republics

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Tuesday, 22 February 2022 — Indian Punchline

President Vladimir Putin in an address to the nation announced Russia’s recognition of the Donbass Republics, Moscow, Feb 21, 2022

India’s dilemma over humanitarian intervention is revisiting it, with Russia’s recognition of the two self-proclaimed Donbass republics of Donetsk and Lugansk as independent states. India is certainly not going to follow the Russian footfalls. The heart of the matter is that India has adopted a consistent position on issues involving genocide, human rights and self-determination.

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India, China in Europe’s crisis

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Monday, 21 February 2022 — Indian Punchline

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi addresses the Munich Security Conference via video link, Feb 19, 2022.

The remarks by China’s State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday constitute the first full statement on Beijing’s stance regarding Russia’s current tensions with the West and its sub-plot surrounding Ukraine.

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US plays QUAD card during Beijing Olympics

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Saturday 5 February 2022 — Indian Punchline

Protest against Beijing Olympics in New Delhi, Feb 4, 2022

The appalling decision by the External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar to huddle together with his QUAD colleagues bang in the middle of the Beijing Winter Olympics may have unpleasant consequences. China sees QUAD as a US-led clique working to “contain” it.

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US reminds India it’s showtime

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Sunday, 30 January 2022 — Indian Punchline

Pegasus, ‘ultimate spyware’ from Israel, is back in news cycle

Pegasus, CAATSA, Nagaland — prime facie, they’ve nothing in common. At least, reading the Indian press, one gets that impression. But it is always important to connect the dots to understand where the trail is leading to.

The Biden-Harris Administration is sensing that Modi Govt, a perceived ally, is not to be seen as its war machine revs up in anticipation of a horrific war. Typically, if a country is not with the US, then, it must be against it. But India falls in a category by itself.

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Neo Hindus – Ain’t No Black In The Union Jack

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Thursday, 30 December 2021 — Supratim Barman

This term, Neo Hindus, is a very recent phenomenon, perhaps in the last twenty-five years or so. It was always sort of hanging around amongst us; like an optical illusion, lurking like a thief who is unable to make that final reach to grab the handbag, (so near; yet so far). It may have been about around 1990 or so, once the IIT Brahmins finally got past United States Immigration and then found an objective in life in the “Home of The Brave, The Land of The Free” with the VHP Agenda; after having of course collected their brand new US Passports in 2000s and done the customary “Europe Tour” with the children.

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BOMBSHELL: India’s Role in the US Proxy war on Myanmar (and on China)

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Thursday, 6 January 2022 — New Atlas

January 6, 2022 (The New Atlas) – Just as India had in the past aided US foreign policy objectives against China through hosting violent militant groups targeting Tibet, India is once again hosting militants, this time targeting China’s BRI partner, Myanmar in Southeast Asia.

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US plays Tibet card as India seeks modus vivendi with China

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23 December 2021 — Indian Punchline

Undersecretary of State Uzra Zeya has been designated as US Special Coordinator for Tibetan Issues, Washington, Dec. 20, 2021

The cracking sound of ice breaking on the frozen lake of India-China relations will trigger a new wave of US-backed media campaign to instigate the hawks. Armed with satellite imageries made available from the US and peppered with random, free-wheeling remarks by garrulous Indian ex-generals and academics, the Washington Post has drawn attention to the Ladakh region.

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This Victory Gives Confidence for Future Struggles: The Forty-Seventh Newsletter (2021)

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25 November 2021 — Tricontinental

AIKS member at Singhu 01A farmer at the protest encampment at Delhi’s Singhu Border carries the flag of the All India Kisan Sabha, 21 November 2021. Subin Dennis / Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research

Dear friends,

Greetings from the desk of the Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research.

On 19 November 2021, a week before the first anniversary of the farmers’ revolt, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi surrendered. He accepted that the three laws on agricultural markets that had been pushed through the parliament in 2020 would be repealed. The farmers of India had won. The All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS), one of the organisers of the protest movement, celebrated the triumph and declared that ‘this victory gives more confidence for future struggles’.

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COP26: India ends up as fall guy

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16 November 2021 — Indian Punchline

A coal mine in Dhanbad, India

Greta Thurnberg, the famous Swedish climate change activist, summed up that the deal reached at COP26 at Glasgow on Saturday was “very, very vague” with several loopholes. She told the media in Glasgow that the pact only “succeeded in watering down the blah, blah, blah”.

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