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My first ever geopolitical study in life was in Jun 1967, at the beginning of the Six Day War. I requested my history teacher to explain to us all what exactly was happening in West Asia, with the closure of the Gulf of Aqaba by Egypt and the build-up of pan Arab forces on Israel’s borders. After explaining the basics, going back to the Balfour Declaration 1917 and the eviction of the Palestinians in 1948, he called it a very dangerous situation; the 1967 Six Day War followed. By 1973 I had a better idea of international geopolitics when the...

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Friday (3 June) asked European nations to come out of the mindset that European problems are world's problems but world's problems are not Europe's problems. Speaking at Globesec 22 Bratislava Forum in Slovakia, Jaishankar also slammed the linkages being made between the situation in Ukraine and tension between India and China. "Somewhere Europe has to grow out of the mindset that Europe's problems are the world problems and world's problems are not Europe's problems," he said. "There's a linkage today being made between China and India, and what's happening in Ukraine. China and India...

Abdul Rehman, a former engineering student with roots in Afghanistan’s Logar province and the son of a merchant who frequently visited New Delhi on business, was freed from Bagram prison on 15 AugustThe Islamic State suicide bomber who killed at least 169 Afghan civilians and 13 United States soldiers outside Kabul airport last month was incarcerated in Afghanistan’s notorious Bagram prison for the past four years, thanks to Indian efforts, Firstpost has learnt through credible intelligence sources. Senior Indian intelligence sources familiar with the case have told Firstpost that he was handed over to the United States' Central Intelligence Agency...

After seeing Joe Biden in Afghanistan, what is Quad but a fancy naval parade for US allies? We will not forgive. We will not forget. We will hunt you down and make you pay,” said US President Joe Biden, hours after the bombings at Kabul airport killed nearly a hundred people, including at least 13 US soldiers at last count. His was a valiant attempt to sound angry, resolute and menacing. He ended up, regrettably for him and his nation, looking exactly like what he is: Sheep in sheep’s clothing. In polarised times, Biden’s committed voters might still have tears...

Dear American liberals, give India a break and look at your own country. The one that kneels before China and wags its finger at India. This is a visual from CNN , the most powerful brand in television news all over the world. CNN on ‘peaceful protests’ The building is burning right behind their reporter. The mob just burned it down. But CNN describes the situation with a one-liner that is beyond parody: fiery but mostly peaceful. Why? Because American liberal bosses have approved these riots. And CNN, the biggest name in television news, has to grovel before them. Dear...

US talk show host Larry King has died at the age of 87. The TV star was taken to hospital in Los Angeles in late December after testing positive for coronavirus. King, whose career spanned more than six decades, had Type 2 diabetes and had suffered from lung cancer, angina and heart attacks in recent years.

In China, "another brutal purge" is coming. Ruler Xi Jinping, already roiling the Communist Party with a "rectification" campaign and mass persecution of foes, has risked his future with recent high-profile incursions into Indian-controlled territory. Unfortunately for Xi, he is the "architect" of these aggressive moves into India and his People's Liberation Army (PLA) has unexpectedly flopped. .... Beginning in early May, Chinese forces advanced south of the Line of Actual Control, the temporary border between the two giants, principally in three separate areas in Ladakh, high in the Himalayas.... The May incursions took New Delhi by surprise. As Cleo...

Events early this week point to a particularly sharp turn in the India-China crisis in eastern Ladakh. As the India-China military crisis in eastern Ladakh enters its fourth month, there are scant signs that a peaceful solution is in the offing any time soon. On Monday morning, the Indian government issued a statement which noted that the army had pre-empted a Chinese push into the southern bank of the Pangong Lake, suggesting a new area of dispute had been created. (Up until the Indian statement, it was believed that the northern bank of the lake along with a few other...

Like Modi, Trump is probably headed to a victory with a bigger margin with this strategy and the Democrats are waltzing into the trap. This week saw some remarkable political manoeuvring from US President Donald Trump. The question is, what do we make of his “go back” tweets on the four Congresswomen – Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, Ayanna Pressley and Ilhan Omar? Is it the new normal in US politics, where accusations of racism fly thick and fast and where not-so-racist House Speaker Nancy Pelosi prefers aligning with the extreme-Left against a more-racist Trump? When Nancy Pelosi herself was called...

Sri Lankan millionaire’s family was an ISIS cell: Suicide bombers shatter shameless excuses peddled by ‘liberals’ to justify Islamic terrorism The family was rich, politically connected and lived in luxury most Sri Lankans cannot even dream of. Yet, Ilhan Ibrahim's wife Fathima blew herself and her three children to pieces when she detonated explosives to kill policemen inside her luxury apartment. As the investigations for the horrible Easter Sunday bombings continue, more bizarre details are beginning to emerge. Apart from the fact that the Christian-targeted attack killed over 359 people and has left over 500 people injured, the most unusual...

TN Pandit was the first anthropologist to enter the isolated Andaman island of North Sentinel, back in 1967. He says he was surprised when he heard that an American evangelist, John Allen Chau, had been killed by the Sentinelese. Speaking to ET at his residence in New Delhi, 83-year-old Pandit narrated his experiences of interacting with the Sentinelese, among the few remaining isolated tribes in the world. The tribe is not hostile, nor do they raid their neighbours, Pandit says.They only say, ‘leave us alone.’ They make it amply clear that outsiders are not welcome in their habitat. One needs...

Amid the standoff between Indian and Chinese troops in Doklam area in the Sikkim sector, national security adviser Ajit Doval’s visit to China has come and gone. Nothing much has changed on the ground. Beijing continues to harangue and wage its psychological warfare, sometimes by reminding India of 1962 and sometimes by suggesting that countermeasures from Beijing would be unavoidable if the Narendra Modi government continues to ignore the Chinese warnings. Chinese officials even went to the extent of informing a visiting Indian media delegation that Bhutan has conveyed to Beijing through diplomatic channels that the area of the standoff...

Brussels [Belgium], July 14 (ANI): An aggresive China did not anticipate India stepping in a strong manner to defend Bhutan's territorial sovereignty during its unilateral move to build a motorable road from Dokala in Doklam area towards the Bhutan Army camp in Zornpelri, according to Ryszard Czarnecki, vice president of the European Parliament. In an article written for EP Today, Czarnecki has exposed Beijing's lie of assuring the international community that its 'peaceful rise' would not in any way threaten the established order, but instead promote a peaceful international environment. He clearly states that China has been following a foreign...

In Judaism, there is a concept of “chesed shel emet” – a truly righteous act. Usually, this refers to acts we do for the deceased. How we handle the burial, words we speak. These are consider truly righteous because you do it with the full knowledge that the dead can’t pay you back. The motive is pure and often given at a time when of great need. Sometimes, I see or hear about something that seems to reach almost that level of kindness. Something that touches deep inside and seems to be a kindness that comes simply from human decency...

Kansas, US: An engineer from Hyderabad was shot dead and another was injured on Wednesday night after a man at a bar in Kansas in US allegedly opened fire at them, yelling, "get out of my country". The injured techie was rushed to a hospital. Adam Purinton, a 51-year-old Navy veteran, reportedly shot dead Srinivas Kuchibhotla, and injured Alok Madasani at around 7:15 p.m. on Wednesday. The accused has been arrested and charged with murder. Purinton was reportedly drunk and continuously exclaimed racial slurs. When a bar staff told him to stop, he yelled "get out of my country" and...

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin With Indian President Pranab MukherjeeIndia loves Israel; there is not even an iota of doubt about it. Arguably, there were several pretensions and preventions earlier, but now India and Israel are out in open to change their relationship status from ‘it’s complicated’ to ‘engaged’, and perhaps for some, even ‘married’. PM's Modi & NetanyahuWith the arrival of Israeli President Reuven Rivlin at Mumbai airport for a six-day visit, both Tel Aviv and Delhi will send a strong message across the world about their bilateral relations. This, for the advocates of Indo-Israeli relations, is happening quite slowly,...

Rivlin will meet with Indian PM, other high level officials in bid to strengthen ties President Reuven Rivlin and First Lady Nechama Rivlin landed Monday morning in India for a state visit at the invitation of Indian President Pranab Mukherjee. During his visit, the official nature of which will begin Tuesday, Rivlin will hold meetings with high level officials, including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in attempt to strengthen ties with the Asian country. Upon arriving in New Delhi, Rivlin was given flowers and was welcomed by government representatives. Moments before leaving Israel for the visit, Rivlin said: “I am...

India is witnessing the emergence of a movement of 'ex-Muslims'. Troubled by the involvement of Muslims in suicide bombings in primarily Muslim countries like Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and Pakistan, helped by the availability of alternative interpretations of Islam on the internet, and driven by a questioning mind, Muslim youths in India are gradually leaving Islam. Such youths — both men and women, and well educated — are typically in their twenties and thirties and describe themselves as ex-Muslims, atheists or cultural Muslims. They network through social media, Facebook and WhatsApp, often use anonymous IDs, and are based in towns across...

INS Rajput firing a BrahMos missile. Wikimedia Commons/Indian Navy While many of us remain mesmerized by the unfolding shambles in the Middle East, the world’s two most populous countries have gotten into a tiff over missiles. And I’m not referring to the ballistic kind for once. “India deploying supersonic missiles on the border has exceeded its own needs for self-defense and poses a serious threat to China’s Tibet and Yunnan provinces,” complained the People’s Liberation Army Daily. “The deployment of BrahMos missile is bound to increase the competition and antagonism in the China–India relations and will have a negative impact...

NEW DELHI: Adding more teeth to the Navy’s surveillance capabilities, India on Wednesday signed a deal worth over $1 billion with American defence and aerospace major Boeing for procuring four additional Poseidon-8I long-range maritime surveillance and anti-submarine warfare aircraft. The US has emerged as the biggest supplier of military hardware to India and with Wednesday's agreement, the total value of defence deals signed with the US in the last decade comes to around $15 billion. According to defence sources, the contract is a follow-on order to the eight P-81 planes worth $2.1 billion bought by India in a direct deal...