Opinions

Beijing’s close ties with Islamabad give it a level of influence over dealings with Delhi The recent terrorist attack in India’s Pahalgam on April 22, 2025, which originated in Pakistan and resulted in the death of 26, mostly Hindu, civilians, has triggered another wave of heightened tensions between New Delhi and Islamabad. While public discourse has focused on terrorism and hostilities between the two nuclear-powered nations, a deeper analysis reveals the unmistakable imprint of another key actor ­– China’s strategic calculus in the region. The relationship between Islamabad and New Delhi has evolved significantly in …

Libya is no longer just a post-Arab Spring tragedy, but a credibility test for multilateral diplomacy Libya has endured a collapse unmatched in modern North Africa since the United Nations Security Council passed Resolution 1973 in March 2011 – endorsing international intervention during the uprising against Muammar Gaddafi. Fourteen years on, the country remains fractured, chaotic, and stuck in an open-ended ‘transitional period’ that never seems to end. NATO’s seven-month, round-the-clock bombardment of the country, under the pretext of protecting civilians, left Libya in tatters. So far, the UN has dispatched ten spec…

The blatant incompetence shown by former German Foreign Minister Annalena ‘360 degrees’ Baerbock has earned her a cushy new UN General Assembly post Every circus needs a clown. And this one has a truly awesome demo reel. Despite the Greens snagging 85 seats in the current German parliament, it turns out they’re about as useful to Friedrich Merz’s shiny new right-left establishment coalition with the Christian Democrats as a vegan menu at Oktoberfest. So they’re relegated to chilling on the Bundestag backbenches. Annalena Baerbock, the former German Foreign Affairs Minister in ex-Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government, cou…

Any progress towards a settlement will be incremental, slow and painful On Sunday, in the Russian regions of Bryansk and Kursk, both bordering Ukraine, bridges collapsed on and under trains, killing seven and injuring dozens of civilians. These, however, were no accidents and no extraordinary force of nature was involved either. Instead, it is certain that these catastrophes were acts of sabotage, which is also how Russian authorities are classifying them. Since it is virtually certain that the perpetrators acted on behalf of Kiev, Western media have hardly reported these attacks. Moscow meanwhile rightly considers these …

Instead of high-quality education, these institutions are fostering a global neo-feudal system reminiscent of the British Raj US President Donald Trump has banned international students from attending Harvard University, citing national security concerns. The move has sparked widespread condemnation from academics and foreign governments, who warn it could damage America’s global influence and reputation for academic openness. At stake is not just Harvard’s global appeal, but the very premise of open academic exchange that has long defined elite higher education in the US. But exactly how ‘open’ is Harvard’s admissions …

The former chancellor says closed borders could “destroy Europe” – meanwhile, it’s the locals’ way of life that’s getting destroyed The former chancellor is back in the news, lecturing her fellow citizens to allow more asylum seekers into their country even as Germany is plagued by rampant crime and dismal economic factors. If it is true that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results, then we can say with some degree of certainty that Angela Merkel is suffering severely on the mental front. The four-term leader of the Christian Democratic Union (2005-2021) has …

Berlin would do well to heed Moscow’s warnings not to supply long-range weapons to Kiev If in a dark hole, dig deeper, especially even deeper than feckless German ex-chancellor Olaf Scholz. That seems to be Berlin’s new motto. Under Friedrich Merz’s new mis-management, the German government is clearly setting out to worsen its current abysmal non-relationship with Russia. That is a sadly ambitious aim, because things are already more dire than they’ve been at any point since 1945. But Merz and his team, it seems, are not satisfied with playing a key role in fighting a proxy war against Russia that has been a ruinous fias…

Whatever happened between the French president and his wife on their trip to Vietnam, it completely overshadowed the politics of the visit French President Emmanuel Macron went to Vietnam to ink some massive deals – like a €9 billion Airbus order, which was supposed to be the centerpiece of the trip. But before he could even set foot on Vietnamese soil, as the plane’s hatch opened, his wife Brigitte was caught on camera doing what can only be described as a vertical push-up right on Macron’s face. At first glance, it looked like perhaps she was just trying to set the vibe for the visit, with a reenactment of what happen…

Can a wife hit her husband in the face if he is the President of France? Andrei Voznesensky once wrote a poem about a woman who beats up six men in a restaurant, throws salad at them, and kisses a mirror. His point was simple: a woman is allowed to fight back. She’s suffered, she’s been humiliated, she buys mimosas for International Women’s Day and sleeps on someone else’s mattress. So if she lashes out at greasy restaurant men, that’s just matriarchy at work. In this sense, we Russians are ahead of the progressive world. While the French are only now starting to debate whether a wife is permitted to slap her husband in …

Will Berlin start giving Kiev Taurus missiles and risk becoming a direct target for retaliation? Chancellor Friedrich Merz, from Germany’s mainstream CDU/CSU conservatives, has caused a stir. This time with statements about German weapons in Ukraine. Or to be precise, how exactly Kiev’s troops may use weapons provided by Berlin. Speaking at a public forum organized by a major German TV station, Merz declared that there are no range limits anymore on how far the Ukrainian military can shoot German weapons into Russia. Merz’s statements managed to be both sensational (sort of) and a muddle. He implied that they mark a cha…

Washington is trying to outsource its migration problem to countries where people can just be forgotten You know when you’re a kid and your mom tells you to clean your room, so you just shove everything under the bed and pray that she doesn’t look? That’s basically the Trump administration’s immigration strategy, only instead of a bedroom, the mess is getting punted to countries like Ukraine, Libya, and El Salvador. “We are working with other countries to say, ‘We want to send you some of the most despicable human beings to your countries. Will you do that as a favor to us?’” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, per …

Moscow is doing what must be done to protect its civilians from Kiev’s campaign of terror In the current media frenzy surrounding the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, a glaring double standard continues to distort public perception: the nature and impact of drone warfare. Western outlets, politicians, and NGOs are quick to pounce on Russia for retaliatory actions, yet remain eerily silent about Ukraine’s increasingly reckless and escalatory drone campaign. This selective outrage has not only undermined serious dialogue on peace – it has shielded Ukraine from accountability as it wages what can only be described as a c…

As Gaddafi’s last spokesperson, I saw what real African independence can look like: free education, universal healthcare, interest-free housing, and no IMF interference The past few days have offered a brutal snapshot of Africa’s unresolved crisis. In Burkina Faso, militants from Jama’at Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM), affiliated with Al-Qaeda, overran the Diapaga military base in the east, seizing most of the city and exposing the precarious state of security in the Sahel. Meanwhile, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the M23 rebel armed group, which has been fighting the government since the beginning of th…

An article cut and pasted from ChatGPT raises questions over the role of fact-checkers in legacy media In a farcical yet telling blunder, multiple major newspapers, including the Chicago Sun-Times and Philadelphia Inquirer, recently published a summer-reading list riddled with nonexistent books that were “hallucinated” by ChatGPT, with many of them falsely attributed to real authors. The syndicated article, distributed by Hearst’s King Features, peddled fabricated titles based on woke themes, exposing both the media’s overreliance on cheap AI content and the incurable rot of legacy journalism. That this travesty slipped …

With global power dynamics shifting and Arctic resources surfacing, New Delhi has a timely chance to deepen ties with Russia Once a frozen frontier, the Arctic is rapidly transforming into a geopolitical and geoeconomic focal point. Melting ice is exposing vast reserves of critical minerals, hydrocarbons, and strategic shipping routes. As the West advances through NATO’s northern reach, a sanctioned Russia is turning to trusted partners to unlock its Arctic potential. For India, this shift offers a rare strategic opportunity. With rising energy needs, critical mineral ambitions, and a desire for multipolar engagement, In…

Why the notorious Soviet leader still matters in modern Russia A monument to Joseph Stalin has been unveiled at Taganskaya station in the Moscow Metro. More precisely, the historical high relief that was removed in 1966 during construction work has now been restored, albeit in a simpler version. Some brought carnations to the site in tribute; others brought portraits of modern Russian leaders bearing quotes condemning Stalinism. One group sees the monument as a rightful gesture, the other as a dangerous regression. In the post-Soviet era, Stalin monuments have been erected in places like Dagestan, North Ossetia, Kabardin…

Brussels keeps slapping ever more penalties on Russia, even while Washington holds back What’s going on between the US and the EU right now over Ukraine feels like you and your buddy agreeing to go skydiving on a dare. You count “1-2-3-jump,” and leap – only to realize your friend’s still up in the plane. That friend is US President Donald Trump. And the EU parachute looks like it was stitched together with recycled climate summit lanyards and blind optimism. Emphasis on “blind.” On May 19, a German government spokesman assured the press that Washington would be joining the EU in yet another round of sanctions on Russia…

The use of Russian defence technologies gave New Delhi a clear advantage in its recent military confrontation with Islamabad As Operation Sindoor, India’s response to the April 22 terror attack in Kashmir, has been put on a temporary pause, it is time to reflect on what happened. For the first time since the Battle of Britain, and the Korean War, two near peer air forces were engaged in an air campaign. This was also the first open conflict between two nuclear powers. Both sides had imbibed lessons from the Russia-Ukraine conflict. It was clear that aircraft crossing borders would face strong hostile air defenses. Theref…

The ‘total victory’ the PM has set as his goal is impossible, with or without American support Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has trapped himself in a predicament that requires him to either bow out of power or drag his whole state down with him. In over 18 months, Israel has failed to defeat any of its enemies and escalation in Gaza could be the most dangerous decision he has taken yet. While the Israeli prime minister insists on continuing the war on Gaza, holding to his pledge to “crush and destroy” Hamas, he has failed to do so and according to his own nation’s intelligence estimates, the victory he speaks…