In an extraordinary show of determination to defeat the Dawlat al-Islamiyah f’al-Iraq w Belaad al-Sham (Daesh) or Islamic State (IS), Riyadh deputed Prince Khaled bin Salman, son of Crown Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz, and an unidentified royal scion to join the military action against the terrorist group. On September 25, Prince Khaled piloted one of the plan...
The face-off between Indian and Chinese troops at the line of actual control (LAC) in Ladakh has been averted. Thanks to efforts of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and her counterpart Wang Yi at the margins of the UN General Assembly. The Chinese troops have begun withdrawing from Chumar in Ladakh following the flag meeting between the two sides. The...
The shoddiness and incompetence visible in history books written by the so-called eminent historians are not due to individual carelessness or lack of information. For communists, the use of any history is to prove their dogma. The moving power of communism is a deep-rooted self-alienation and its main ally is cultural and spiritual illiteracy. The leftist w...
Indian history is a battlefield. Hindu nationalists fight off invading colonial canards and Marxist mumbo jumbo of materialistic interpretation of history. Secularists, alarmed by the saffron surge, sound shrill warnings against communalisation of history writing. Stalinist activists masquerading as historians girdle up to resist intrusion of sundries...
Ukraine and neo-Nazis: Ever since serious protest broke out in Ukraine in February the Western mainstream media, particularly in the United States, has seriously downplayed the fact that the usual suspects – the US/European Union/NATO triumvirate – have been on the same side as the neo-Nazis. In the US it’s been virtually unmentionable. I’m sure that a poll ...
Glorious Bharatiya Tradition: When it comes to religious tradition and the cultural heritage associated with it, our culture stands foremost in the world, with thousands of temples more than millennia old, a continuous legacy of pious worship by Hindus from across the world. Since ancient times, temples have been seats of learning. The temple tradition inclu...
The transmigration of individual souls, long derided as the most fantastic of Hindu beliefs, has in the last century been made irrefutable by the scientific discoveries of the matter-energy continuum and the genetic code. When a person dies the indestructible energy pattern of the body floats free and transports the unique soul to a new material form, much a...
Those cheering the revival of the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister’s fortunes in the recent bye-elections must concede that if this is the defeat of the BJP’s ‘love jihad’, it is equally the victory of the ‘boys will be boys’ mindset bolstered by Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav at the height of atrocities against girls in the State. This could prov...
Cease-fire and its reasons: The piping-hot stage of the Ukraine crisis was over with signing of Minsk cease-fire agreement. It is far from clear how long the cease-fire will last, and whether it will morph into stable peace; still this pause provides a chance to review policies and strategies of the sides. The first part of this essay dealt with the Ukrainia...
Q: How is the momentum for the border talks going after the statements by the two leaders?
It is unreasonable to expect sudden momentum in the border talks after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping had their first ever formal talks. The border issue is a complex one with variables on the basis on which both India and China have...
Following the Arab Spring that began in December 2011, the situation in West Asia and North Africa, particularly in Iraq and Syria is taking an ugly turn and has not only put Indian diplomacy to test but is likely to pose a challenge to India’s security concerns and economic interests. The region has brought both local and external powers in play. The...
Since Narendra Modi became Prime Minister of India in May, world events have propelled India and Modi into the association of a group of nations that are keen to advance nation-building activities around the world. The most important was perhaps the gathering strength of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa), and their stated intent to...
Though Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent visit to Japan probably achieved less than what India desired, it did achieve handsome results. Japan promised $ 34 billion investment in India in the next five years. Though the much awaited India-Japan civilian nuclear deal did not come through, the two leaders agreed to accelerate talks on a nuclear energy pac...
Never one to believe in the shackles of legality, former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger has decided to give advice entirely free of it. It is comforting to know that a man who was instrumental in illegal, unauthorised operations in Cambodia and Laos, among other things, should find it appropriate to advise the stumbling Obama administration where it m...
The Islamic State (IS) is portrayed as an Enemy of America and the Western world. With the support of America’s indefectible British ally, President Barack Obama has ordered a series of US bombing raids on Iraq allegedly with a view to defeating the rebel army of the Islamic State (IS). “We will not waver in our determination to confront the Islamic State … ...
As Dawlat al-Islamiyah f’al-Iraq w Belaad al-Sham (Daesh or Islamic State) beheaded British aid worker David Haines [probably on Sept 13] and threatened to kill another British hostage, the West realises it cannot defer confronting this menace. Amidst its countless victims, the Daesh has beheaded two American and one Syrian journalist in just the...
The rise of the Islamic State will inspire other jihadist groups to claim their own caliphates and emirates. In the long run, the extremism of these contrived dominions and the competition among them will undermine the jihadist movement. However, before that happens, the world will witness much upheaval.
In a 52-minute video that surfaced in late August, Ab...
The capture of the Iraqi city of Mosul and surrounding areas in June 2014 drew the world’s attention of the sudden rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria/the Levant (variously called the ISIS, ISIS or IS). Since then, this monster was allowed to grow and spread its influence over a large portion of Iraq and Syria. It was only when it closed in on Erbil,...
The NATO summit, which kicked off today [4 Sept] in Newport (Wales), provides the opportunity for the Alliance, ie the United States, the United Kingdom and their vassals, to share the commitment to and the cost of current offensives: on one hand, the war that is being prepared against Russia and, on the other hand, the ethnic cleansing taking place in the...
The glitzy NATO summit in Newport has not publicly announced major decisions but it is likely that they were taken in secret. To prevent Russia and China - but also India - from continuing their development, NATO can count on Terrorism from the Islamic Emirate which it pretends to condemn and fight.
The Newport (Wales) Summit is NATO’s largest since the 200...
The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is an armed fundamentalist Muslim terrorist group which is waging war against the elected governments of Syria and Iraq. This terrorist group, in the name of religion, has not only slaughtered thousands of women, children and senior citizens in broad daylight, but also proudly uploaded all the pictures on its websit...
A recent book review in The Hindu of “India’s Grand Strategy: History, Theory, Cases” presented such a muddle of views on the topic that I did some research and made the frightening discovery that our leading lights in the field don’t know what they are talking about. India's best and brightest seem to think that “Grand Strategy” is some form of intellectual...
Whatever one’s assessment of Islam – Abrahamic offspring, way of life, Arab nationalism, post-Byzantine Arab empire, moderate, or outright murderous towards those outside the charmed circle of jihadi warriors – a bizarre facet of contemporary Islam deserves attention, partly because of its scandalous morality, but mainly because it is irreconcilable with any...
Australia and Japan are two important players in the Indo-Pacific region, the main geo-political global theatre. Modi has won over Japan through his civilisational diplomacy and Australia through civil nuclear cooperation. The civil nuclear energy deal matters to an energy starved India. Though a deal of this nature could not be signed during the recent visi...
The United States is, at the moment, off balance. It faces challenges in the Syria-Iraq theater as well as challenges in Ukraine. It does not have a clear response to either. It does not know what success in either theater would look like, what resources it is prepared to devote to either, nor whether the consequences of defeat would be...
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Hari Om
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06 Sep 2014
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The prospect of the BJP putting up a good show in the upcoming assembly elections in Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) has completely upset Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, also the working president of the National Conference (NC). The growing popularity and acceptability of the BJP in all three regions of the state – Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh – has unnerved and alarmed h...
An important disclaimer, caveat and clarification:
First, I will begin by a clear disclaimer which I ask you all to please carefully read and then keep in mind: I personally am not advocating any option for the final status of Novorussia. That is for the people of Novorussia to decide and any option that they will choose I will support. Furthermore, at...
While for the past 35 years Saudi Arabia has supported all the jihadist movements to the most extremist, Riyadh seems suddenly to have changed policy. Threatened in its very existence by a possible attack from the Islamic Emirate, Saudi Arabia has given the signal for the destruction of the organization. But contrary to appearances, the EIS remains supported...
August having turned to September with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif doggedly in office if not fully in command, growing voices in Pakistan question the hidden hands behind the pincer attack on the regime by Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan and Canadian cleric cum Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) leader Tahirul Qadri on Independence Day (August 1...
Too often, people with at best a perfunctory understanding of Hinduism, equate it with spirituality. Self-styled Indologists do not help by portraying Hinduism as a stuffy and antiquated set of rules laced with an overdose of ornate rituals. What many fail to realize is that multitude of schools of philosophical thought also stemmed from Hinduism, and repres...
The sudden emergence of another organized militant Islamist-terrorist group, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), aka the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), or simply IS, along the Iraqi-Syria borders, was not really “sudden” at all. A series of West-organized military actions, particularly the Iraq invasion of 2003, invasion of Libya in 201...