Maharashtra crisis: BJP betrays Shiv Sena and people; a lesson for Saffron allies

 The treatment which is being given to the Shiv Sena at this juncture inspite of a decades old alliance comes as a lesson for Thackeray’s dynasty and to all the allies of the BJP across India. Sena Chief Uddhav Thackeray should now explore another option to form a government, independent of each other, as their Plan B by taking Congress and NCP on board.

India and Pakistan on the Brink of War : China, Russia sees opportunity in US absence

Feb 28 ; The aerial combat engagement between Indian and Pakistani Air Forces against each other risks triggering into a worst escalation if not a war like situation between South Asia's nuclear-armed rivals.

Modi 's informal summits with Jinping, Putin : A big failure

Prime Minister Narendra Modi started his tenure by pledging to take India to new heights by declaring it a power of South Asia but has ended into becoming a subservient to China with weak economy .

Militarization of South China Sea by China could trigger conflict with US

To rule the world's sea, China is using both soft and hard power to increase its military footprint across the world. Deployment of anti-ship cruise missiles and surface-to-air missile systems in the Spratly Islands by China has escalated the risks of possible military clashes with the United States and also renewed tensions between countries who are claimants of strategically vital Sou

Narendra Modi-Xi jinping meet:Agendas and priorities

The Modi government has been deeply involved in  secretive meetings and agreements with China, keeping  the Opposition parties and people of India in dark amidst the heavy deployment of PLA and military vehicles in South Doklam, providing Chinese access to the ‘Jampheri Ridge’ that overlooks the Siliguri Corridor i.e. the strategic ‘Chicken Neck’ which is the ‘Gateway to India's North East’.

Xi-Modi summit:China regional power, India to remain cautious

There should not be high expectations from the informal summit between PM Modi and President Xi in the Wuhan on the banks of Yangtze as India has already bowed to please regional power China by cancelling the events of Dalai lama in New Delhi.

Modi's Kashmir strategy boomerangs: Youth radicalised, Army faces heat

The situation in Jammu and Kashmir is grim and both the PDP-BJP coalition government in the state and the Modi government at the centre has failed to put an end to the killings and violence in kashmir, increasing radicalisation of youth who are taking up arms rather the crisis has deepened after the kathua gangrape came to light and the manner in which lawyers of the bar council and BJP ministers shielded the accused.

Trump's tactics in diplomacy:Boosts Pompeo's image, secures America's interests

US President Donald Trump boosted the calibre of CIA director Mike Pompeo who travelled to North Korea to meet with leader Kim Jong Un,a secret visit undertaken by him to lay the groundwork for the planned upcoming historic summit between the two leaders.

US, Russia and the Middle East

Warning by the Russian President Vladimir Putin that further Western attacks on Syria  would bring chaos to the world affairs,it  throws light on the prospect of  a real possibility of a direct military confrontation between the United States and Russia.

Afghanistan- Pakistan Call on Taliban to join Peace Talks

President Ashraf Ghani and visiting Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi have called on the Afghan Taliban to respond positively to the peace offer and join the peace process without further delay. They agreed that there was no military solution to the ongoing Afghan conflict and that the political solution was the best way to end the 17 year old war.

Britain's blunder :Can't confirm whether nerve agent was from Russia

Social media is abuzz with the announcement by Britain scientists who denied that Russia is the source of the nerve agent A-234 (also known as "Novichok") which was used to poison former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his 33-year-old daughter Yulia in early March in the English city of Salisbury.

Kim's diplomacy indicates China's Xi playing central role in nuclear deal

Highly secretive China's visit by North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un is significant as it raises questions about the purpose of suddenly adopting a diplomatic approach after carrying out provocative nuclear and missile
tests for years.

Narendra Modi app to influence voters , ISIS app for terror :Be cautious

Social  media has emerged as a grave threat for the society and the countries as it is being misused by terrorist groups political parties and rival countries to subvert democracies.

Power game by Saudi creates havoc in Middle East

The decades long strategic rivalry between Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shiite Iran for power and influence has destabilized the entire Middle East .The war in Yemen has entered its fourth year and the conflict has escalated to such an extent that U.S.-supplied Patriot missiles intercepted a ballistic missile fired at the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh by Yemen's Houthi rebels.

Feeling unease over its shrinking influence in the Middle East stretching from the Mediterranean Sea to the Gulf and Arabian Sea,Saudi is making an attempt to curtail Iran's regional hegemony by pursuing military campaign in Yemen backed by US,provided financial assistance and weapons to anti-Assad forces in Syria to promote regime change and is also making contacts with potential groups in Iraq.

Saudi Arabia reacted and countered the spring revolution in the Arab world that began from Tunisia in 2010 by establishing the pro-Saudi government in Bahrain, Egypt and Tunisia but Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Libya remain plagued with civil war and insurrection.Riyadh continues to stoke sectarian tensions in the Middle East with the assistance of non-Arab Sunni players such as Turkey and Pakistan.

Meanwhile, Jordan is threatened by Islamic State and burdened with sheltering with over 650,000 refugees rom Iraq and Syria , which amount to its 10 percent of the population.While Egypt faces many domestic challenges including continuing jihadist insurgency in Sinai.

Libya has two competing governments entangled in a violent, nationwide power struggle,targeting Libya's lucrative oil sector.To reclaim its influence in the region and give an impression of aggressive behavior,Saudi Kingdom pressurized Lebanon’s prime minister, Saad Hariri to resign in November last year who publicly accused Iran of an assassination plot against him.

Kingdom’s heavy-handed approach with Lebanon's Prime Minister Hariri alienated even its staunch allies like the United States, Kuwait, Jordan, Egypt including Hariri’s Lebanese Sunni party. It was reflected when Pakistan refused to send its army to assist the kingdom in Yemen and the Egypt,the Kingdom’s “strategic partner”also reportedly refused to send large numbers of ground troops,instead,a small contingent of several hundred soldiers and three to four ships were sent to assist Riyadh.

Prince Mohammed is on a mission to shake up the power structure of his own country and of the entire region to revive its hegemonic role in the Middle East.But certain actions including the eheading of a prominent Saudi Shia cleric, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr in 2016 sparked protests throughout the world—from the Middle East to South Asia and even Europe.

As Iran integrated into the international community due to the nuclear deal, Tehran's economy re-entered the oil market. Iran contains the fourth largest crude oil reserves, and the second largest natural gas reserves in the world.

Through his calculated decision of reigniting sectarian strife in the Persian Gulf,Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman aims to exert his aggression toward his adversaries so as to revive its influence in the region that declined under King Abdullah’s rule.
The civil war in Yemen has been transformed into a proxy battle among Mideast rivals.While as the forces succeeded in eliminating Islamic State from Iraq and Syria, Turkey is exploiting the situation by expanding its war against Kurdish fighters in both the countries , by arguing that Kurdish groups are linked to the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) that has launched a decades-long separatist insurgency against Ankara.

Turkey has invaded northwest region of Afrin in January to oust the YPG ,consequently at least 150,000 people have been displaced in this area along the border between Turkey and Syria .There are reports in the online media of Lebanon that Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has stated that Saudi Arabia offered Syria hundreds of billions of dollars for reconstruction if the war-torn country severed its ties with Iran, but the offer was turned down by Bashar al-Assad.

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, from 1950 to 2016,the United States provided Saudi Arabia with more than $34 billion worth of arms,while the United Kingdom with more than $10 billion, and France with more than $7 billion.

Former secretary of State Hillary Clinton wrote in a classified cable in 2009 "Donors in Saudi Arabia constitute the most significant source of funding to Sunni terrorist groups worldwide,”While Riyadh “takes seriously the threat of terrorism within its country, it has been an ongoing challenge to persuade Saudi officials to treat terrorist financing emanating from Saudi Arabia as a strategic priority,” she explained.

In other words, Sunni-based extremist groups continue to carry out Saudi Arabia’s interest in undermining Iran and Iran’s Shia allies across the Middle East.

Thus all the developments in the region show how the world institutions such as United Nations have failed to act and stabilise the Middle East and address the great game of power struggle between Saudi and Iran,the threat posed by Sunni-based extremist groups that has created world’s most urgent humanitarian crisis in the region.

The leaders of the countries who are aspiring to increase their influence and power must bear in mind to enhance their countries status, political social and economic structures so that more and more countries would desire to join for their own prosperity and betterment

Trump-Kim meet may bring in win-win situation for both

An extraordinary diplomatic move by sitting US President of accepting the invitation to meet North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un reflects victory of Donald Trump's foreign policy of applying "maximum pressure ".

Putin claims new nuclear capable missile can pierce US defenses

President Vladimir Putin said Russia has developed a new array of nuclear weapons that are invincible, invulnerable to US missile defence as he stands for re-election this month.