Billboard of pictures of nuclear scientists and centrifuges captioned ‘Science is the power’, Enqelab square, Tehran, August 29, 2025 There is extremely alarming news about the situation around Iran. In consultations with the Trump administration — rather, in deference to the command from Washington — the E3 countries (Britain, France and Germany) who are the … Continue reading "West Asia is lurching toward war"| Indian Punchline
The U.S. President Donald Trump ruled out the possibility of trade negotiations with India until the issue of tariffs is resolved, White House, Washington, August 7, 2025 Reserve Bank of India Governor Sanjay Malhotra’s remark on Wednesday that the US tariff hike is unlikely to have any “major impact” on India’s economy, “subject to retaliatory … Continue reading "India’s existential angst to confront Western imperialism" The post India’s existential angst to confront Western ...| Indian Punchline
President Ronald Reagan (R) and CPSU General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev (L) signed the INF Treaty, White House, Washington, August 12, 1987 The American Nobel laureate Pearl S. Buck handed down to the Nobel-aspirant American president Donald Trump a golden maxim but he seems oblivious of it — although his life is made of a surfeit … Continue reading "Trump is taunting India but is an emperor without clothes" The post Trump is taunting India but is an emperor without clothes appeared fi...| Indian Punchline
An American F-35 flies over Russia’s fifth generation Su-57E fighter jet, Aero India 2025, Bengaluru, India, February 13, 2025 Well-known author, fund manager and columnist for the Financial Times Ruchir Sharma wrote this week that the perception that the US President Donald Trump’s gambit with tariffs would have grave consequences have not really been borne … Continue reading "A frenemy named Donald Trump" The post A frenemy named Donald Trump appeared first on Indian Punchline.| Indian Punchline
President Donald Trump, left, met Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for a dinner in the White House, July 7, 2025. Trump secures Iran deal with eye on New Middle East Even in the darkest hour of the US-Iran standoff since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, it was never lost on perceptive observers that the acrimonious … Continue reading "Middle East in Crisis – 9" The post Middle East in Crisis – 9 appeared first on Indian Punchline.| Indian Punchline
A large-scale NATO military exercise earlier this year. Credit…Davide Monteleone for The New York Times Viewed through the Cold War prism, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation’s decision at its recent summit meeting at the Hague to boost the defence spending by member countries to 5 percent of national income may appear to a naive onlooker as … Continue reading "NATO’s mega spending pleases Trump" The post NATO’s mega spending pleases Trump appeared first on Indian Punchline.| Indian Punchline
Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) with French President Emmanuel Macron in talks in Kremlin early February 2022, Moscow France seeks a role in Iran situation On July 1, did you hear the crunching sound of ice cracking on the frozen lake of Russia-France ties? President Vladimir Putin’s decision to take a phone call on … Continue reading "Middle East in Crisis – 8" The post Middle East in Crisis – 8 appeared first on Indian Punchline.| Indian Punchline
Funeral ceremony for military commanders and nuclear scientists martyred during Israel’s 12-day war, Tehran, June 28, 2025 Trump flip-flops on Iran, again. Why? The US President Donald Trump’s latest Truth Social post yesterday on Iran nuclear issue reads as follows: “Tell phony Democrat Senator Chris Coons that I am not offering Iran ANYTHING, unlike Obama, … Continue reading "Middle East in Crisis – 7" The post Middle East in Crisis – 7 appeared first on Indian Punchline.| Indian Punchline
America’s peacemaking president Donald Trump emerges out of White House after wrapping up a ceasefire in the war in West Asia, heading for the Netherlands for the 2025 NATO Summit that marks a consolidation of the western alliance system under US leadership, Washington, DC, June 23, 2025 Trump won’t brook opposition to peace talks with … Continue reading "Middle East in Crisis – 6" The post Middle East in Crisis – 6 appeared first on Indian Punchline.| Indian Punchline
Russian President Vladimir Putin received Iran’s foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, Kremlin, June 23, 2025 The former President and Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Security Council Dmitry Medvedev who is one of the most authoritative voices in the Kremlin, wrote on the Telegram channel on June 23 a critique on the Middle East crisis following the US attack … Continue reading "Middle East in Crisis – 5" The post Middle East in Crisis – 5 appeared first on Indian Punchline.| Indian Punchline
Russian President Vladimir Putin (3rd from left on top) met with heads of international news agencies, St. Petersburg, June 19, 2025 Putin in reflective mood muses on US-Iran confrontation The US President Donald Trump who sought President Vladimir Putin’s active help a fortnight ago to mediate in the negotiations over Iran nuclear issue has … Continue reading "Middle East in Crisis – 4"| Indian Punchline
Posted on August 8, 2025August 8, 2025| Indian Punchline
The Indian media reports make out that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s reception for the seven parliamentary delegations waging the war on terror turned into a social occasion to celebrate the flashes of ‘national unity’ before the hurly-burly of politics returns as the election cycle picks up. The PMO did not issue any press release on … Continue reading "US snubs India’s war on terror"| Indian Punchline
President Donald Trump: Bracing for a longer Ukraine war One of the mysteries of the Ukraine endgame is that President Donald Trump did not issue an executive order on January 20 withdrawing all support for Ukraine. That would have been the easiest way to end the war. The conditions were propitious — Candidate Trump didn’t mince … Continue reading "Trump won’t walk away from Ukraine war"| Indian Punchline
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian (C) at an exhibition “National Day of Nuclear Technology”, Tehran, April 9, 2025 With the foreplay over and US-Iranian talks commencing in Muscat on Saturday, a constructive engagement has begun in right earnestness. The sure sign of it is that Iran’s currency rose nearly 6 percent on Sunday. The Tehran bazaar, … Continue reading "US, Iran take a leap forward in trust building"| Indian Punchline
Steve Witkoff, President Trump’s senior aide on Russia negotiations, is expected to kickstart talks with Tehran (File photo) The rubric of the US-Iranian talks slated for Saturday in Muscat turned into a vanity fair of sorts — whether the talks should be called ‘indirect’ or ‘direct’. The US President Donald Trump sought direct talks and … Continue reading "Steve Witkoff’s Iran mission holds seamless possibilities"| Indian Punchline
Russian president’s Special Representative on investment and economic cooperation Kirill Dmitriev had two days of consultations with US administration officials, Washington, DC, April 3, 2025 The visit by the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund and special representative of the Russian president for investment and economic cooperation Kirill Dmitriev to Washington on April 2-3, the … Continue reading "Russia and the US made “three steps forward” after two days of consultations...| Indian Punchline
Ukraine’s president Vladimir Zelensky (L) with European leaders and NATO chief at the European summit, Paris, March 27, 2025 In an unguarded moment, perhaps, ex-UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson blurted out recently in an interview that the ultranationalist elements who rule the roost in Kiev are a formidable obstacle to ending the war in Ukraine. For … Continue reading "A Third Way to end the war in Ukraine"| Indian Punchline
The US special envoy for Middle East Steve Witkoff has disclosed that Tehran has made back channel contacts following a recent letter from President Trump (L) addressed to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (R) suggesting talks. The air is thick with the prognosis that a military confrontation between the US and Iran is now … Continue reading "Talk of US-Iran war is all a load of baloney"| Indian Punchline
An April 2023 satellite photo from Planet Labs PBC showing construction on an underground facility in the tangled mountains somewhere near Iran’s Natanz nuclear site which has been targeted by Israeli sabotage attacks multiple times Iran’s Islamic revolution is in transition My one-week visit to Tehran to observe the presidential election last June came … Continue reading "Trump bends the arc of history in West Asia – Part I"| Indian Punchline
A section of Bratstvo (“Brotherhood”) transit gas pipeline, in a forest near Mukachevo, western Ukraine (File photo) The dataset by the Brussels-based think tank Brugel aggregating the data on European natural gas import flows and storage levels puts in perspective Ukraine’s decision to halt the transit of Russian gas to Europe. The statistics reveal that … Continue reading "Kiev plays games with Russian gas transit"| Indian Punchline
President-elect Donald Trump with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni of Italy at Mar-a-Lago, Florida on Saturday Jan. 4, 2024 ESTRAGON: Don’t touch me! Don’t question me! Don’t speak to me! Stay with me! VLADIMIR: Did I ever leave you? ESTRAGON: You let me go. — Waiting for Godot, by Samuel Beckett One great transformation of the … Continue reading "Ukraine war turns into absurdist fiction"| Indian Punchline
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian (R) met Prime Minister of Russia Mikhail Mishustin (L), Tehran, October 30, 2024 The US president Joe Biden sprang a surprise during a press gaggle with reporters outside the White House on Thursday when he essentially didn’t rule out a potential meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin at the upcoming summits … Continue reading "West Asian crisis prompts Biden to break ice with Putin"| Indian Punchline
Donald Trump (L) has named Senator JD Vance, R-Ohio (R) as his running mate in the November 5 presidential election (File photo) If only National Security Advisor Ajit Doval had deferred by a day his ‘smart move’ on Friday to dial up his White House counterpart Jack Sullivan following the threatening tongue-lashing by the American ambassador to … Continue reading "This isn’t the time to engage Sullivan in a conversation"| Indian Punchline
Prime Minister Narendra Modi (R) and Iran’s president late Ibrahim Raisi at the BRICS Summit, Johannesburg, August 18, 2023 TEHRAN — There is enormous appreciation among Iranian intellectuals, diplomats and politicians regarding Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s stellar support for their country’s membership of the BRICS grouping. Modi played a key role to navigate Iran’s … Continue reading "India-Iran makeover dovetails into Iran’s ties with Russia"| Indian Punchline
China, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan signed an intergovernmental agreement to begin construction of a railway link connecting Xinjiang with Fergana Valley, Beijing, June 6, 2024 The report of the death of China’s Belt and Road Initiative [BRI] was an exaggeration, after all. Within days of the US President Joe Biden’s acerbic remark during an interview last … Continue reading "China springs a BRI surprise on US"| Indian Punchline
Aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower transits through the Suez Canal towards the Persian Gulf , November 4, 2023 A massive US naval deployment in a wide arc of the so-called Greater Middle East is under way — stretching from Crete in the Eastern Mediterranean, into the Red Sea and the Bab el Mandeb and … Continue reading "US embarks on proxy war against Iran"| Indian Punchline
