In these dark days when terrorism has become a strategic asset, to bump off a superior practitioner like Abu Bakr al Baghdadi has implications. Had he begun to serve the interests not of his original handlers but, possibly, their rivals?
‘Absolutely No Mercy’: Leaked Files Expose How China Organized Mass Detentions of Muslims (Published by The New York Times)
What Erdogan has been offered is a poisoned chalice. This is clear as daylight in Trump’s own words. The tone is of malicious glee: “Turkey, Europe, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Russia and the Kurds will now have to figure the situation out.”
Tibet, Ladakh, Bhutan, Sikkim, Mongolia, Myanmar and Sri Lanka, are all bound by Buddhism, though sometimes of distinct Mahayana and Hinayana strands. How many of these would possibly be brought into play in President Donald Trump’s strategy of encircling China?
How India secretly armed Afghanistan’s Northern Alliance (Published by The Hindu)
Who Really Won the India-Pakistan 1965 War? (Published by The Quint)
The life of the Iranian nuclear deal was about two years. Obama did the deal and Trump has killed it. The abrogation of the deal indeed impacts on India and Indian policy on West Asia. Indeed, Indian diplomacy deserves credit for fine balancing between three protagonists in the region, i.e. Israel, Saudi Arabia and Iran.
Notwithstanding the cliché phraseology – “deep commitment to strengthen the strategic partnership envisaged in the Riyadh Declaration of February 2010” – the joint statement issued at the end of MBS’s state visit failed to nail down Pakistan’s role as a State Sponsor of terrorism.