contributors
Melkulangara Bhadrakumar
Former career diplomat in the Indian Foreign Service. Devoted much of his 3-decade long career to the Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran desks in the Ministry of External Affairs and in assignments on the territory of the former Soviet Union. After leaving the diplomatic service, took to writing and contribute to The Asia Times, The Hindu and Deccan Herald. Lives in New Delhi.
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It must have come as a shocking reality-check for Saudi Arabi and the UAE that Trump who had a marvellous “war dance” with King Salman hardly two years ago in Riyadh and has locked in the two counties to the standoff with Iran, has lately switched attention to their bête noire, Qatar.
India’s strategic ambivalence in the contemporary world order, characterised by growing multipolarity, is becoming increasingly untenable. Modi’s forthcoming visit to Russia in September and the visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to India in October will provide significant pointers to the Indian policies in the changing regional and international milieu.
Chancelleries as far apart as Paris, Berlin and Moscow – and, most certainly, Ankara, Tel Aviv and Tehran – are sensing that a paradigm shift is under way.
The RIC dialogue mechanism is supposed to be an indispensable element of multilateral net diplomacy that can provide gravitas to the processes leading toward establishment of a fair world order.
The overall US strategy is to encircle Turkey and Iran and to control Baghdad and Damascus – and eventually to make Russian presence in Syria untenable.
America’s moral authority has suffered grievously as a result of the Khashoggi affair. And this will have negative repercussions for the US’ standing globally and in particular for Trump’s campaign against Iran.
The Moscow conference should be seen as a lifeline that helps the US to avoid an Afghan quagmire. The regional states welcome it.
Former Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer’s disclosure completely transforms the narrative about Khashoggi’s death and it is bound to be hugely consequential.
Generally speaking, Russia and Turkey are in command as of now. Their own equations are good but there are grey areas, too. The importance of close coordination between Russia and Turkey cannot but be stressed.
Iran is already bracing for a grim winter ahead and on Wednesday, it broke its silence on the Khashoggi affair by lambasting both Riyadh and Washington. Tehran appears to have given up any hope of a moderation in Saudi policies.