Trump-Xi summit and its impact The Excelsior 22 May 2026 The much-awaited summit between the leaders of the world’s two most powerful nations has concluded. Trump’s team arrived in China under conditions of a strict digital lockdown, with cell phones and lap tops left behind due to fears of state-level surveillance, hacking and data interception. Members of the team […]
Trump-Xi summit The Excelsior 14 May 2026 This week President Trump will be meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing for a supposed historic summit. The last time the two met was in Busan, South Korea, in Oct last year. The meeting comes while the Iran war continues, where the US is seeking to subdue China’s closest Middle East […]
Operations Sindoor and Epic Fury The Statesman 12 May 2026 The anniversary of Operation Sindoor was marked last week with social media comments as also press conferences by members of the government. The armed forces organized a special press interaction, chaired by those who coordinated the operation. Interestingly, there was no comment, even on social media, by members of […]
US intends to control oil trade The Excelsior 09 May 2026 The global economy runs on oil and gas. The US has exploited this by insisting that all trade in oil and gas be based on dollars. Thus emerged ‘petro-dollars.’ This implied that all countries must hold dollars to pay for oil procurement, subsidizing US debt and enhancing their […]
War and Peace: Iran and the US at crossroads Raksha Anirveda 28 Apr 2026 The war in the Middle East is a greater matter of concern than any other conflict in recent history, including Ukraine. US expenditure in continuing the war is high while its reserves of missiles are precariously low. It is seeking additional funds from Congress to […]
Why Trump failed to overwhelm Iran The Statesman 28 Apr 2026 The US-Israel conflict with Iran has shifted to a US-Iran confrontation. Israel, the initiator, which pulled the US in, has been sidelined, focussing on Lebanon. Once the US joined, Netanyahu stepped away, knowing that Trump has little choice but to enforce an end state which maintains the US’s […]
From unconditional surrender to ceasefire The Excelsior 24 Apr 2026 Entering a conflict without a defined end state, away from the homeland, consuming reserves of munitions beyond levels of production, while facing falling popularity at home can be difficult for any head of state. Trump is going through this phase since initiating the Iran conflict with Netanyahu, against the […]
Where Trump went wrong The Statesman 21 Apr 2026 The ceasefire in Iran is likely to end shortly, resulting in either renewed attacks or a peace deal, details of which could emerge soon. Trump’s major blunder was assuming tactical superiority would enable strategic victory. He expected Iran to capitulate after the removal of its hierarchy, especially since Netanyahu promised […]
Post ceasefire talks in Islamabad The Excelsior 15 Apr 2026 Ceasefire talks facilitated by Pakistan ended after 21 hours of discussion with no agreement. US Vice President JD Vance stated in a press conference, ‘We’ve had a number of substantive discussions with the Iranians, that’s the good news. The bad news is that we have not reached an agreement […]
A victory or a stalemate? The Statesman 14 Apr 2026 A day after he tweeted ‘whole civilization will die tonight’ and hours before his deadline, Trump announced a ceasefire. The ceasefire was supposedly negotiated by Pakistan with strong backing of China. Whether it was Pakistan’s efforts or it was named to prevent credit being given to China is immaterial, […]