PM Imran Khan speaks during a press conference in Kabul. PHOTO: AFP/FILE
Is Pakistan’s N-CPEC+ vision finally beginning to take shape?
Russian, Chinese, and Pakistani interests are all directly served through N-CPEC+
Pakistan’s unique geostrategic location at the crossroads of East, South, West, and Central Asia enables it to function as the “Zipper of Eurasia”, as I wrote over half a decade ago in September 2015 for the Russian Institute of Strategic Studies. I built upon this observation in March 2019 to declare that the creative leveraging of the unprecedented trans-regional connectivity potential offered by CPEC enables Pakistan to become the Global Pivot State. This ambitious vision is finally beginning to take shape after Prime Minister Imran Khan and the Uzbekistani Minister of Transport agreed to pursue a trans-Afghan railway line on Wednesday.
Russia’s unofficial response to India did everything right
Narendra Modi and Vladimir Putin visit a shipyard. PHOTO: AFP
Russia’s unofficial response to India did everything right
But everything might not work out perfectly comes to Russia’s plan to bring China and Pakistan closer to India
Andrey Kortunov, the Director General of the prestigious Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC), published what can be interpreted as Russia’s unofficial response to India as an Op-Ed for China’s
Global Times. The title of his article gets straight to the point by observing that “Russia moves East, India West, straining ties”. Unlike his two Indian counterparts, Observer Research Foundation expert Harsh V. Pant and former Indian Ambassador to Russia Kanwal Sibal, Mr. Kortunov is objective, mature, and respectful. Nothing that he wrote could reasonably be interpreted as offensive to the Indian side.
Why are former Indian diplomats really unhappy with Russia?
These anti-Russian statements come just two weeks after Russia agreed to join Pakistan’s AMAN-2021 naval exercises
The unprecedented surprise postponement of the annual Russia-India Summit for the first time since this yearly tradition began two decades ago has elicited very strong reactions from current and former Indian diplomats that threaten to worsen relations between these two strategic partners. Popular Indian media outlet
ThePrint published an article about this on Wednesday titled “
” which quotes some unnamed sources, former diplomat Ashok Sajjanhar who was posted in Russia in the early 2000s, and former Indian Ambassador to Russia Kanwal Sibal.
The Pakistan Stream Gas Pipeline raises Russia’s stakes in South Asia
Imran Khan and Vladimir Putin at a meeting. PHOTO: AFP
The Pakistan Stream Gas Pipeline raises Russia’s stakes in South Asia
This might ultimately lead to Russia no longer playing second fiddle to India in South Asia
Last month’s agreement to begin construction next summer of the Pakistan Stream Gas Pipeline – formerly referred to as the North-South Gas Pipeline – shows that Russia is raising its stakes in South Asia. It represents the evolution of its fast-moving rapprochement with Pakistan and gradual movement towards an eventual strategic partnership. The “military diplomacy” between the two which first began due to shared security threats stemming from ISIS’ presence in Afghanistan and then laid the basis for February’s planned multilateral AMAN-2021 naval drills is now transforming into “energy diplomacy”.
India’s unofficial response to Russia might exacerbate growing distrust
Vladimir Putin listens to Narendra Modi at the Eastern Economic Forum. PHOTO: AFP
India’s unofficial response to Russia might exacerbate growing distrust
Russia and China want to avoid a split over India in the New Cold War
Relations between decades-long strategic partners India and Russia, which up until the publication last month of influential Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ideologue Subramanian Swamy’s hateful anti-Russian article had been undergoing a renaissance, are at risk of worsening after India’s unofficial response to Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov’s criticisms late last week of America’s pernicious influence over New Delhi. The top diplomat warned that,