The televised blowup between Trump and Zelensky encapsulates the essence of America’s foreign policy today. Backed by the largest and most expensive military force, the security blanket provided by the leader of ‘free world’ comes at a cost. The recipients of the security blanket can’t negotiate the deal, they just have to accept it.
German elections this week have once again underlined that Europe's political landscape is undergoing a fundamental transformation. Friedrich Merz's conservatives won, but the star of the election night was Alternative for Germany, or AfD, which managed to double its support in just four years to 20.8%, emerging as the second biggest political force in the nation's parliament.
It is most welcome that external affairs minister S Jaishankar has said that India and Japan are well-positioned to support Africa’s sustainable development, even as the US government has frozen the funds its aid agency, USAID
Although India recognized Israel as the 54th UN member in 1949, it opposed granting full UN membership to Israel on the grounds that the Jewish state had been established through war rather than negotiation
The Trump-Modi meet on February 13 in Washington proved strategic in several ways. The order of priority in which only a few heads of the state met Donald Trump before Narendra Modi carved a niche of its own. It was widely anticipated that the Trump administration would give the bilateral relationship a Trumpian imprint, if not carry out a strategic upgrade altogether.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s official visit to the US on February 12-13, at the invitation of President Donald Trump, is significant and timely. PM Modi has spoken to his friend twice already. Modi was among the first few world leaders to congratulate the then president-elect. He spoke to Trump for the second time when the latter announced his invitation to PM Modi as they discussed key bilateral, regional, and global issues.
Though it was expected that the Trump presidency will bring its own set of challenges for Europe, there seems to be a complete rethink on the parameters of the US-Europe partnership. In response, European leaders are in Paris trying to hammer out a response to what UK leader Keir Starmer has described as a “once in a generation” moment for national security. Starmer himself has suggested that he is ready to place UK peacekeeping troops in Ukraine “to contribute to security guarantees to Ukraine”. Germany is also offering to do the same, but it might be too late in the game.