Opinion News - Page 18
'It's not the bombs that scare us. It's survival': A month stranded in West Asia's war zone
A month stuck in a war-torn West Asia that changed everything—here's what held us together when nothing else did
America’s covert game: NIA arrests expose a shadow war in Bharat’s North-East
Myanmar is currently embroiled in a civil war between ethnic armed outfits and the military junta. To assume that ‘great games’ will remain confined to Myanmar is not just naïve but wilful blindness
How the Hormuz crisis exposes structural vulnerabilities in India’s energy sector
Unlike diversified energy systems, India’s supply chain has limited redundancy. This creates a structural dependency on a single chokepoint
Why Iran can disrupt but not dominate the Gulf
The Persian Gulf’s waters may remain tense and contested, but the strategic arc of the conflict suggests that Iran’s denial strategy, ingenious though it is, cannot indefinitely withstand the grinding logic of sustained area control
How arrests of Western mercenaries signal the ‘new great game’ at India’s doorstep
Festering insurgencies in Myanmar may adversely impact India's Northeast at a time when Delhi wants to use it as a springboard for its 'Act East' policy to connect to the Tiger economies of Southeast Asia
Decoding Trump’s wildly divergent signalling on Iran war; why he’s trapped in a crisis of his own making
The American president overestimated coercive airpower, underestimated the resilience of Iranian regime, ignored intelligence feedback and jumped into the fray without anticipating regional blowback and Iran’s capacity to widen the frame of the war
Shadow Warrior | The Iran war has no winners, only losers, and some more than others
American wars always seem to go back to simple ideas: control of oil, and the prevention of de-dollarisation but these conflicts ultimately produce no winners—only widespread losses, with the US and its rivals alike paying heavy economic, political, and human costs
How India’s response to Iran’s distress call offshore Kochi was justified
Naval academies send cadets on warships for training, but they are not combatants. International humanitarian law does not clearly define their status, creating legal and moral uncertainty when these vessels face conflict or danger
How India balances energy security with a clean transition amid global risks
The right strategy for India is a balanced, multi-layered approach that prioritises immediate energy access and security while aggressively building a future-ready, low-carbon infrastructure
Why Britain’s new Islamophobia definition should worry Hindus and Sikhs
The recent diktat that only cracks down on criticism of Islam leaves other minorities vulnerable and points to a very dangerous political shift
How post-Hasina Bangladesh has become a theatre of Islamism and foreign interference
The convergence of foreign interests, coupled with the active role of Islamist groups, risks transforming Bangladesh into a proxy battleground
Trump’s vanity war in Iran echoes Biden’s Ukraine gamble, weakens America further
The wars in Ukraine and Iran are not isolated crises; they are symptoms of deeper structural flaws in American foreign policy
Beyond Washington consensus: How the 21st century is driven by technology and geopolitics, not ideology
The task before the world today is less about designing the next grand doctrine than about building guardrails for a system in which economic policy, technological innovation and geopolitical competition have become inseparable
World’s silent food crisis: Why fertiliser disruption matters as much as oil
Fertilisers link energy to agriculture, agriculture links to food inflation, and food inflation links to political stability. These are not parallel stories, but a chain
A diplomat for difficult times: Doraiswami heads to Beijing to improve India-China ties
Mandarin-speaking envoy returns to Beijing at a moment when careful diplomacy, strategic patience and quiet confidence will be essential. His record suggests that he is well equipped for the task
Who will tell Ukrainian foreign ministry that attempting to bully India may backfire?
Since NIA’s arrest of its nationals, Ukraine has displayed a remarkable sense of entitlement, arrogance and zero interest in engaging in quiet diplomacy
Gulf crisis: India must urgently reform its energy sector
India today imports close to 87–89 per cent of its crude oil requirement. This is a result of decades of policy inertia, geological underperformance, and a hesitant embrace of reform in the upstream energy sector
India’s energy sovereignty requires diversification and resilient planning
India’s path to resilient energy security lies in converting crisis‑driven improvisation into a coherent strategy: deep strategic and commercial stocks, diversified suppliers and routes, a fast‑greening and electrifying consumption base, and a geopolitically agile approach to sanctioned and sanctioning states alike
Why India should lead peace efforts in West Asia
India has a critical, multi-faceted stake in ending the ongoing conflict between Iran, Israel, and the United States, as the instability threatens its energy security, economic stability, and diaspora in the Gulf region
If Iran collapses, India must be prepared for a surge in weapons smuggling
The biggest threat to India from the Iran war will not be high energy prices or even refugees, but rather the potential for loose weapons falling into anti-India extremists’ hands
Beyond ceasefire: The unresolved core of the West Asian conflict
A ceasefire may pause the violence, but it does not address the underlying drivers of the conflict
How America is trying to ‘reshape’ West Asia with unipolar obsession
With Iraq out of the way, and then Iran, there is no doubt that a reordered West Asia would be pinned down by the Saudis and Israelis in a new kind of colonisation that sees no challenge to US power
Iran war: America’s old playbook is faltering but Bharat can help reset it
The entire Trumpian policy of the day, riding high on the MAGA bandwagon, is all about rejigging the world order again in favour of America
Kharg Island: The oil lifeline that could ignite a global energy shock
If the conflict intensifies and Kharg’s export facilities become targets, the result could be a severe supply disruption that drives oil prices sharply higher and destabilises energy markets worldwide.
How cheap Iranian drones hitting costly US-Israeli defences is a strategic edge in an asymmetric war
In many ways America did not prepare well for this war before launching into it
The Tehran trap: Intelligence ops look spectacular but are not enough to win wars
While intelligence-based targeted operations may look spectacular, they cannot deliver military victory unless they are backed by a realistic assessment of the enemy, based on operational intelligence
From Kabul to Balochistan: Pakistan’s strategic brutality against Afghan and Baloch civilians
Pakistan’s campaign, framed as counterterrorism, has repeatedly crossed into the deliberate or reckless targeting of civilians—revealing a pattern where strategic priorities override humanity and accountability
Head-on | Why America backs Israel every time: Lessons for India and NRIs from the Iran war
Seven million Jewish-Americans wield disproportionate influence in US politics, while five million Indian-Americans, the country’s most educated and highest-earning ethnic group, remain comparatively underrepresented in political power
From Hormuz to Malacca: China’s long game on energy security
The energy infrastructure being stress-tested under live conditions today is the same infrastructure Beijing would need to survive a Western embargo triggered by its move on Taiwan
How Iran war could mark slow decline of petrodollar era
History rarely occurs in clear-cut moments. Global systems evolve slowly. The petrodollar order has lasted many decades, and its dominance over the energy financial structure remains unquestioned, but the future now appears somewhat less certain