Worldview with Suhasini Haidar

Uzbekistan, historically the crossroad of different Silk roads, is today the venue of the Summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended with a host of leaders who are regional strongmen.  Read more Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week saw the Bangladesh PM in Delhi, and she also travelled to Ajmer to offer prayers. This could also be her last visit to India before elections- due at the beginning of 2024, at the end of her third consecutive tenure as PM. Read more Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

6 months later- the war in Ukraine continues, and as global polarisation between the US-EU western coalition and the Russia-China led combine grows, diplomats fight it out in Delhi. Has the Modi government shifted India’s stand? Read more Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week marks the 5th anniversary of the biggest migration of Rohingya refugees who faced what the UN calls state-sponsored ethnic genocide in their homes in Rakine state, as more than 700,000 fled to neighbouring Bangladesh and other countries around the world. The issue has reopened the debate over India’s refugee policy, especially after a tweet by Minister for Urban Development praising Indi...

August 15 marked a somber anniversary for Afghans- one the Taliban celebrated, but hundreds of thousands of Afghans in exile mourned as the day they lost their country to the terrorist group. Inside Afghanistan, the story is more complex. Read more Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The scene that played out in the UN Security Council seemed eerily familiar- after India and the US brought a joint proposal to designate Rauf Asghar, deputy chief of the Jaish e Mohammad and brother of its chief Masood Azhar, as a global terrorist under UNSC resolution 1267, China placed a technical hold on the listing. In that speech, Ambassador Khamboj hit out at: - China- for blocking terroris...

The past week saw a dramatic scale up in tensions in the Taiwan Strait- after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi went ahead with the visit of the congressional delegation to Taipei- to meet the leadership and many civil society representatives in the island. The visit went ahead despite several warnings from China that this would destabilize the region, and even a disavowal of the trip from the US gove...

This week, at least 160,000 British Conservative party members will begin to receive ballots for the election to decide between Liz Truss, former Trade and Foreign Minister and Rishi Sunak, former Chancellor of the Exchequer or Finance Minister- as the next party leader, and the next British Prime Minister. An election within the UK’s Tory party- as the Conservative party is known should not, in t...

Both US President Joseph Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin made their way to different parts of West Asia or the Middle East as it is called in the past week. Both visits were important signals, meant to strengthen ties that have been historically strong, but the underlining theme was a way to shore up support during the Russia-Ukraine war for Washington and Moscow respectively. We are go...

Let us get up to speed with all that happened- much of it on live cameras, in a country that saw change in its highest office through the power of people taking to the streets - In the past week, those protests grew louder, and more violent. Despite much of the cabinet having stepped down as they demanded, crowds stormed the Presidential palace, burned down PM Ranil Wickremesinghe’s private home....

With increasing regularity, India is facing comments from abroad expressing concern and criticising the government for failing to keep its commitments on democratic freedoms, religious freedoms, media freedoms, and so on. Read more Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Summit of G-7 leaders, the group of the world’s “most industrialised economies”, was held in Germany this week, where India along with Indonesia and a few other countries, was a special invitee. Last week, we told you about the BRICS summit of emerging economies, that was once seen as a complementary and now a potentially competitive grouping to the G-7. What they have in common is that the ag...

Is BRICS, a grouping of once emerging economies from Asia, Africa and South America an effective anti-thesis to the developed world’s most industrialised nations led by U.S. and Europe at the G-7? More importantly, how does India navigate its role in the grouping, given BRICS’ clear criticism of the west’s economic domination of the world, the current standoff between Russia and the west, along wi...

The second year anniversary of the Galwan clashes- that occurred on the night of June 15-16, 2020 passed quietly- no memorials, no speeches-- a tweet from the defence minister. 20 Indian soldiers were killed brutally that night, in fighting with PLA soldiers using clubs with spikes, and rocks, and even drowned in the Galwan river. China has only admitted to 4 of its soldiers being killed, but ther...

This week, the government dealt with a sudden diplomatic storm- one which it clearly didn’t expect, as a flurry of countries across the gulf and other parts of the world picked up on statements made about Prophet Mohammad by spokespersons of the ruling party here more than a week ago. While there have been protests in India for some days, the government had not reacted to them- and the MEA seemed...

In a sudden move, the Modi government sent a senior M.E.A. official and diplomat to Kabul on Thursday, to meet with the Taliban regime’s acting foreign minister Amir Khan Mottaqi. Thus far, Delhi, which doesn’t have an embassy in Kabul and like other countries doesn’t recognise the Taliban regime had not sent a former delegation, which many countries have. Read more Learn more about your ad choice...

This week, the four leaders of the Quad- US President Biden, Japanese PM Kishida, Australian PM Albanese and PM Narendra Modi met in Tokyo for the 2nd time in person for the Quad Summit. In the past year, the Quad has clearly undergone a change, from a largely strategic, theoretical grouping based on ensuring “a Free and Open Indo-Pacific”, to one with a number of specific practical tasks- on Covi...

This week the UN takes up global food security on a war footing- the Ukraine war, that is, which has led to a slump in wheat production from a region known as the world’s bread basket- Russia and Ukraine together account for 25% of the world’s wheat exports. India is the world’s second-largest wheat producer and one of its biggest consumers- when the government decided last week to ban wheat expor...

As Sri Lanka’s crisis continues to spiral out of control, the country gets a new Prime Minister: what are the lessons from India’s neighbourhood? After weeks of turmoil on the streets of Colombo, citizens’ protests, fatal police shooting of a protester, violent assault on peaceful protesters by Rajapaksa supporters, and incensed mobs burning down property in retaliation, Prime Minister Mahinda Raj...

3 days, 3 countries and meetings with 7 heads of government- PM Narendra Modi certainly packed some pace in his tour of Europe- but did the meetings lack punch? We are going to tell you about the agreements and the areas of disagreement during his visits to Germany, France, and Denmark. Remember, the visit also took place just after European Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen visited Delhi...

Sparks flew across the Raisina sessions, where a number of European Foreign Ministers and officials, led by European Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen hardened positions on Russia, and called on India to reconsider its position on the conflict in Ukraine. During the EU President’s speech, and when the Foreign Ministers came face to face at a town hall with External Affairs Minister S. Jais...

India and US receive a reality check as they intensify talks in Washington: agree to disagree on Ukraine, announce agreements on other fronts. This week saw high-level, intense meetings between India and the United States- as PM Modi and US President Biden announced a surprise virtual summit to take place just before talks between External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, Defence Minister Rajnath S...

Scenes from Colombo just outside the President’s House stunned all last week- as protesters vented their anger over the economic situation they blame the Rajapaksa government- led by President Gotabaya and his brother Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa. The worry for both Sri Lanka, as well as India and the regional economy- is Sri Lanka’s economy headed for a crash? Read more Learn more about your...

Amidst a diplomatic downpour in Delhi from Western countries urging sanctions against Russia, we look at 10 reasons why the Modi government hasn’t budged on ties with Moscow. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was in Delhi at the very end of a deluge of envoys and ministers from countries pushing sanctions against Russia. In Delhi, he met with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and NSA Aj...

On March 24, the Chinese Foreign Minister made a short trip to Delhi. Not only were his official meetings just a few hours, but the visit was also completely unannounced, and there was no build-up of expectations. Wang Yi flew into Delhi after visits to Islamabad and Kabul and held a one-hour meeting with NSA Ajit Doval, followed by a three-hour meeting and lunch with External Affairs Minister S....