A day before the twin blasts at Dilsukhnagar in Hyderabad on February 21, the Multi-Agency Center, under the Intelligence Bureau and tasked with collating, analyzing and disseminating threats to India, sent out an alert to all states including Andhra Pradesh. Read more

Unlike her husband and former US president Bill Clinton, who administrated a sugar coated pill to Indian Parliamentarians post-Pokhran on non-proliferation, CTBT and dialogue with Pakistan in March 2001, Secretary of State Hilary Clinton does not mince words or believe in diplomatic parlance of the bygone era. Read more

Localitis often afflicts diplomats on foreign assignments with classical symptoms of routinely defending actions of the host nation. Read more

Hold the line and build naval capacities is the common refrain that one hears on the Raisina Hill when it comes to the Indian counter to Chinese assertions over the tedious land border dispute and its muscle flexing on the high seas. It is actually quite a pragmatic solution to deal with China except there is a huge and widening gap between the Indian intent and the reality on ground. Read more

For the record, the cancellation of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao’s high profile official visit to Nepal and Myanmar next week was due to domestic compulsions or what has been described as economic and budgetary issues back in Beijing. Read more

A decade ago on February 10, 2001, I was among the privileged few who were allowed to cross over on foot to a one horse border town named Tamu in Myanmar from Moreh outpost in Manipur along with then external affairs minister Jaswant Singh. Read more

Political scientist and former US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice in her memoir “No Higher Honor” has shed light on behind the scenes action on three instances when India almost went to war with Pakistan. Read more

After driving at a snail’s pace on an axle breaking virtually non-existent mountain road from Gangtok, truth hits one hard at the windy 14,140 feet high Nathu La on the ancient silk route to Lhasa in Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) of China. Read more

India and Afghanistan took a step close to each other after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Hamid Karzai initialed three significant bilateral documents on Tuesday including the all encompassing strategic partnership agreement. Read more