India successfully test fires long-range ballistic missile Agni-5
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Hindustan Times
22 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
Behind Trump's pursuit of ending Ukraine war
The spree of diplomacy initiated by President Donald Trump to try and bring the Russia-Ukraine war to a close has unveiled a complex dynamic wherein structural factors outweigh individual leaders and the personal chemistry among them. It would be wishful thinking that, if only Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin could conjure up some magic through their uncanny mutual admiration, and then draw Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and regional bigwigs into a charmed circle, the worst war in Europe since 1945 might be halted. It must be acknowledged that Trump's heterodox methods do hold potential to break the mould and get out of the present morass. (AFP) The ugly reality is that Russian bombs and missiles are continuing to rain down on Ukraine even as Trump, Putin, Zelensky and European heads of government embarked on an extended exercise of in-person meetings and consultations to find a resolution. The aftermath of the high-profile Trump-Putin summit in Alaska and the subsequent US-Ukraine-Europe gathering in Washington proves that wars reflect competing structural interests and these interests prevent easy and instantaneous fairytale endings. Readers may recall the three unprecedented meetings between Trump and the North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un in 2018 and 2019, which eventually yielded no deal on denuclearisation due to dissonance of interests. Both at the Alaska summit, and subsequently the large group meetings in Washington among the US, Ukraine and the Europeans, effusive praise, positive body language and expressions of sincere intent to turn a page could not mask the underlying mismatch in the goals of the principal parties. For Trump, apart from self-glorification and an obsessive claim to the Nobel Peace Prize, the main motivations for a direct one-on-one with Putin and the consensus-building exercises with allies of the US are to reset Russia-US relations after decades of hostility, offload the burden of the US having to primarily aid Ukraine's resistance, and potentially script a 'reverse Nixon' manoeuvre of befriending Russia to counterbalance China. For Putin, the objectives of entering into talks are to dangle economic opportunities and 'pragmatic relations' with the US in return for recognition of Russia's permanent takeover of occupied Ukrainian territory, and to dispel the shadow of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) on Ukraine and other former Soviet spaces. The fact that Trump and Putin used identical language and called for a 'peace agreement' or a 'lasting long-term settlement' rather than just a ceasefire, which Ukraine and the Europeans have been demanding, has been interpreted by critics as American appeasement of Russia as the latter keeps attacking and swallowing more Ukrainian territory. But there are contradictory moves too and the devil lies in the details. The diplomatic pow-wows among the trans-Atlantic allies demonstrated that Trump is not fully deferring to Putin. Despite his personal preference to transfer responsibilities for Ukraine's security to the Europeans, Trump has come around to accept that the US cannot wash its hands off the business of sustaining the independence of Ukraine. His assurance to European counterparts that the US will commit to 'coordination' of security guarantees for Ukraine so that it remains sovereign and free from future Russian expansionism is most consequential. Continued American weapons supplies (Zelensky said it would involve purchases worth a whopping $90 billion), American air power, military intelligence and logistics, and American strategic posturing in parts of Ukraine that remain outside Russian control would imply that Nato's de facto presence and pressure on Russia's doorstep and the further integration of Ukraine into the western camp will intensify in the future. Putin's insistence that the 'root causes' of the war must be addressed and his demands that Ukraine should be politically neutral, collide head-on with the drive to deepen Ukraine's western orientation and nest its security within Nato-like arrangements. Notwithstanding the massive losses Russia has sustained in this war, Putin still seeks a final settlement in which he will be left alone to carve out a Russian sphere of influence in the regions under the former Soviet Union and the Czarist empire. The security guarantees likely to be worked out for Ukraine are the crux of the matter, and they will be of greater consequence for Europe's stability than the nitty-gritty haggling over what specific territories Ukraine will keep and concede to Russia. In spite of the lack of convergence of interests over the ultimate post-war security architecture, it must be acknowledged that Trump's heterodox methods do hold potential to break the mould and get out of the present morass. Since 2022, the US and its European allies tried the combination of sanctioning Russia and arming and financing Ukraine's resistance with the assumption that this would wear down Putin and bring him to heel. But the western military and economic pushback was half-baked and it did not open doors for a ceasefire, not to mention a full peace. Trump overestimates his own deal-making genius, but at least he does not treat Putin with liberal ideological contempt. By throwing the mainstream western liberal foreign policy playbook out of the window and directly engaging with Russia and even persuading the Europeans to soften their hardline positions, Trump is finally giving the respect that Putin craved for. Liberals have slammed Trump for rehabilitating Putin despite the latter's war crimes in Ukraine. But carrying on with the old ways was leading nowhere even as mass casualties and destruction of infrastructure kept mounting. The way forward is to stick to diplomacy and narrow the differences. If all relevant stakeholders, including the Europeans, are roped in to sort out the structural divergences and a grand bargain is struck, everyone will be better off. Trump's quest for a Nobel prize may sound quixotic, but the peace process he has initiated should be given a chance because there is no Plan B whatsoever. Sreeram Chaulia is professor and dean at the Jindal School of International Affairs. The views expressed are personal
Indian Express
23 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Digambar Kamat and Ramesh Tawadkar — whose careers saw them in, out of, and back in BJP — sworn in as new Goa ministers
Former Goa chief minister Digambar Kamat and former Assembly Speaker Ramesh Tawadkar were sworn in Thursday as ministers in the Goa Cabinet. Governor Pusapati Ashok Gajapathi Raju administered the oath of office and secrecy to the BJP legislators at Raj Bhavan in the presence of Chief Minister Pramod Sawant. The Cabinet berth marks a political resurrection for Kamat, who was first elected as an MLA on a BJP ticket more than three decades ago in 1994. He later joined the Congress and was among the group of eight 'turncoat' MLAs who switched over to the BJP from the Congress in September 2022. He served as the chief minister of Goa from 2007 to 2012, the last Congress government in the state. Kamat said he got an opportunity to become a minister after a gap of 13 years. 'I am returning to the Cabinet after 13 years. I am happy that I will get the strength to work for the common man. This will allow me to work for the people and help strengthen the party. God, the central leadership, the chief minister and party colleagues…have given me this opportunity,' Kamat said. The seven-time MLA from Margao has oscillated between the Congress and the BJP in his political career. Kamat started his journey with the Congress. He joined the BJP in 1994 and won two elections as the party's candidate from the party and first became a minister in the Manohar Parrikar-led Cabinet in 2000. He returned to the Congress in 2005 and was instrumental in bringing down the Parrikar-led BJP government in 2005. In 2007, with opinion divided on whether to choose Ravi Naik or Pratapsingh Rane, the party finally named Kamat as the chief minister in the Congress-led coalition government. He remains the only chief minister in Goa to have completed a full five-year term. Along with then PWD minister Churchill Alemao, Kamat was booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act in a bribery case. Alemao was PWD minister from 2007 to 2012 when officials of the US-based company, Louis Berger, allegedly paid bribes to win a consultancy bid for water augmentation and a sewerage pipeline project in Goa under the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Kamat, who served as mining minister of the state for 10 years, was indicted by a judicial commission in 2012 for reportedly allowing illegal mining in the state. The Centre-appointed Commission of Inquiry, headed by Justice M B Shah, had estimated a loss of Rs 35,000 crore to the state exchequer. A Sessions Court in Goa discharged him and 16 others in the case in February this year. Earlier on Thursday morning, Canacona MLA Ramesh Tawadkar resigned as the Speaker of Goa Legislative Assembly. 'From the day I took the responsibility, I tried to do justice to the post [of Speaker]. I treated both the ruling and Opposition legislators as colleagues. I earned the respect from the Opposition, just as I earned it from the ruling side. I have a slight regret that I was not able to complete the full five-year term as the Speaker. I have to take this decision with a heavy heart since the party has given me a different responsibility with a view on the 2017 assembly elections,' said Tawadkar. Tawadkar first became a minister in the Parrikar-led Cabinet in 2012 and held Sports, Youth Affairs and Tribal Welfare portfolios. He quit the BJP after he was denied a ticket in 2017 Assembly elections and contested as an Independent. He returned to the BJP in 2019 and was elected as an MLA in 2022, after which he became the Speaker. BJP state president Damu Naik told The Indian Express, 'Tawadkar comes from the ST community and has been associated with the party for a long time and has worked at the grassroot level. Kamat was the chief minister. So, both are quite experienced. The decision has been made in order to strengthen the party as the state goes to polls in 2027.' Three BJP legislators – Calangute MLA Michael Lobo, Siolim MLA Delilah Lobo and former Art and Culture Minister Govind Gaude – were absent from the swearing-in ceremony. Gaude, a tribal leader, was dropped from the Cabinet after he levelled corruption allegations in the department of Tribal Welfare – a portfolio held by CM Sawant. Naik dismissed any suggestions of internal dissent, saying, 'They may have prior engagements.'
News18
24 minutes ago
- News18
Agni-5:India's Strategic Leap in Nuclear Deterrence #therightstand with Anand Narasimhan
Agni-5:India's Strategic Leap in Nuclear Deterrence | #therightstand with Anand Narasimhan | News18 Last Updated: India Videos Bharat's Agni-5 missile, successfully tested on August 20, 2025, enhances nuclear deterrence with MIRV capabilities, extending reach beyond 5,000 km. This strategic advancement ensures credible retaliation, reinforcing stability and signaling strength without provocation. n18oc_india News18 Mobile App -
