LAST week the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken was in New Delhi and his deputy, Wendy Sherman was in Beijing. Blinken’s India visit was to strengthen the existing strategic bonds between the two countries that are poles apart in terms of power. The secretary’s job was to ensure that New Delhi does not deviate from the prescribed path and continues its allegiance to the strategic agenda designed to retain American primacy in world affairs. 

The formalisation of officers appointments equips them with financial powers for better efficiency and brings them at par with their civilian counterparts in the same department. The elevation of the military officers to civilian ranks in the MoD has largely been welcomed by most commentators and analysts of military affairs. The move is being perceived as a step in the right direction to rectify the anomaly in higher defence management and facilitate the much-vaunted military modernisation.

THE inevitable integration of the Eurasian supercontinent is one of the most enduring realities of the ongoing century. The coming together of China and the European Union (EU) and Russo-German collaboration on building a pipeline to usher in the multi-polar world order is a nightmare that continues to haunt American strategic elite.

IN his inaugural speech, President Biden clearly named “political extremism, white supremacy, and domestic terrorism, as the dangers that need to be confronted urgently. The Biden administration directed its intelligence agencies to take a deeper look at violent white-supremacist groups operating overseas, some of which may have connections to US-based extremists. After seeing the chaos at Capitol no right-thinking politician can remain a mute spectator.

THE Modi government is perilously audacious. In the midst of a clear and present military crisis in Ladakh, the department of military affairs (DMA), headed by chief of defence staff, General Bipin Rawat has floated a proposal in end October to slash officer’s pensions and enhance their retirement age.