Germany’s military build-up is a poignant issue in European politics, and what trajectory it will take once the dust settles, only time can tell.

Whichever way the U.S.-Russian tensions pan out — or, get protracted — Germany hopes to be the net winner.

QUAD provides an umbrella to huddle together behind closed doors and give vent to their grouse against China in hushed tone — a safety valve for pent-up frustrations.

New trends that have appeared in regional security since the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan are highly consequential for regional politics.

It must have come as a shocking reality-check for Saudi Arabi and the UAE that Trump who had a marvellous “war dance” with King Salman hardly two years ago in Riyadh and has locked in the two counties to the standoff with Iran, has lately switched attention to their bête noire, Qatar.

India’s strategic ambivalence in the contemporary world order, characterised by growing multipolarity, is becoming increasingly untenable. Modi’s forthcoming visit to Russia in September and the visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to India in October will provide significant pointers to the Indian policies in the changing regional and international milieu.

Chancelleries as far apart as Paris, Berlin and Moscow – and, most certainly, Ankara, Tel Aviv and Tehran – are sensing that a paradigm shift is under way.

The RIC dialogue mechanism is supposed to be an indispensable element of multilateral net diplomacy that can provide gravitas to the processes leading toward establishment of a fair world order.

The overall US strategy is to encircle Turkey and Iran and to control Baghdad and Damascus – and eventually to make Russian presence in Syria untenable.

America’s moral authority has suffered grievously as a result of the Khashoggi affair. And this will have negative repercussions for the US’ standing globally and in particular for Trump’s campaign against Iran.