Modi meets POTUS this week. An Afghan strategy and an offer of mediation can make it noteworthy.
US President Donald Trump’s penchant for midnight tweets and their ability to wreck Washington’s ties with some of its close allies like Germany and Australia might not be giving sleepless nights to Indian policy planners, but is certainly an issue that has begun to bother them.
South Block’s keenness that the first-ever meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and POTUS gets off to a flying start on June 26 could well come to naught by one such devastating tweet—his favourite medium of communication. Trump’s short barbs against Chancellor Angela Merkel and Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull had embarrassed the two governments in recent months, after he decided to make public their differences.
But many more in South Block are worried about Trump’s disruptive, disjointed politics, prompted largely out of domestic compulsion that has led him to overturn most of the policy initiatives of Barack Obama. Be it the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) or Iran or Cuba, Trump is mowing through every single foreign policy move of Obama’s.
Since strengthening Indo-US relations further and dealing with the challenges from an assertive China was also a foreign policy priority of the Obama administration, will that too be reversed by Trump? And if so, which aspects of that policy will be overturned?
Trump’s comments on the Paris Climate Change Agreement while pulling the US out of it and blaming India, describing it as a freeloader has already strained relations between to some extent. Even as New Delhi has decided not to make an issue out of it—except a terse refutation by foreign minister Sushma Swaraj—to clear the decks for a positive start to the Modi-Trump interaction, the uncertainty of dealing with an unpredictable leader like Trump remains.
Denne historien er fra July 03, 2017-utgaven av Outlook.
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Denne historien er fra July 03, 2017-utgaven av Outlook.
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Layers Of Lear
Director Rajat Kapoor and actor Vinay Pathak's ode to Shakespeare is an experience to behold
Loss and Longing
Memories can be painful, but they also make life more meaningful
Suprabhatham Sub Judice
M.S. Subbulakshmi decided the fate of her memorials a long time ago
Fortress of Desire
A performance titled 'A Streetcart Named Desire', featuring Indian and international artists and performers, explored different desires through an unusual act on a full moon night at the Gwalior Fort
Of Hope and Hopelessness
The body appears as light in Payal Kapadia's film
Ruptured Lives
A visit to Bangladesh in 2010 shaped the author's novel, a sensitively sketched tale of migrants' struggles
The Big Book
The Big Book of Odia Literature is a groundbreaking work that provides readers with a comprehensive introduction to the rich and varied literary traditions of Odisha
How to Refuse the Generous Thief
The poet uses all the available arsenal in English to write the most anti-colonial poetry
The Freedom Compartment
#traindiaries is a photo journal shot in the ladies coaches of Mumbai locals. It explores how women engage and familiarise themselves with spaces by building relationships with complete strangers
Love, Up in the Clouds
Manikbabur Megh is an unusual love story about a man falling for a cloud. Amborish Roychoudhury discusses the process of Manikbabu's creation with actor Chandan Sen and director Abhinandan Banerjee
