Quote:The Bishkek Declaration, issued after the summit meeting (June 14-15) of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation devotes one sentence praising China’s Belt and Road Initiative: “The Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Tajikistan and the Republic of Uzbekistan reaffirm their support for China’s Belt and Road Initiative and praise the results of the Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation (which was held in April 26).”

India kept aloof. Any surprises here? Not, at all. In broad daylight, India had been shouting and screaming from the roof top that the BRI was no good, that it led to ‘debt trap’. India’s condemnation of the BRI was so impolite bordering on crass rudeness in the pre-Wuhan [a Xi-Modi Summit last year] era with then Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar once even called Chinese President Xi Jinping by name at an international conference in New Delhi and counselled him as to how to go about executing his pet project.

Quote:The SCO summit in Bishkek becomes defining moment in India’s foreign policy. Modi has wetted his toes in Eurasianism. His disenchantment with the “defining partnership” with the US can only partly account for it. The crux of the matter is that Modi is taking Indian diplomacy away from its obsession with geopolitics and making it a handmaiden of his national policies. Both Xi and Putin sense this.

The Xinhua report on Xi’s meeting with Modi harps on geoeconomics. Equally, one of the highlights of the Putin-Modi meeting is the Russian invitation to India to get involved in cooperation in the Arctic. Now, China also happens to be a key partner country for Russia to create a “Polar Silk Road” in the Arctic Sea. Beijing has announced that China would be pursuing investment across the Arctic Route to encourage commercial shipping through Russia’s Northern Sea Route as a part of the Belt and Road Initiative.

This is indeed a massive undertaking involving investment programs worth trillions of dollars, which will go toward connecting Asia and Europe by sea to promote more trade between the continents. The Wall Street Journal reported last week that “China is breaking into Arctic transport through a joint venture between the country’s biggest ocean carrier, Cosco Shipping Holdings Co., and its Russian counterpart PAO Sovcomflot to move natural gas from Siberia to Western and Asian markets.”

The report adds, “The new venture will ship liquefied natural gas from central northern Siberia’s gargantuan Yamal LNG project to a laundry list of destinations including Northern Europe, Japan, South Korea, and China. The initiative will begin with a fleet of a dozen ice-breaking tankers, and Cosco’s China Shipping LNG Investment Co. will reportedly operate another nine tankers.”

Quote:Suffice to say, the big picture that emerges out of all this is that Modi is connecting the dots and creating synergy between India’s strategic communication with China and Russia respectively. It is an audacious strategy but holds infinite possibilities. Consider the following.

China-Russian entente is rapidly developing into a quasi-alliance. On the other hand, India’s relations with Russia have not only recovered from the neglect of the UPA era but are blossoming into a truly strategic partnership attuned to the 21st century, thanks to the warm friendship between Modi and Putin. Succinctly put, Russia is uniquely placed to help strengthen the incipient signs of the Wuhan Spirit maturing into an enduring strategic understanding between India and China as two emerging powers with great many common interests.

The fact that Modi and Xi exuded confidence to accelerate the negotiations for a border settlement alone underscores that the Russia-India-China triangle has become very dynamic. Truly, the RIC summit in Osaka provides underpinning for the concert of the three Asian powers. To be sure, the West won’t like what is happening.

mapoui post=372527 Wrote:" I promise never to take a man but Modi is tempting at this moment"

mapoui post=372527 Wrote:is a really positive development this. lets home that it works out fine. more than that let us all write, talk, push fight in support of this so that there can be no turning back..so Modi knows that the ordinary people of the world fully in on this, in total support of his work here

ketchim post=372528 Wrote:

mapoui post=372527 Wrote:" I promise never to take a man but Modi is tempting at this moment"

you gotta be white, jewish and circumcised ! :whistle:

Quote:The Indian hedge
But then Modi canceled a bilateral with Rouhani at the last minute, with the lame excuse of “scheduling issues”.

That’s not exactly a clever diplomatic gambit. India was Iran’s second largest oil customer before the Trump administration dumped the nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, over a year ago. Modi and Rouhani have discussed the possibility of India paying for Iranian oil in rupees, bypassing the US dollar and US sanctions.

Yet unlike Beijing and Moscow, New Delhi refuses to unconditionally support Tehran in its do-or-die fight against the Trump administration’s economic war and de facto blockade.

Modi faces a stark existential choice. He’s tempted to channel his visceral anti-Belt-and-Road stance into the siren call of a fuzzy, US-concocted Indo-Pacific alliance – a de facto containment mechanism against “China, China, China” as the Pentagon leadership openly admits it.

Or he could dig deeper into a SCO/RIC (Russia-India-China) alliance focused on Eurasia integration and multipolarity.

Aware of the high stakes, a concerted charm offensive by the leading BRICS and SCO duo is in effect. Putin invited Modi to be the main guest of the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok in early September. And Xi Jinping told Modi in their bilateral get together he’s aiming at a “closer partnership”, from investment and industrial capacity to pick up speed on the stalled Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) Economic Corridor, another BRI stalwart.

Imran Khan, for his part, seems to be very much aware how Pakistan may profit from becoming the ultimate Eurasia pivot – as Islamabad offers a privileged gateway to the Arabian Sea, side by side with SCO observer Iran. Gwadar port in the Arabian Sea is the key hub of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), much better positioned than Chabahar in Iran, which is being developed as the key hub of India’s mini-New Silk Road version to Afghanistan and Central Asia.

On the Russian front, a charm offensive on Pakistan is paying dividends, with Imran openly acknowledging Pakistan is moving “closer” to Russia in a “changing” world, and has expressed keen interest in buying Sukhoi Su-35 fighter jets and Mi-35M attack helicopters.

Iran is at the heart of the BRI-SCO-EAEU integration road map – the nuts and bolts of Eurasian integration. Russia and China cannot allow Iran to be strangled. Iran boasts fabulous energy reserves, a huge internal market, and is a frontline state fighting complex networks of opium, weapons and jihadi smuggling – all key concerns for SCO member states.

There’s no question that in southwest Asia, Russia and Iran have interests that clash. What matters most for Moscow is to prevent jihadis from migrating to the Caucasus and Central Asia to plot attacks against the Russian Federation; to keep their navy and air force bases in Syria; and to keep oil and gas trading in full flow.

Tehran, for its part, cannot possibly support the sort of informal agreement Moscow established with Tel Aviv in Syria – where alleged Hezbollah and IRGC targets are bombed by Israel, but never Russian assets.

Quote:[quote] Imran Khan, for his part, seems to be very much aware how Pakistan may profit from becoming the ultimate Eurasia pivot – as Islamabad offers a privileged gateway to the Arabian Sea

ketchim post=372547 Wrote:

Quote:[quote] Imran Khan, for his part, seems to be very much aware how Pakistan may profit from becoming the ultimate Eurasia pivot – as Islamabad offers a privileged gateway to the Arabian Sea

Bat and Pad close together : On the Front Foot !