Three meetings to discuss Ukraine are scheduled for the week beginning on Monday, April 14. The first meeting is of EU foreign ministers at Luxembourg on April 14. They are supposed to consider further sanctions on Russia. The next day the EU defence ministers are going to meet. The third meeting in Geneva on April 17 will bring together US, Russia, EU, and EU.

In the absence of even an FTA, the main challenge before policy makers from India and the EU will be to continue justifying the relevance of a strategic partnership to their respective constituencies.

All China has to do is to purchase Iranian oil and off-set this against a supply of essential consumer goods from China to Iran and settle the accounts in Chinese Yuan.

With Turkey’s accession negotiations for EU membership going nowhere, Ankara is pursuing other diplomatic options.

As the European political landscape is continuously changing and assertive voices from the CEEC are expected to be heard, India and Poland should seriously think about establishing a strategic partnership.

Only through direct negotiations with Iran can the international community influence and possibly alter the strategic calculus of its rulers.

Seen from this part of the globe, it is indeed relevant to have a preliminary analysis of the EU-India strategic partnership after the EEAS has formally come into existence.

Eight winters since the launch of Enduring Freedom, the turmoil in Afghanistan continues. When contrasted with the progress in Iraqi Freedom, the gloom only deepens. Having applied the necessary mid- course corrections to the ‘ wrong war ’ (Iraq), there is hope on the horizon; despite the Obama administration’s shift of gaze and focus to the ‘ right war ’ (Afghanistan) to include a renewed and reworked military thrust, the initiative continues to rest with the Taliban.