Courtesy: Bayerischer Rundfunk
During the week of the Munich Security Conference, Munich transformed into a temporary capital of global diplomacy. Gateway House participated and hosted a Side Event, “Multipolarity without Multilateralism: India, Europe and the Future of Global Order” on February 14. This diary captures observations from the conference and the city, reflecting on Europe’s evolving priorities and how the continent assesses its role in an increasingly fragmented world.
Courtesy: Daily News Egypt
Egypt sits at the intersection of three continents and two seas, and its foreign policy is a geographic, historic and strategic consequence. From Tripoli to Kortum, Addis Ababa to Brussels, New Delhi to Moscow, Beijing to Washington, Cairo employs diplomacy as a key national security tool, positioning itself as a cornerstone of geopolitical stability within an increasingly multipolar world.
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Iranian foreign policy must move toward strategic autonomy and internal concord. As witnessed after the 1988 ceasefire with Iraq, such moments can mark an inflexion point - one that prioritises national reconstruction, resilience, and welfare; strategic recalibration, strengthening of confidence, and finding a geopolitical identity. Iran has been there before, and can apply those experiences again.
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Presidential visits abroad are high-level instruments of statecraft and, more often than not, signals of geopolitical priorities. The recent visit of U.S. President Donald Trump to the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar, exemplified this, indicating the administration's policy orientation.
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A potential escalation of the Iran-Israel conflict will affect energy supplies globally. Tempering the conflict will help the U.S. keep petrol prices down before its election, protect the oil and gas export traffic in the Persian Gulf, keep the surreptitious Iran-Malaysia-China oil sales going, and prevent a major headache for India, which imports over 80% of its oil.
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The long-delayed Iran-Pakistan pipeline has put Pakistan in yet another bind of its own making. Abandoning the project will expose it to Iranian penalties, while completing it will violate the sanctions imposed by the U.S., its financial benefactor, and its other patron Saudi Arabia which competes with Iran for West Asian leadership.
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The Ukraine crisis has sent the EU scrambling for new gas supplies, generating fresh interest in gas pipelines from Central Asia and West Asia via Turkey. Practical difficulties make most of these new projects unviable.
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Renewable energy is trendy, but still unreliable at this early stage. Countries will find it necessary to fall back on traditional energy sources like coal and oil for their needs, and this can lead to energy price spikes. To protect itself from this scenario, now is the time for energy-dependent India to set up a wealth fund that invests in listed oil companies around the world, to reduce the risk of energy insecurity.
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The OPEC’s proposed cut in oil production earlier this week may not enable the energy market to recover. Recovery is likely only after COVID-19 is brought under control, but there are ways India can capitalise on the current low oil prices for its own energy security
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India-Iran ties span culture, economics and geopolitics. Iran is one of India’s most important neighbours and must be viewed on its own standing, not through a Western prism. Gateway House has an extensive repository of research and reporting on Iran, ranging from India-Iran historical ties, Iran’s role in India’s energy security and the impact of U.S. sanctions on Iran and on India, which helps to better understand this crucial nation.