Courtesy: Gateway House
In recent months, visa restrictions have been imposed on foreign students particularly Indians, seeking higher education, especially in the U.S. and the UK. Post-study work opportunities, a key factor in international education choices, have also been affected. This creates an opportunity for India to step in and attract foreign students by introducing an ‘S’ visa that permits post-study work opportunity in India.
Courtesy: Getty Images
The U.S. demand for Greenland for security purposes, has alarmed Europe enough for talk of Article 5 of NATO’s collective defence agreement to be put on the discussion table. But can NATO survive without Article 5? And can Article 5 survive without the U.S. defence cover for Europe?
Courtesy: Gateway House
The new U.S. Ambassador to India, Sergio Gor, has much to do – and reviving high school exchange programmes stalled due to funding shortages is one important task. Students are a significant element of the bilateral: 300,000 Indian students study in the U.S., but barely 1% of that comprises U.S. students in India. The exchange programmes can bridge the gap - and India can pick up some of the tab.
Courtesy: BBC
U.S. action in Venezuela has resurrected the 200-year-old Monroe Doctrine which sought to prevent foreign interference in the Western Hemisphere. Originally intended to keep European colonial powers away, it has been reinterpreted over the years beyond that. Donald Trump has reasserted and updated it to the “Donroe Doctrine,” to revitalise U.S. regional hegemony – and through it, some reduction of Chinese and Russian influence.
Courtesy: News on Air
In the shifting sands of contemporary geopolitics, terms such as ‘fluid multipolarity’, ‘multiplexity’, ‘tripolarity’, and ‘bipolarity with multipolar characteristics’ are replacing the old dogmas and orders. But what is driving the world today? How does India plan to protect its vital interests in the current age of ongoing polycrisis? The road ahead is challenging, marked by risks and uncertainty.
Courtesy: US Embassy & Consulates in Italy
It is customary for every U.S. president to release a National Security Strategy (NSS) early in their tenure. President Trump published the NSS for his second term in November 2025. It’s a contrast from his 2017 NSS, which addressed broad threats. The 2025 version is narrower, emphasising trade over security, with the Western Hemisphere being the primary area of focus. Is the U.S.’s global role shrinking?
Courtesy: All India Radio News
India and Russia have a time-tested relationship, which was evident during President Putin's state visit to New Delhi last week. Its success lay in the warmth the leaders of the two countries share and in its timing: geopolitically, just after discussions of the U.S. and China as the G2, and commercially and strategically, at a time when India’s needs match Russia's capabilities.
Courtesy: Themba Hadebe/AP
The G20 Summit in Johannesburg ended on a widely-shared sense of satisfaction and achievement, with the Global South’s perspective well-articulated, but divergent from some in the Global North. Now the G20's challenge is to restore its unity and credibility by working toward reconciliation with its next president, the U.S. Can India enhance its credibility and influence as a North-South bridge-builder?
Courtesy: UNDP
The G20 Summit in Johannesburg in November will close four years of developing countries holding the grouping’s Presidency. It has left a positive imprimateur on the G20. The next President, the U.S., will inherit a more diverse body, with equal attention being given to issues of the Global North and the Global South.
Courtesy: Gateway House
India-China relations move in waves of hostility and stability. The bilateral may be re-entering a period of stability, last seen in 2018. If the caveats of security, mutual sensitivity and a level playing field are respected, then much can be achieved by reviving the initiatives begun after PM Modi’s visit to China in 2015 and two informal summits in Wuhan in 2018, and Mahabalipuram in 2019.