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: Gateway House
U.S. health secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. called the World Economic Forum a “billionaires’ boys club” imposing totalitarian controls. Indeed, since 1971, the elite platform shaped geopolitics. But its Western-centricism kept out the concerns of the rest. This gave rise to alternative forums, which look beyond financial agendas to the perspectives shaping the Global South. Here are 45 of biggest, half of which began just two decades ago.
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: Telegrafi
On October 22, 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump imposed sanctions on Russia’s oil giants, Rosneft and Lukoil. The move has clear geopolitical motives—to remove a major supplier from an oversupplied oil market. Indian oil companies, key buyers of Russian crude, now face pressure to cut imports, undermining India’s energy diversification and shaking global oil markets, including the U.S. economy.
Courtesy: ANI
The Quad summit is expected to be hosted by India in the second half of 2025, possibly in November. However, the grouping faces turbulence that transcends the current flow of India-U.S. relations. The relevance of Australia and Japan, too, needs to be factored in. Beijing considers the Quad as “the Asian NATO” that aims to contain China. Since the commencement of Trump 2.0, the grouping has been struggling to redefine its role and mandate.
Courtesy: Körber-Stiftung
The world is facing multiple crises which are shaking the foundations of multilateralism. The West’s structures are faltering, and the need for effective and equitable cooperation is greater than ever. Seventy years after the 1955 Bandung Conference, its principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity, cooperation and solidarity remain vital. This report revisits Bandung’s relevance for today’s reform efforts, urging renewed Global South–Europe collaboration for a sustainable global future.
Courtesy: Gateway House
Afghanistan’s Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi will visit India on October 10, marking the first high-level Taliban visit since the group took over Kabul in 2021. Nayanima Basu discusses the purpose of this visit and the importance of engagement with Afghanistan. She explains the roles of China, which seeks business; Pakistan, which pursues political interests; and the U.S., which has a renewed interest in Bagram Air Base and its return to the country it abandoned.