Friday, September 18
The 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi may ultimately be remembered as much for the breadth of its participation as for what it demonstrated: an increasingly diverse constellation of powers can convene with openness, engage across profound differences in geopolitics, security, economics and strategic alignment—and still construct common institutional ground without compromising their sovereignty. That is the significance of the New Delhi Consensus. BRICS today spans major economies and civilisations across Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East. Its members are neither natural allies nor strategically uniform. Their political systems, security relationships, economic interests and equations with Washington, Beijing and Moscow differ substantially. That diversity is both
Civilisations are tested not merely by the conflicts they survive, but by the order they restore thereafter. Wars are fought, blood is shed, anger and power exhaust themselves, and competing truths make their claims; yet humanity ultimately moves towards Samjhauta — towards an equilibrium where legitimate interests can coexist and no stakeholder remains a perpetual loser. This principle runs from the macro to the micro. In an intensely interconnected world, global leadership cannot remain captive to uncontrolled anger, frustration or ego when its decisions can affect billions. Within families and societies, the same matured wisdom must transcend entrenched positions before differences become inherited conflicts. Leadership — of nations, institutions or families — matur
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today conveyed his warm congratulations to Mr. Tarique Rahman on leading the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) to a decisive victory in the Parliamentary elections in Bangladesh. In an official post on X, Shri Modi wrote: “I convey my warm congratulations to Mr. Tarique Rahman on leading BNP to a decisive victory in the Parliamentary elections in Bangladesh. This victory shows the trust of the people of Bangladesh in your leadership. India will continue to stand in support of a democratic, progressive and inclusive Bangladesh. I look forward to working with you to strengthen our multifaceted relations and advance our common development goals.” The Prime Minister’s message underscores India&r
2026: The Year Diplomacy Outruns Escalation After a decade defined by pandemics, wars, technological shocks, and climate extremes, the world enters a rare convergence year. Power is scaling faster than wisdom. Whether 2026 becomes a reset or a rupture will depend on one decisive factor: the ability of diplomacy, institutions, and long-horizon thinking to keep pace with accelerating capability. 2026 is not merely the next chapter in the calendar. It is a structural inflection point — where technology, geopolitics, climate, capital, and conscience intersect — forcing humanity to decide not how fast it can move, but how wisely it must. For those who read the year symbolically, the first day of 2026 opens on a Thursday—traditionally associated with Jupiter, the arc
The global financial system is not reacting merely to the freezing of approximately €210 billion (about $246B) of Russian sovereign reserves in Europe. It is reacting to a deeper signal: that sovereign reserves—once assumed inviolable—are now conditionally accessible. This is a geo-economic inflection point, not a sanctions footnote. What actually happened: stock, flow, and regime risk Russian central-bank sovereign reserves were immobilised primarily within EU jurisdiction, with the largest concentration at Euroclear in Belgium. The principal has not been confiscated. However, the assets have been frozen indefinitely, interest or windfall profits have been debated and partially structured to support Ukraine’s financing needs, and principal confiscat
