India

The foreign minister has dismissed speculation about a potential nuclear escalation in South Asia Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar, during his recent visit to Germany © Getty Images Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar has dismissed speculation about a potential nuclear escalation with Pakistan, stating that “at no point was a nuclear level reached,” calling the claims “astonishing.” In a recent interview with the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Jaishankar suggested that Europe should focus on its own security concerns. He also stressed that European perspectives on conflicts often differ from those of countries in other parts of the world. “There is a narrative as if everything that happens in our part of the world ...

Pepe Escobar  For all the alarming seriousness of two South Asian nuclear powers coming to the razor’s edge of a lethal exchange, the 2025 India–Pakistan war could not but contain elements of a Bollywood extravaganza. Frantic dancing indeed, which risked getting out of control pretty fast. Forget dodgy, plodding UN mediation or any serious investigation of the suspicious attack out of the blue on tourists in India-held Kashmir. Right off the bat, on 7 May, India’s Modi government dramatically launched ‘Operation Sindoor’ against Pakistan, a missile offensive billed as “counter-terrorism.” Pakistan immediately launched a counterpunch codenamed ‘Operation Bunyan al-Marsus’ against the “Indian invasion.” Culture is key. Sindoor is classic Hindu culture, referring to the vermi...

Eric Margolis  One of the world’s, oldest and most dangerous conflicts went critical this past week as nuclear armed India and Pakistan traded threats of war. The Kashmir conflict is the oldest one before the UN. In my book `War at the Top of the World’ I warned that the confrontation over Kashmir, the beautiful mountain state claimed by both Islamabad and Delhi, could unleash a nuclear war that could kill millions and pollute the planet. After three wars and many clashes, it seemed the two bad neighbors had allowed the Kashmir dispute to fade into the background as their relations slightly improved. Then came the murder last week of 26 Indian tourists at Pahalgam, a Kashmir beauty spot, by Muslim insurgents. Kashmir was roughly divided between India and Pakistan in 1947. ...