Voltaire Network

Melkulangara K. Bhadrakumar

Ambassador M. K. Bhadrakumar was a career diplomat in the Indian Foreign Service. His assignments included the Soviet Union, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Germany, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Kuwait and Turkey.

14 articles

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Moscow remembers Charlie Wilson’s War

by Melkulangara K. Bhadrakumar

31 May 2013

The subterfuge and ideological drive seen in Senator John McCain’s flight to Syria had heavy overtones of the 1980s tour by Charlie Wilson to secure arms for the Afghan mujahideen. McCain’s maneuver aligns well with Europe removing an arms embargo and wavering US resistance toward boots on the (...)

Netanyahu calls Obama’s bluff

by Melkulangara K. Bhadrakumar

New Dehli (India) | 16 November 2012

As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu marshals troops toward Gaza, Barack Obama is making a grievous error by being seen as walking in step. Post-election optimism over direct talks with Iran will be shattered should Israel invade, and the Arab world will view the US president as full (...)

Russia bridges Middle Eastern divides

by Melkulangara K. Bhadrakumar

New Dehli (India) | 11 October 2012

A multi-billion dollar arms deal with Iraq, a summit meeting with Turkey, a fence-mending exercise with Saudi Arabia, a debut with Egypt’s Sphinx-like Muslim Brothers - all this is slated to happen within the period of a turbulent month in the Middle East. And all this is to happen when the (...)

Shift in Russian-Chinese tectonic plates

Calling the China-Russia split by its right name

by Melkulangara K. Bhadrakumar

4 September 2012

As China and Vietnam lurch increasingly towards crisis, Beijing is not amused at the Kremlin’s refusal to reciprocate over the United States’ "pivot" in the Asia-Pacific, especially since returns from its diplomatic support for Moscow’s embattled ally in Damascus are expected. The symbolism of (...)

Tehran reaches out to Egypt’s Morsi

by Melkulangara K. Bhadrakumar

New Dehli (India) | 6 August 2012

Far from shying away in the face of the Muslim Brotherhood’s rise to power in North Africa, Iran has continued to reach out, in Tunisia, Libya and Egypt, in the name of Islam. Knowing that relations between the Brothers and Saudi Arabia have not always been on an even keel, Tehran has (...)

It is going to be Syria’s turn

by Melkulangara K. Bhadrakumar

New Dehli (India) | 30 August 2011

If the likeness between ravaging regime-change scenarios in Iraq and Libya is any indication, the future of Bashar al-Assad’s sovereignty in Syria might be hanging by a thin thread. The heart of the matter - underscores this analyst - is that regime change in Syria is absolutely central to US (...)

SCO steps out of Central Asia

by Melkulangara K. Bhadrakumar

18 June 2011

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s 10th anniversary summit in Kazakhstan moved closer to integrating the entire Eurasian landmass. While the planned induction of India and Pakistan will create a pan-regional reach that supersedes the US "Great Central Asia" strategy, SCO efforts to take (...)

Kzrgyzstan

A Russian-Uzbek challenge to the US

by Melkulangara K. Bhadrakumar

New Dehli (India) | 23 April 2010

An earlier article published by Voltaire Network, which analyzed the situation in Kyrgyzstan when it was still in turmoil, entertained the possibility that Washington might have had a hand in the events leading to the overthrow of its former lackey. As can be seen below, the Manas military (...)

Turkmenistan commits its gas exports to China, Russia & Iran

Pipeline Geopolitics Major Turnaround: Russia, China, Iran Redraw Energy Map

by Melkulangara K. Bhadrakumar

16 January 2010

The Dovletabat-Sarakhs-Khangiran gas pipeline, a major joint venture by Iran and Turkmenistan, was inaugurated on 6 January 2010. This huge development could truly constitute a game-changer in the "Great Game" of energy dominance. The United States’ pipeline diplomacy in the Caspian has been (...)

Reheating the Cold War

by Melkulangara K. Bhadrakumar

Caracas (Venezuela) | 31 March 2006

Three assaults on the Kremlin within the month must be extraordinary even by Cold War standards.