Indian President Shri Pranab Mukherje and Norwegian Prime Minster Erna Solberg, Oslo, Norway, Oct. 14, 2014 (Photo from the website of the Indian President).

Indian President Pranab Mukherjee’s visit to Norway in mid-October, the first by an Indian head of state, was a signal of India’s rising profile in the Arctic. Mukherjee signed 13 agreements with Norway, including one exploring avenues for joint military research between India’s Defense Research and Development Organization and Norway’s Norwegian Defense Research Establishment, known as FFI. Mukherjee also visited neighboring Finland, where he signed an additional 19 agreements, on everything from civilian nuclear cooperation to education and fishing. But the trip, coming a year after India gained observer status in the Arctic Council—an intergovernmental forum that includes eight member […]

President Barack Obama walks over to greet people after arriving in the snow at Manchester-Boston Regional Airport in Manchester, N.H., March 1, 2012 (AP photo by Susan Walsh).

Editor’s note: Due to travel, Richard Gowan’s column will appear Wednesday this week. Nikolas Gvosdev’s column will appear Monday. How three presidents—Barack Obama, Xi Jinping, and Vladimir Putin—and one institution—the European Union—grapple with and navigate the political challenges they will face this winter will have a profound impact in shaping global politics in the years to come. The decisions that are taken, or deferred, will determine whether current assumptions about the international order are reconfirmed or discarded. Those assumptions include the belief that most countries, including the rising and resurgent powers, still prioritize their relationships with Washington over bonding together […]

President Barack Obama and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the NATO summit at Celtic Manor, Newport, Wales, Sept. 5, 2014 (AP photo by Charles Dharapak).

Over the next decade, the United States may play a smaller role in the management of global security, hold steady on its current course or even try returning to the halcyon days of unipolarity. But as Sun Tzu, the great philosopher of war, wrote, a military commander who tries to be strong everywhere ends up being strong nowhere. That also applies to grand strategy. So whatever course American strategy takes, the U.S. must have regional partners. While everyone recognizes that the U.S. must lean heavily on others, it can be easy to forget that strategic partnerships come in several varieties. […]

President Barack Obama shakes hands with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Sept. 30, 2014 (AP photo by Evan Vucci).

Last week’s meeting between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington provides a convenient benchmark to assess where U.S. foreign policy is as we approach the final stretch of the current administration. A consistent theme of Obama’s presidency has been the inability to pivot from crisis management to longer-term planning. With regard to the latter goal, the value of stronger ties with a rising power like India is clear. Yet, it is telling that the meeting took place even as the Obama administration struggles to manage the Ebola pandemic in West Africa, the fight against […]

President Barack Obama escorts Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial in Washington, Sept. 30, 2014 (AP photo by Evan Vucci).

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s five-day visit to the United States last week garnered massive media and think tank attention during the month before it occurred, but little coverage or reflection since then. This is mainly due to the limited concrete results achieved by the visit, compared to the heightened expectations of what some hoped the trip might achieve. Modi did meet with President Barack Obama and other senior U.S. officials. But he did not receive the lavish official attention shown his predecessor, Manmohan Singh, during Singh’s November 2009 state visit to Washington. Modi seemed to brush it off, expressing […]

President Barack Obama and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi travel by motorcade en route to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., Sept. 30, 2014 (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza).

Last week, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the United Nations General Assembly, met with business leaders in New York and held talks with U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington. Though no concrete deals were made, there was progress on improving the strained relationship between India and the U.S. The visit was also significant since Modi was denied a visa to the U.S. in 2004, owing to his failure as chief minister of Gujarat to prevent a 2002 outbreak of religious violence that left over 1,000 people dead. Unsurprisingly, strengthening economic ties was high on Modi’s agenda. During a breakfast […]