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By:

Rajiv Shah

22 September 2025 at 8:32:23 pm

New Alliances, New Pressures, New Fault Lines

To its west, old relationships in the Gulf are acquiring new strategic and military dimensions. Across the Atlantic, Washington is increasingly using tariffs as an instrument of foreign policy. At the same time, India holds the BRICS presidency in 2026 and prepares to host its summit when the grouping is being watched in the West as a potential challenge to the American-dominated global financial order. Individually, these developments may appear unrelated. Put together, they reveal a larger...

New Alliances, New Pressures, New Fault Lines

To its west, old relationships in the Gulf are acquiring new strategic and military dimensions. Across the Atlantic, Washington is increasingly using tariffs as an instrument of foreign policy. At the same time, India holds the BRICS presidency in 2026 and prepares to host its summit when the grouping is being watched in the West as a potential challenge to the American-dominated global financial order. Individually, these developments may appear unrelated. Put together, they reveal a larger geopolitical churn in which alliances, energy, trade, currencies and economic coercion are becoming interconnected. India finds itself almost at its centre. The emerging Saudi Arabia–Türkiye–Pakistan security equation deserves particular attention. Saudi Arabia brings enormous financial and energy influence; Türkiye possesses considerable military strength, NATO experience and an expanding defence industry; Pakistan brings a large military establishment and nuclear capability with the open support of Washington. Any arrangement containing a collective-defence commitment naturally acquires significance beyond ordinary diplomatic cooperation. Alongside it, another strategic convergence has gradually developed among India, Israel and the UAE. It would be incorrect to describe this as a formal military alliance. Yet geopolitics does not operate through defence treaties alone. India's extensive defence and technology relationship with Israel, its rapidly expanding economic and strategic partnership with the UAE, and the UAE-Israel relationship following the Abraham Accords have created considerable common ground. I2U2—bringing together India, Israel, the UAE and the United States—added another institutional dimension. Thus, without necessarily becoming opposing military camps, two interesting strategic formations are visible across West Asia: Saudi Arabia–Türkiye–Pakistan and the looser India–UAE–Israel convergence. Balancing Challenge India faces a similar balancing challenge. The Gulf is not a distant geopolitical theatre for New Delhi. Nearly nine million Indians live and work there. India's energy security, investments, trade and remittance flows are closely connected with the region. The proposed India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor also requires relative stability across this geography. Polarisation in West Asia can therefore rapidly become an Indian economic and strategic problem. There is another question Indian planners cannot ignore. If a future India-Pakistan confrontation escalates, how would any collective-defence commitment involving Pakistan be interpreted by Saudi Arabia and Türkiye? It would be alarmist to assume that either country would automatically enter a conflict against India. Saudi Arabia, in particular, has substantial economic and strategic interests in maintaining good relations with New Delhi. Nevertheless, defence planners are paid to examine possibilities before they become crises. While these equations develop in India's neighbourhood, economic pressure is emerging from Washington. The US Senate has voted 86–11 for legislation intended to increase pressure on Russia by targeting major purchasers of Russian energy. The measure could authorise tariffs reaching 100 per cent against goods from countries continuing large-scale purchases of Russian oil and gas, with India among those potentially exposed. China is powerful enough to shrug off similar challenges from the West." However this does not mean that America has already imposed a 100 per cent tariff on India. Further legislative steps remain necessary, and presidential waiver provisions are important. But the overwhelming Senate vote carries a political message that New Delhi cannot dismiss. Tariffs are no longer merely tools of trade protection; they have become instruments of geopolitical coercion. Washington's argument is understandable: revenues from Russian petroleum help sustain Moscow's economy during the Ukraine war, and reducing those revenues increases pressure on Russia. But in that case what about European countries who too were/are customers of Russian oil? India's question is equally legitimate: who should determine where India purchases the energy required by more than 1.4 billion people? If Russian crude remains commercially advantageous and helps contain domestic energy costs, New Delhi cannot reasonably be expected to make every energy decision according to another country's geopolitical priorities. Strategic partnership cannot become strategic obedience. This is where BRICS enters the larger picture. India holds the BRICS presidency in 2026 and will host its leaders at an unusually sensitive moment. BRICS is no longer merely the original grouping of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Its expansion has considerably increased its demographic, energy and geopolitical weight. More importantly, discussions around BRICS increasingly touch a sensitive nerve in Washington: alternative payment mechanisms, local-currency trade, development finance and the possibility of gradually reducing dependence upon the dollar-dominated international financial system. The BRICS Summit this time is poised to take some decisive steps which may affect western interests especially US. (The writer is an advocate, legal, geopolitical and public policy analyst. Views personal.)

A Very Efficient German Engineering Demonstration

For 90 minutes at the FIFA World Cup 2026, Germany did what Germany does best: they turned football into a carefully designed industrial process. The assembly line started on time, the machines were well oiled, quality control was ruthless, and unfortunately for Curaçao, they were the unfortunate product being tested.


The final score read Germany 7, Curaçao 1, though the numbers alone do not tell the full story. Somewhere in the stadium, a scoreboard operator probably checked twice to make sure he was updating a football match and not a cricket score.


The evening began with optimism for Curaçao. The Caribbean nation marched onto the pitch carrying the dreams of an island, a fighting spirit, and perhaps a tiny prayer that Germany might have a bad day. They got their wish for approximately three minutes. After that, Germany remembered they were Germany.


The opening goal arrived like a German train—fast, precise, and unfortunately impossible to stop. A series of quick passes sliced through the Curaçao defence with the elegance of a surgeon performing a routine operation. The defenders looked around, wondering whether they had misplaced the German forwards or whether the Germans had discovered a secret passage through space and time.


At 1–0, Curaçao still believed. At 2–0, they still hoped. At 3–0, the goalkeeper began reconsidering his career choices. By 4–0, he was probably searching the rulebook to see if a team could legally request a timeout, a substitute goalkeeper, or a small miracle.


Germany’s midfield controlled the match with the calmness of people filling out tax forms. No unnecessary drama, no panic, no emotional speeches. Just pass, move, receive, score, repeat. If German football had a user manual, this match would have been Chapter One.


The German forwards, meanwhile, treated every attack like a Black Friday sale: everything had to go. Every loose ball, every gap in the defence, every half-chance was immediately claimed before anyone else could get there.


Yet to Curaçao’s credit, they refused to disappear entirely. Football is a cruel game, but it occasionally offers small moments of kindness. Against the run of play, Curaçao launched a brave attack and found the back of the net.


The stadium erupted.


The Curaçao players celebrated as if they had won the World Cup itself—and honestly, who could blame them? When you are facing a football giant and your opponent is scoring goals like they are collecting supermarket loyalty points, even one goal feels like a trophy.


For a brief moment, the score was 4–1. A comeback? A miracle? A new chapter in football history?


Germany listened politely to those ideas and responded by scoring three more goals.


It was the football equivalent of someone saying, “I think I have a chance,” and Germany replying, “That is a wonderful opinion. Unfortunately, we have a schedule to maintain.”


The fifth goal arrived with the cold efficiency of a company email that begins with “As discussed earlier.” The sixth was almost rude in its simplicity, and the seventh felt less like a goal and more like Germany signing their name at the bottom of a completed project.


By the final whistle, Curaçao’s defenders looked like tourists who had accidentally signed up for an advanced physics exam. They had arrived expecting a challenge and left having learned several painful lessons about movement, positioning, and why giving Germany too much space is a terrible life decision.


The German manager will be delighted with the performance. Seven goals, total dominance, and a statement victory to announce that Germany had arrived at the World Cup with serious intentions. Their passing was sharp, their movement was intelligent, and their finishing was as clinical as a doctor with a perfect attendance record.


However, the result also carried a warning for Germany. Bigger tests await. The World Cup has a habit of allowing teams to look like superheroes in the group stage before introducing them to another superhero with a stronger cape.


For Curaçao, there is no shame in the defeat. The scoreboard may suggest a disaster, but their journey to the World Cup is already a remarkable achievement. They scored on one of football’s traditional giants, they never stopped fighting, and they gave their supporters a moment they will remember long after the seven German goals have been forgotten.


(The writer is a senior journalist based in Mumbai.)

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