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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.)

Dog’s murder shakes affluent residents

Mumbai: The residents of Raheja Complex in Madh Island, a plush colony, are in grief after the death of their beloved dog who is allegedly killed by yet unknown miscreants. They have approached the police to find out the ‘killer’.


In an unprecedented scenario, a team of state forensic department visited the society on Wednesday to look for clues of the murder and the murderer.


Mikey, an 11-year-old community dog was found dead and packed in a gunny bag. A housekeeping staff member spotted the gunny bag in an isolated area and informed the residents. This has created an outrage among the society members for whom the dog was like a family member.


Anchal Chadha, a resident, used to feed Mikey and other dogs in their locality. She said, “Mikey had come to the complex around eight years ago along with another dogs. He was abandoned by his owner and was traumatised. Slowly he started staying at the Cas building which is a part of Raheja complex.”


Residents claim that many members of the society were against feeding the dogs. They did not like dogs in the society.


Chadha said, “Mikey was missing for four days. We requested for a CCTV footage but were denied saying that the cameras were off at the time. We somehow convinced the main administrator and got the footage of the gate. We saw Mikey coming in but he never left the building.”


Blood Stains

After much enquiry and investigation by some of the residents, a housing staff member opened up about what had happened.


“He confessed that he cleaned the blood stains and the poop of the dog at the place where the dog was allegedly hit. We immediately called the Directorate of Forensic Science Laboratory and filed an FIR”, Chadha said.


“There were other such cases where a dog died after falling from the third floor. They said it was an accident. Before that a dog ran away from the building during Diwali. We thought it was due to crackers. This all happened in this one society,” she said.


When asked why was Mikey targeted, she said, “It is because even after trying multiple times to remove the dog from the society, he wouldn’t leave. So that could possibly be the reason. Some of the society members always had problems with the dogs in the building. There used to be fights on the WhatsApp groups and in person regarding feeding of the dogs.”


Furious Activists

Animal rights activist Xavier Santiago has taken the case to the police. He said, “It is a case of animal cruelty. From what I hear from the sources is that there is a criminal conspiracy and the matter is under investigation. We are yet to find the culprit. But an FIR has been filed at the Malwani Police station.”


In a video, actor Manjari Fadnis shared her memories with the dog and called it an act of cruelty. She said, “The eye witness in the case told that Mikey was hit with a stick when he was sleeping.” She vowed to fight for Mikey and residents also said they will stage a protest against the act.


An animal lover Sarika Nerurkar said, “Cruelty towards animals should never be dismissed as a minor offence. Research has repeatedly shown links between animal abuse and patterns of violent or antisocial behaviour. By intervening early and holding offenders accountable, we are not only protecting innocent animals but also safeguarding our communities from future harm.”


The Chairman and Secretary of the society could not be contacted for their reactions.

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