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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.)

Food Waste in India’s Hospitality Sector

In my last article, I shared an overview of the wastage of food at the household level. Now, let us move out of the house and look at other sources of food waste by retail consumers. Topmost among the sources are hotels and restaurants. According to the Food Waste Index Report 2021 by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), India generates about 68.7 million tons of food waste per year, out of which 11.9 million tons come from the food service sector. This sector includes restaurants, hotels, caterers, canteens, and other establishments that serve food to customers. There are three different modes of food wastage in this sector. Firstly, pre-consumer waste is generated during preparation and storage. Then when the food is served to the customer as per the order, many customers leave some portion of the food in their plates. Many customers prefer to carry packed meals at home or their respective workplaces. However, they may not consume the entire portion of food they have carried. The reasons for food waste in restaurants and hotels are manifold and can be summarised as follows:


  1. Overproduction: Restaurants often prepare various food dishes in excess quantities to avoid running out of stock and to meet the demand of customers. However, they do not consider the average number of customers visiting their restaurants per day. Hence, all the food that is prepared does not get consumed and becomes stale. Such food is discarded in the trash.


  1. Serving portion quantity: Restaurants often serve large portions of food to customers to attract them and satisfy their appetites without even considering their age. People who are in their late 60s and 70s and above do not have such an appetite, but they are served the same portion as given to the youngsters and adults. In general, the said customer may not be able to gulp down the entire food on the plate. I have experienced this many times. For a single person, they serve a portion of food that can be shared by two or three people. So obviously, some food gets left over. The customer may get it packed and take it home, thinking that it will take care of one meal at least. But it rarely happens. Such packed food is kept in the refrigerator and is then discarded the next day.


  1. Customer behaviour: On the contrary, customers often order more food than they can eat or need, either due to a lack of awareness, peer pressure, or impulse buying. They also tend to leave uneaten food on their plates or take away leftovers, but do not consume them later.


  1. Menu variety: Restaurants often offer a wide variety of dishes and cuisines to cater to the different tastes and preferences of customers. However, this also increases the complexity and cost of food preparation and storage, as well as the risk of spoilage and wastage.


  2. Lack of awareness: Both restaurants and customers often lack awareness and knowledge about the causes and consequences of food waste, as well as the best practices and solutions to prevent and reduce it. They also lack incentives and motivation to act against food waste.


More on this next week! Till then, have a good weekend!


(The author is an environmentalist. Views personal.)

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