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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.)

Pleasant engagement with the maestro

Updated: Aug 18

There's a lot to learn from Ustad Zakir Hussain and artists like Pt. Jasraj who shared one stage and congratulated each other with clean mind for the masterpieces that invited audience applause

Ustad Zakir Hussain

During my Engineering college days in Banaras, my first encounter with Indian classical music was mesmerizing. It was Banaras Hindu University and a pure hub of musical stalwarts exchanging their knowledge with each other and the students. The music college affiliated to BHU had frequent artist visitors daily. It was the platform that introduced me to different avenues of music, like violin by Padmabhushan Dr. N. Rajam, veena by Dr LalMani Mishra appointed by great P. Omkarnath Thakur, sitar, sarangi, jaltarang, santur, outstanding tabla players like Ishwarlal / Chotelal / Ramji Mishras - all disciples of legendary tabla player Anokhelal.


Returning to Mumbai after completing Engineering it was a disappointment as music programs were found to be difficult to book the tickets for, too expensive & not as frequent as we came across in Banaras. The surprise element was Zakir Hussain’s solo recital in the mood indigo event of IIT Bombay.


He was a new artist and I was sceptical if there would be any audience. To my surprise the theatre was overcrowded. Zakirji performed in such a way that the entire youthful audience with purely technical & engineering silhouette, with strong orientation of migrating to the US, was repeatedly giving tumultuous applause. Zakirji made some innovation to demonstrate a composition on Tabla, by striking a similarity of that rhythmical piece to that of the beauty of a jumpy running of a dear, galloping horse & so on, making him a unique illustrator.


While the youth was appearing to be drifting away from classical music, the mood indigo program clearly showed Zakirji’s ability to pull back the youth to our cultural ethos. I anxiously used to wait for Zakirji’s concert either solo or an accompaniment to another artist both spellbinding. Once he was accompanying Pt Jasraj Ji. Generally, the main artist, particularly a vocal artist doesn’t give much scope to an accompanying tabla player or a harmonium player. The chemistry of Pt. Jasraj & Zakirji seemed to be totally different. Jasrajji was slowly rendering upper notes & encouraging Zakirji to reproduce it on Tabla.


To my astonishment, for the first time I heard two or three matching notes at the end of the mukhda produced on tabla. He actually produced a tune on Tabla and took the audience to another level of bliss. At the upper notes in “atitaarsaptak”, Zakirji shook his head expressing inability, drawing roaring applause from the audience. Considering Zakirji’s potential, Jasrajji had no option but to give a free hand to Zakirji amid performances. It was a legendary concert, devoid of ego, domination and complete dedication and evolution of art.


Another memory which I wish to mention here is when Zakirji and his father and guru Ustad Alla Rakha khan once performed at Shivaji Park in Dadar. The host was Rani Varma, daughter of great vocalist Manik Varma. She had rightly said that listening to the performance of tabla by the Guru-Shishya duo is like acquiring A to Z knowledge of tabla. What an apt compliment it was indeed!


Needless to say, the sad demise of such a flawless yet humble artist is a great loss to the field of music. My friend residing in the US was shocked to hear the sad news as his memory of hearing him play at a concert of Santoor player Shivkumar Sharma’s son just two weeks ago. Little did we know, it would be his last performance!


(Writer is B-Tech (Electrical) and a fan of late Ustad Zakir Hussain. Views Personal.)

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