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Happymon Jacob

Happymon Jacob

Indian Express

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India and US: India must negotiate a favourable FTA for giving up Russian oil

India and US: India must negotiate a favourable FTA for giving up Russian oil

India must make a virtue out of necessity by proposing that it will comply with US sanctions in exchange for the latter addressing its key strategic...

yesterday 10

hindustantimes

Happymon Jacob

India and Afghanistan: The gains of recognising the Taliban govt in Kabul

India and Afghanistan: The gains of recognising the Taliban govt in Kabul

India hosted Taliban foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, signaling potential recognition of the Taliban government, emphasizing strategic benefits

13.10.2025 6

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Happymon Jacob

Curious case of Pakistan’s geopolitical rehabilitation

Pakistan’s current regional strategy appears to be one of hedging, free-riding, and seeking to act as an intermediary among various regional factions

29.09.2025 10

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Happymon Jacob

India can’t wait for a post-Trump America

Unless corrective measures are taken soon and parties on both sides attempt to steady the relationship, Trump will leave the relationship severely...

16.09.2025 20

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Happymon Jacob

India-Japan ties need a big leap in Indo-Pacific

The building blocks for strong strategic ties are firmly in place. They now need a quantum leap forward

01.09.2025 20

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Happymon Jacob

Anatomy of the budding India-China bonhomie

The geopolitical moment marking power shifts among nations and blocs has influenced both Asian powers to recalibrate their relationship

21.08.2025 10

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Happymon Jacob

Reading the outcome of the Alaska summit

The Alaska summit suggests Trump may favor Russia over Ukraine, indicating potential territorial concessions for Ukraine as peace talks advance.

18.08.2025 20

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Happymon Jacob

Misunderstanding India’s advocacy for multipolarity

If India is more focused on countering Chinese unipolarity in Asia, opposing regional unipolarity without opposing global unipolarity will ring...

04.08.2025 10

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Happymon Jacob

Grand Strategy: It’s about Trump, not about India

Has India’s pursuit of multipolarity alienated the Americans? Perhaps yes, but decline of American unipolarity is not India’s doing

01.08.2025 10

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Happymon Jacob

How New Delhi can manage the Beijing challenge it faces

The recent thaw in Sino-Indian relations is encouraging, but it must be understood that India’s China challenge is a constant in Southern Asian...

21.07.2025 20

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Happymon Jacob

Brics as a bloc for India to build global heft

It can help New Delhi enhance its leverage in other forums like the G7 and G20 as a bridge state and leader of Global South

08.07.2025 10

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Happymon Jacob

India must transition from fourth largest economy to an economy of consequences

The challenge with India’s current ranking as the world’s 4th-largest economy is that it reflects primarily the size of market

01.07.2025 10

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Happymon Jacob

When America joins Israel’s war with Iran

An extended conflict will lead to regional instability and unsettle New Delhi’s plans for broader engagement with West Asia

23.06.2025 10

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Happymon Jacob

India’s strategic culture and how it uses force

The reputational imperative of demonstrating to the world that India is a responsible actor constrains the country’s military objectives 

09.06.2025 10

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Happymon Jacob

What Pahalgam and after revealed about South Asia

China will seek to influence the outcomes of regional military conflicts, diplomatic standoffs or political contestations 

26.05.2025 10

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Happymon Jacob

Grand Strategy: Multi-alignment works during peace, falls short in times of war

Having a few strong, reliable strategic partners may prove more beneficial during conflicts than maintaining many partners during peacetime

23.05.2025 10

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Happymon Jacob

Kashmir to water: The reset in India-Pak ties

Pahalgam and the events thereafter have changed the terms of engagement between India and Pakistan 

13.05.2025 10

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Happymon Jacob

The many messages in Operation Sindoor

The days of strategic restraint by India are over, and it is no longer concerned about international approval for military responses to Pakistan’s...

08.05.2025 20

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Happymon Jacob

Challenges New Delhi faces in responding to Pahalgam

India will have to factor in domestic political compulsions, bilateral impact, and international perception as it debates its options

28.04.2025 10

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Happymon Jacob

Europe’s re-arming and the potential for India

Trans-Atlantic tensions and Europe’s return to classical geopolitics will mean India will have more options on the table

14.04.2025 50

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Happymon Jacob

A charter for India to negotiate global chaos

New Delhi must make its strategic choices carefully to ensure its place at the table when a new world order is constructed

31.03.2025 10

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Happymon Jacob

Age of pessimism in world politics

One of the striking features of the current age of pessimism is that the pursuit of global good is no longer what dominates the global discourse today

17.03.2025 30

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Happymon Jacob

Necessity underpins the new India-EU bonhomie

One of the reasons why India and Europe will grow closer in the days ahead is because much of the world they disagreed about no longer exists

03.03.2025 20

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Happymon Jacob

Trump 2.0 is also an opportunity for India

The US president’s disruptive politics will reshape the world order. New Delhi must seize the moment

17.02.2025 10

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Happymon Jacob

The Trump factor in India’s China policy

Delhi may need to recalibrate its balancing of power equations in the event of a rapprochement between Washington and Beijing

03.02.2025 10

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Happymon Jacob

The balancing China question before India

India’s China problem is not going away anytime soon; China will continue to be a profound grand strategic issue for us. If we think temporary...

20.01.2025 20

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Happymon Jacob

A new chapter for India’s regional strategic policy

India’s neighbourhood ties will have its wins and losses in the neighbourhood, and it must learn to take them in its stride.

07.01.2025 7

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Happymon Jacob

Foreign policy experts must listen to the street

While governments may not base their policies solely on the changing mood of the street, this indeed serves as an important indicator of societal...

23.12.2024 5

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Happymon Jacob

Grand Strategy | How minilateralism is reshaping global order

Minilateralism is on the rise today for several reasons. The primary reason is the failure of multilateralism and the emergence of global...

09.12.2024 3

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Happymon Jacob

Ukraine war in the grand chessboard of geopolitics

The Ukraine war marks 1,000 days, with Russia gaining an upper hand. Western support has been insufficient, and future dynamics remain uncertain.

25.11.2024 10

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Happymon Jacob

The Trump inflection on US foreign policy

Unless his second term differs dramatically from the first, we can expect a mostly disinterested and extractive approach to global engagement by...

07.11.2024 10

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Happymon Jacob

The ideational dimension of India’s China challenge

While there is good news from the LAC, the China challenge to India is a long-term one that has both material and intellectual/ideational elements.

03.11.2024 2

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Happymon Jacob

Grand Strategy | The new template for dialogue with Pakistan

A clinical minimalism focussed on conflict management appears to define New Delhi’s engagement with Islamabad

20.10.2024 10

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Happymon Jacob

Grand Strategy | The age of nuclear adventurism

One key lesson many states are drawing from the Russia-Ukraine war is that a nuclear-armed Ukraine would have been better off.

14.10.2024 2

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Happymon Jacob

Grand Strategy | A year after the Hamas strike, insecurity grows

Israel’s disproportionate response and failure of global powers and institutions to enforce a ceasefire have plunged the world into a crisis

07.10.2024 3

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Happymon Jacob

Grand Strategy | Shift in Europe’s framing of the Ukraine conflict

The growing criticism of the West’s moral plank regarding Ukraine and Gaza appears to have forced a change in the Western narrative

23.09.2024 3

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Happymon Jacob

Grand Strategy | Ukraine’s fighting against time and the clock is ticking

Ukraine is fighting on many fronts: A war with Russia, fighting for global attention, for help from the US and Europe, and to keep up the morale of...

16.09.2024 2

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Happymon Jacob

Grand Strategy | Why Seoul, Delhi need more ambitious ties

India’s growing interest in the Indo-Pacific provide an opportunity for Seoul and Delhi to discover each other’s strategic potential

09.09.2024 2

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Happymon Jacob

The many meanings of Modi’s Ukraine visit

Potential reputational gains for India from even a modest initiative to lessen the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war far outweigh those from any...

25.08.2024 2

hindustantimes

Happymon Jacob

Grand Strategy | Time for a new neighbourhood policy

By reaching out to the Taliban and the Myanmar junta, India has demonstrated an ability to have a non-ideological approach to regional policy.

19.08.2024 10

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Happymon Jacob

Grand Strategy | Interests, not friendship, determine foreign policy

The great power argument is delusional. We are simply past that age in our neighbourhood

11.08.2024 3

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Happymon Jacob