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Atul Mishra

Articles by Atul Mishra

A state of play defined by excesses, paradoxes

One year of the Gaza war has upended conventional narratives about sectarian divides and religious solidarity in West Asia besides exhausting Israel’s moral capital

TOPSHOT - This picture taken from the southern Lebanese city of Tyre shows smoke billowing after an Israeli airstrike that targeted the southern Lebanese village of Qlaileh, on October 14, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (Photo by Kawnat HAJU / AFP) (AFP)

Opinion

Updated on Oct 14, 2024 08:28 PM IST

ByAtul Mishra

Putin’s power playbook has parallels elsewhere

Putin’s long political career has the virtue of helping us understand some key trends in contemporary leadership in major countries

Russia's President Vladimir Putin delivers his address in Moscow on March 23, 2024, the day after a gun attack on the Crocus City Hall in Krasnogorsk.(AFP)

Opinion

Published on Apr 02, 2024 09:15 PM IST

ByAtul Mishra

Ukraine’s war of sorrow is West’s strategic failure

The war has imperilled European — rather than American — security but it is American assistance that has kept Ukraine in the game so far.

A local resident and her child walks past the railway station destroyed by a Russian missile attack in Konstyantynivka, Donetsk region, on February 25, 2024, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Anatolii STEPANOV / AFP)(AFP)

Opinion

Published on Feb 26, 2024 12:21 PM IST

ByAtul Mishra

America in West Asia again is return of folly

The moral argument that Israel’s right to self-defence should be supported lies crushed under the weight of Israel’s response to the attacks of October 7.

A picture taken from Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip shows smoke rising over buildings in Khan Yunis.(AFP)

Opinion

Published on Feb 06, 2024 10:11 PM IST

ByAtul Mishra

In Gaza, the production of unequal humanity

How has the Gaza war illustrated as well as intensified the production of a humanity in which some lives are more valuable than others?

Smoke rises following an Israeli bombardment in the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, Tuesday, Dec. 26, 2023. The army is battling Palestinian militants across Gaza in the war ignited by Hamas' Oct. 7 attack into Israel. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)(AP)

Opinion

Published on Dec 26, 2023 10:16 PM IST

ByAtul Mishra

The West must revisit policy on Israel’s war

Their voices have emerged as the most legitimate in the global narrative of the war. The West must listen to them and balance and moderate its policy.

Israel-Hamas War: Israeli flags flying over destroyed buildings inside the Gaza Strip.(AFP)

opinion

Published on Nov 20, 2023 11:59 AM IST

ByAtul Mishra

War in Gaza is Israel’s moment of reckoning

Hamas deserves punishment; Palestinians don’t. What they deserve is a viable Palestinian State; it is in Israel’s interest to commit to one.

A Palestinian girl holds two children on a street in Gaza City. According to a Reuters report, the Gazan health authorities have said more than 1,400 people have been killed and over 6,000 have been wounded in the bombing. The sole electric power station has been switched off and hospitals are running out of fuel for emergency generators. (Bashar Taleb / AFP)

opinion

Published on Oct 12, 2023 10:25 PM IST

ByAtul Mishra

Beyond the euphoria, G20 lessons for India

Delhi used the presidency to give a renewed push to making the multilateral component of the international order inclusive and representative

Delhi’s overarching goal as it shepherded India’s presidency was to arrest the increasing fragmentation of the global order through new initiatives and making India an area of agreement amongst conflicting actors (PTI file photo)

opinion

Published on Sep 19, 2023 12:44 AM IST

ByAtul Mishra

What a warlord’s death illustrates about Russia

Prigozhin's death raises questions about Vladimir Putin's future in office and the war in Ukraine. A warlord is dead and the wars continue.

FILE PHOTO: A view shows a portrait of Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin at a makeshift memorial in Moscow, Russia August 24, 2023. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo(REUTERS)

opinion

Published on Aug 30, 2023 10:46 PM IST

ByAtul Mishra

What Kyiv must do to win over Global South

Ukraine must meet the Global South not as a western outpost but as a grievously wronged sovereign member of the international community

In its outreach to the Global South, Ukraine must avoid casting the war in terms of good versus evil and democracy versus authoritarianism.(via REUTERS)

opinion

Published on Aug 15, 2023 09:12 PM IST

ByAtul Mishra

Revolt loosens Putin’s Russian stranglehold

Putin made mistakes that every strongman makes. A deal may have ended the Wagner revolt for now. But the threat to his regime isn’t over yet

The man Putin used to expand Moscow’s influence in the neighbourhood and beyond ended up threatening Putin’s hold over power. (AFP)

opinion

Published on Jun 26, 2023 09:54 PM IST

ByAtul Mishra

The concept of the Global South is slowly fraying

The idea of the Global South excites a lot of people. And this is a good reason to understand why the Global South has frayed after showing great promise.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses at the opening session of Voice of Global South Summit 2023, via video conferencing, on Thursday. (ANI)

opinion

Updated on May 17, 2023 11:00 PM IST

ByAtul Mishra

Taking stock of India’s policy on Ukraine war

A healthy scepticism of the pride-producing rhetoric directed against the West is also required

A general view of Bakhmut, the site of heavy battles with Russian troops in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, April 9, 2023 (AP)

opinion

Updated on Apr 10, 2023 07:28 PM IST

ByAtul Mishra

The churn in Europe is the big story of the Ukraine war

Western regathering has meant that Putin’s war has carried over into a second year. It will intensify in the coming months, and cause further upscaling of western military assistance to Ukraine. The continent will feel a security pinch as a result

People attend a vigil for Ukraine held on the anniversary of the conflict with Russia, at Trafalgar Square in London, Britain. (Reuters)

opinion

Published on Feb 28, 2023 07:52 PM IST

ByAtul Mishra

India must navigate a world in churn at G20

New Delhi’s refocus on the Global South is consistent with its foreign policy tradition, and it will use the G20 as an entrepreneur of ideas that it hopes will find global circulation and shape the emerging international order.

New ideas such as LiFE and India as a ‘mother of democracy’ will be pushed alongside a partial redefinition of Indian civilisation and a renewed emphasis on reforming global multilateralism (ANI)

opinion

Updated on Dec 28, 2022 01:59 PM IST

ByAtul Mishra

Reclaiming our past and our present from the West

One cannot ignore that the legacy of colonialism shapes us in debilitating ways. An example is what colonialism has done to knowledge, that is, to questions like what we know and how we know it

The monopolisation of the past by history has produced ugly consequences in many parts of the world, including in India. (AP)

opinion

Updated on Sep 20, 2022 08:46 PM IST

ByAtul Mishra

Lessons for India from Pelosi’s Taiwan visit

Assertion towards China would amount not to aligning with the West, but acting according to a principle of wider relevance, namely the bully must be stood up to

US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi gestures next to Legislative Yuan Vice President Tsai Chi-chang as she leaves the parliament in Taipei, Taiwan, August 3, 2022 (REUTERS)

opinion

Updated on Aug 08, 2022 11:09 PM IST

ByAtul Mishra

Domestic issues: India must handle on its own

External intervention in our issues will prevent us from confronting our deep-set but surmountable challenges. To not do the hard work and look to the international community for help is an abdication of our responsibility to society and nationhood

People shout slogans as they hold placards during a protest demanding the arrest of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member Nupur Sharma for her comments on Prophet Mohammed, Kolkata, 7, 2022 (REUTERS)

opinion

Updated on Jun 08, 2022 07:31 PM IST

ByAtul Mishra

Ukraine: The state of play after invasion

Putin may be relishing the gains of this perverse psychotherapy, but what stares him in the face is this: A concerted western attempt at his international isolation, degradation of Russia’s economy, and a steep decline in Russian power

A rally participant holds up a sign reading

opinion

Updated on Feb 28, 2022 09:00 AM IST

ByAtul Mishra

Ukraine: The West’s power has its limits

The liberal vision of international order is still the best game in town. But it is no longer the only one. As multiple visions compete for acceptance and sway, hard power is increasingly becoming the factor that determines the balance

Ukrainian Military Forces servicemen manoeuvre in front of tanks of the 92nd separate mechanised brigade of Ukrainian Armed Forces, parked in their base near Klugino-Bashkirivka village, in the Kharkiv region on January 31, 2022 (AFP)

opinion

Updated on Jan 31, 2022 07:58 PM IST

ByAtul Mishra

75 years later, the quest to understand Partition

To think out of the box on the India–Pakistan dynamic, we must first understand how we boxed ourselves in

Partition was deeply unsatisfactory for all the parties concerned. Worse, it bequeathed to India and Pakistan three new problems: Territorial contestation, minorities vulnerable to enraged or predatory majorities, and discord over national identity (Getty Images)

opinion

Updated on Dec 04, 2021 10:20 PM IST

ByAtul Mishra

In South Asia, the politics of religious extremism

If the weaponisation of religion continues apace, the subcontinent may plunge into prolonged social strife

At the heart of the crisis is the fraying relations between the subcontinent’s two largest religious communities (PTI)

opinion

Updated on Nov 03, 2021 02:11 PM IST

ByAtul Mishra

AUKUS won’t derail either Quad or Western unity

The trajectory of the Indo-Pacific will be determined by the response of the democracies to Chinese behaviour. We are witnessing a rapid and profound restructuring of the global order

It is almost certain that any important Indo-Pacific initiative will substantively overlap with Quad (ANI)

opinion

Updated on Sep 28, 2021 07:36 PM IST

ByAtul Mishra

Don’t write off the West. Kabul may signal its revival

With its evacuation operations centred on Kabul, the US has positioned itself as the leader of the West. There are signs of a reviving West under a Biden-led US. A bloc of states that can mount such a response is a formidable force. Beijing must be watching. And the Kabul setback notwithstanding, New Delhi has a reason to feel pleased

US Air Force loadmasters and pilots assigned to the 816th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron load people being evacuated from Afghanistan onto a US Air Force C-17 Globemaster III at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan. (AP)

opinion

Updated on Aug 26, 2021 03:48 PM IST

ByAtul Mishra

Liberal democracies must stand up

Develop norms on surveillance, nudge partners, take on dictatorships, and hold Israel and NSO accountable

opinion

Updated on Jul 27, 2021 06:24 PM IST

ByAtul Mishra

India’s PACK challenge requires a political response

Pakistan is speaking a new language of geoeconomics and a trade-fronted regional policy. This merits cautious interest from New Delhi, indications of which are evident

opinion

Updated on Jun 10, 2021 04:22 PM IST

ByAtul Mishra

India’s real foreign policy crisis is domestic

The deepening reputational damage is also depleting national resources needed for effective external relations, but the real issue here is a question for India’s polarised citizenry — will it buy into the siege mentality or will it reflect and ask tough questions of the executive

PM Modi’s domestic standing may remain unscathed, but as controversies going back the past couple of years pile up, his position among foreign leaders of consequence diminishes. (File photo)

opinion

Updated on May 11, 2021 05:35 PM IST

ByAtul Mishra

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Atul Mishra

One year of the Gaza war has upended conventional narratives about sectarian divides and religious solidarity in West Asia besides exhausting Israel’s moral capital

Putin’s long political career has the virtue of helping us understand some key trends in contemporary leadership in major countries

The war has imperilled European — rather than American — security but it is American assistance that has kept Ukraine in the game so far.

The moral argument that Israel’s right to self-defence should be supported lies crushed under the weight of Israel’s response to the attacks of October 7.

How has the Gaza war illustrated as well as intensified the production of a humanity in which some lives are more valuable than others?

Their voices have emerged as the most legitimate in the global narrative of the war. The West must listen to them and balance and moderate its policy.

Hamas deserves punishment; Palestinians don’t. What they deserve is a viable Palestinian State; it is in Israel’s interest to commit to one.

Delhi used the presidency to give a renewed push to making the multilateral component of the international order inclusive and representative

Prigozhin's death raises questions about Vladimir Putin's future in office and the war in Ukraine. A warlord is dead and the wars continue.

Ukraine must meet the Global South not as a western outpost but as a grievously wronged sovereign member of the international community

Putin made mistakes that every strongman makes. A deal may have ended the Wagner revolt for now. But the threat to his regime isn’t over yet

The idea of the Global South excites a lot of people. And this is a good reason to understand why the Global South has frayed after showing great promise.

A healthy scepticism of the pride-producing rhetoric directed against the West is also required

Western regathering has meant that Putin’s war has carried over into a second year. It will intensify in the coming months, and cause further upscaling of western military assistance to Ukraine. The continent will feel a security pinch as a result

New Delhi’s refocus on the Global South is consistent with its foreign policy tradition, and it will use the G20 as an entrepreneur of ideas that it hopes will find global circulation and shape the emerging international order.

One cannot ignore that the legacy of colonialism shapes us in debilitating ways. An example is what colonialism has done to knowledge, that is, to questions like what we know and how we know it

Assertion towards China would amount not to aligning with the West, but acting according to a principle of wider relevance, namely the bully must be stood up to

External intervention in our issues will prevent us from confronting our deep-set but surmountable challenges. To not do the hard work and look to the international community for help is an abdication of our responsibility to society and nationhood

Putin may be relishing the gains of this perverse psychotherapy, but what stares him in the face is this: A concerted western attempt at his international isolation, degradation of Russia’s economy, and a steep decline in Russian power

The liberal vision of international order is still the best game in town. But it is no longer the only one. As multiple visions compete for acceptance and sway, hard power is increasingly becoming the factor that determines the balance

To think out of the box on the India–Pakistan dynamic, we must first understand how we boxed ourselves in

If the weaponisation of religion continues apace, the subcontinent may plunge into prolonged social strife

The trajectory of the Indo-Pacific will be determined by the response of the democracies to Chinese behaviour. We are witnessing a rapid and profound restructuring of the global order

Develop norms on surveillance, nudge partners, take on dictatorships, and hold Israel and NSO accountable

Pakistan is speaking a new language of geoeconomics and a trade-fronted regional policy. This merits cautious interest from New Delhi, indications of which are evident

The deepening reputational damage is also depleting national resources needed for effective external relations, but the real issue here is a question for India’s polarised citizenry — will it buy into the siege mentality or will it reflect and ask tough questions of the executive

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