Just when it seemed India-US relations were poised for a rupture, the political weather in Washington turned yet again. President Donald Trump—once quick to hail India as America’s reliable partner—abruptly announced a steep 50 per cent tariff on Indian imports, even going so far as to label India’s economy ‘dead’.

Diplomacy has always been a delicate craft. Words, carefully weighed, once built bridges where armies could not. But in the Trump era, that art has collapsed into gutter talk. The language of statesmen has given way to the slang of the street. And now, words are no longer instruments of peace but weapons of mockery.

An ominous belt of turbulence now circles India. From Kathmandu to Colombo, Dhaka to Malé, and deep inside Pakistan, a fierce storm of public anger, broken economies, and betrayed hopes is shaking South Asia. What some call the ‘Arc of Instability’ is no longer just a geopolitical phrase—it is a living reality.

Ukraine could position itself as the West’s answer to Chinese dominance in many critical raw material sectors, according to a new report by LSE IDEAS and Friedrich Ebert Stiftung.

After avenging the 3-day India-Pakistan conflict following the Pahalgam massacre, the Modi government launched an unprecedented diplomatic initiative that appears to be a turning point in India’s history. On April 22, the killing of 26 innocent tourists in Jammu and Kashmir was not just an attack on civilians but a direct challenge to India’s sovereignty and resolve. Again, after Trump Terrif, India proved its mettle. The whole country seems to be standing united once again.

Recently, senior officials and the foreign minister hinted at the West’s lingering bias for Pakistan. Most leaders in India and poor third-world countries feel that the Western world is highly biased and sectarian. The hearts of some white leaders still secretly pulse for Pakistan. This is a thunderclap warning that India must arm itself with caution and self-reliance in a world where allies like the US wield friendship as a weapon of convenience.