India’s foreign policy today stands at a ‘diamond crossing’. It is a place where roads do not force a single direction, where relationships remain flexible, and where choices are guided by interest rather than ideology. In a world shaken by uncertainty and shifting power centres, India has chosen not to lock itself into rigid alliances. Instead, it keeps its options open and moves carefully, dealing with different powers on different issues.

Donald Trump will never be remembered in history as a great general. But his name will be recorded among those who changed the grammar of war. He showed that guns are no longer essential for battle. No trenches, no battlefield, no smoke-filled skies. Just tariffs, tweets, threats, and spectacle.

When the ageing, grandstanding statesman invoked peace from a Nobel podium, his true meaning was war. This Orwellian doublespeak has become the native tongue of a trumpet-blowing democracy that has perfected the art of diplo-bullying.

What happened to that trademark bravado? The Donald Trump who stormed back into the White House promising to end wars in 24 hours, why has he gone strangely quiet as 2025 draws to a close? Was all the bluster just policy? Was the chest-thumping confused for real diplomacy? Or was the entire strategy built on disruption without any real follow-through? The million-dollar question: has the world simply tuned him out?

How many warning bells must ring before New Delhi wakes up? How long will India play the polite bystander while its eastern neighbour slides into the abyss? History has a cruel sense of déjà vu. We have seen this movie before. And we know how it ends.

Delhi’s brutal winter suddenly felt a degree warmer as Vladimir Putin’s aircraft touched down and the capital basked in the diplomatic glow of a ‘Putin Yatra’. The Russian leader’s 2025 visit did more than thaw the December chill; it reignited one of the world’s most durable partnerships and signalled India’s return to the global centre stage with striking self-assurance.