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Let me summarise, and not very politely: 1. India is too close to Israel, because everybody loves the Palestinians (especially the Europeans) and Iran is dictating terms. 2. Therefore, we must show "sufficiently ambitious strategic imagination" (the current level is apparently not enough) and, this means... 3. Moving away from an "adaptive, alignment driven foreign policy - the kind that follows and adapts to alignments forged by others" towards a, wait for it: "architectonic foreign policy, which seeks to shape its own strategic environment". And that, in turn, means 4. "New Delhi's most valuable strategic asset in the coming multipolar decade is its authentic voice as a champion of the Global South..." 5. But here's the clincher: "...every visible alignment with Israel in a conflict in which the Global South overwhelmingly sympathises with the Palestinians risks putting that precious capital in jeopardy". Bottom line: Despite the rather gratingly obvious attempts to lend balance, this gent's argument is basically that India's relationship with Israel is out of sync with the reality of the Middle East (especially Iran), Europe and I hasten to add "the Global South" (in Title Caps, no less). The world has changed since the time when this sort of bureaucratese had any impact. Now, "the Global South" is a nonsensical term which our diplomats seem to use on occasion to articulate our fellowship with the poorer parts of the world, but that is really rather unfortunate. Perhaps better, as my son told my daughter yesterday, to: "Stop overthinking, actionmaxx"! In other words, do good - as we have been doing - but no need to hang that on a geography. It is self-limiting. It's just the 21st century term for the erstwhile "Third World". The most noticeable thing about the "Global South" is that no one really wants to be in it. The poorer countries of the world are as fickle as richer ones. The Palestinians, burdened as they are by their execrable leadership, have very little traction among the governments of the Middle East. Observe how much non-aid help they have received over the past nearly three years. There are solid reasons for that. One can make a strong case that the main sympathisers of the Palestinian cause today among non-Palestinians are the 20-45 age group in Europe and North America with leftist quasi-Marxist inclinations. But the mood in the West is changing hard, and changing fast. I recommend that this gentleman watch "Citizen Vigilante" - a new movie banned in Germany, and almost certain to be banned across the EU - although it was fully posted by Elon Musk on his own X account (now removed, though it is said to be still fully available to view on X). Disclaimer: I haven't watched it, but the trailer gives you a pretty good outline of what to expect. Reviews strongly send ominous signals of the times to come. It is safe to predict that the Palestinian cause will not be a front page issue in Europe for long. The Global South's overwhelming sympathy for the Palestinians means exactly zero. There is nothing they are going to do about it, and mostly there is nothing they want to do about it - other than offer words of encouragement, sympathy and so on. Meanwhile, India is perhaps among a very short list of countries that can engage all, including demonstrably Iran, while ensuring that its overall economic trajectory retains momentum. Considering how the rest of the world is faring, that's not something to sneeze at. The government is being ruthlessly pragmatic in action, sufficiently salubrious in words and - at least far as I can tell - absolute kings of calibration in the face of geopolitical exigency. Pro-active when required and appropriately reactive when necessary. There is a certain nostalgia among former bureaucrats and their cohort for the comfort of joint commiseration that used to be the balm for impoverishment, ineptitude, incompetence and plain old powerlessness. It is comforting when you didn't really have to take any major action, and appear to be prosecuting your interest, warm in the cocoon of an impotent non-alignment. But times have changed, the public has changed, the balance sheet is much more robust, and there's a little more muscle on the bone. We are able to express our interests now, more honestly.