"Very Grim...": EAM's 5-Year Forecast Amid Global Military, Economic Tension

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has painted a bleak picture of where the world might be in five years, warning of a "very grim forecast" given military tension in West Asia, between Ukraine and Russia, and in Southeast Asia, as well as economic challenges and the spectre of climate change.
The possibility of such a future "makes the case" for a stronger relationship between India and the United States, Mr Jaishankar said as much, if not all, of the world waits on the outcome of November's US presidential election many believe will be the second coming of Donald Trump.

"I am an optimistic person and generally tend to think of solutions to problems rather than the problems that come out of solutions. But I would say, with a great deal of sobriety, that we are going through an exceptionally difficult period," Mr Jaishankar said Tuesday at an event in Delhi.