BackgroundPresident Xi Jinping has just completed a two-day official visit to Myanmar, on 17 and 18 January 2020. This was the first state visit by a Chinese President, in 19 years; though, in 2009,...
Scripted like a Hollywood movie, the escape of former Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn from Japanese law has captivated the world. Is he a plain fugitive or does the Japanese legal system ...
Australia is being devastated; probably by the worst wildfires in history. The fires which began in September 2019, have and so far, killed 24 people, razed more than 1500 houses and scorched 5.9...
In the early hours of 03 January 2020 Major General Qasem Soleimani, the head of the Quds Force, the elite arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, was killed in a US airstrike, near Baghdad...
Boris Johnson concluded his early morning victory speech like only a journalist gifted with the pen of humour can. “Ladies and gentlemen, so let’s get Brexit done. But first, let’s get breakfast...
The recent political shenanigans in Maharashtra can potentially be an inflection point in the increasingly unipolar politics of India. Since the 2014 general elections, the ruling Bharatiya Janata...
Case Study: Cambodia, 1993In 1993, I was posted on deputation to the UN mission in Cambodia, which was called the UN Transitional Authority in Cambodia or UNTAC. At that time, Cambodia was a...
The telecom sector was once the most prominent posterchild of India’s booming growth story. It was a veritable gravy train that one thought could chug on till eternity. With more than a...
The Financial CrisisOn 08 Oct 2019, Antonio Guterres, the UN Secretary-General (SG), speaking at the Budget-setting meeting of the 5th Committee (Administration & Budget Committee), said the...
Is Lebanese Society Imprisoned by History?Lebanon located at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Sea and the Arabian hinterland has a rich history and a special cultural identity of religious and...
Current SituationOn 02 October 2019, in a clash with civilian protesters, a Hong Kong police officer shot an 18-year old secondary school student. The student was shot from point-blank range, while...
On Saturday 14 Sep 2019, in a pre-dawn strike, Saudi Arabia’s large ARAMCO oil refineries at Abqaiq and Khurais were attacked. The precision attacks crippled the kingdom’s oil production capacity by...
The S-400 Triumph, manufactured by Russia’s state-owned Almaz–Antey Corporation, is an Air Defence Weapon System. It is designed to destroy aircraft, cruise & ballistic missiles, as well as...
There’s been much ado about food company Parle’s falling biscuit sales. But for the Mumbai-based company and others like it, the cookie does seem to be crumbling. As Parle’s rival Britannia...
Why Was Article 370 Introduced in the First Place?The Shadow of War When India and Pakistan gained Independence in 1947, the Princely state of J&K had not joined either country. On 22...
What were the strategic reasons for a separate Union Territory? Ladakh, for the most part, is a sparsely populated, semi-arid, high-altitude desert. It lies in the Himalayas, between the Zanskar...
What is the South China Sea Dispute? The dispute is between six maritime nations, who share shorelines with the South China Sea. The conflict is over territorial claims and economic zone rights...
Strategic stability is normally assumed to mean deterrence stability. This assumption is simplistic as the term signifies much more than merely the prevalence of nuclear deterrence between two...
It’s now official. Yes. Boris Johnson will be reincarnated as an olive. A man who only a few years ago described his chances becoming the PM as likely as being reincarnated as the Mediterranean fruit...
The unprecedented rise of China and several other Asian nations has led to a global transformation. While this has a positive impact on much of the world, it has also unsettled a few leading powers...
