Yoshihide Suga, the low-key son of a farmer who will be named Japan’s next prime minister on Wednesday, is in many ways a policy clone of recently resigned Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. But that doesn’t mean Suga will bring anything like the same effort Abe did to bolstering Japan’s defense capabilities—a transition in Japanese politics […]
Author: lookingbeyondborders
Can India Transcend Its Two-Front Challenge?
For more than five decades, the Indian military has feared one thing above all else — a two-front war with China and Pakistan. By leveraging its size, military strength, and eventually its nuclear arsenal, New Delhi believed it could deter or manage a conflict with either one of its nuclear-armed neighbours individually. But a collaborative […]
Supporting Migrants And Remittances as COVID-19 Rages On
Just as COVID-19 has disproportionately impacted some communities more than others, globally, the virus has had an oversized negative impact on migrant workers. Perhaps surprisingly, despite the bleak experience for foreign overseas workers during the pandemic, the effect on remittances—the flow of money they send back home—has, in many cases, proven resilient. But that trend […]
Rise And Fall Of Spain’s Former King Juan Carlos
After the end of the Franco era, King Juan Carlos I helped his country become wealthy and democratic. Today he is exiled, with his legacy clouded by possible connections to tax fraud. What happened? Read Here | Der Spiegel
‘Negative Peace’? China’s Approach To The Middle East
What is China up to in the Middle East? What are its intentions, and do they constitute a threat to the predominant U.S. order there? And will there soon be a transformation in its approach to regional conflict, especially through the emerging concept and practice of “peace through development”? Read Here | WarOnTheRocks
The Surprise Religious Group That Could Decide Trump’s Fate
In 2016, Mormons rejected Donald Trump in numbers unheard of for a Republican nominee — viewing the thrice-married, immigrant-bashing Republican as an affront to their values. In 2020, the president is going all-out to change their minds — a little-noticed effort that could make or break him in Arizona and Nevada, home to more than a half-million […]
Australia, China Trade War Ensures Mutual Destruction
China and Australia’s trade is interlinked in many areas but the largest value items are commodities Beijing arguably cannot readily source in sufficient supply elsewhere. This is often missed when Australia and China’s trade relationship is weighed against security ties with the US and a rapidly changing world order some view as a New Cold […]
The Road To Peace In Afghanistan No Longer Runs Through Pakistan
The absence of a credible guarantor of peace in Afghanistan is a big problem for everyone involved. For its part, the West has long believed that Pakistan could play that role but is not quite fully exercising its power. In turn, the United States frequently tried to ramp up the pressure on its erstwhile partner. […]
Bahrain Follows UAE To Normalise Ties With Israel
Bahrain has joined the United Arab Emirates in agreeing to normalise relations with Israel, in a US-brokered deal that Palestinian leaders denounced as “another treacherous stab to the Palestinian cause”. Donald Trump, the president of the United States, announced the deal on Twitter on Friday after he spoke by phone to Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa […]
First Agreement Between China And India Since June Clash A Pledge For Peace
China and India have pledged to enhance mutual trust to ensure peace along their disputed borders in their first formal agreement since June, with Beijing saying the two nations were not a threat to each other. The pledge came as Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar met for the first […]