In February, China’s President Xi Jinping announced a large and bold plan for a nationwide basically all-encompassing welfare system, arguing it is a crucial issue for state stability. It is a correct assessment because if there is no social security there will be a potential army with nothing to lose that will feel cast out from […]
The end of the Cold War had already reduced Pakistan’s importance in America’s strategic calculations. On top of that, there is now growing strategic divergence between Pakistan and the US because of the development of the Indo-US partnership as an essential element of the US policy of containment of China, on the one hand, and […]
Pakistan’s failure to tackle terror financing and money laundering has cost the nation an estimated US$38 billion since 2008, new independent research reveals. The losses have mounted while the country was on an international finance watchdog’s “grey” list. The Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF) sets standards and promotes legal, regulatory and operational measures to fight […]
Even if only a partial ban, the prospective policy could cost Saudi Arabia billions of dollars in arms import deals. The potential restrictions threaten a tentative Saudi contract for up to 50 of Lockheed Martin’s F-35 fifth-generation stealth fighters, as well as earlier Saudi efforts to procure over a dozen U.S. armed drones. Read Here […]
China is the second most powerful country in the world and the most formidable competitor the United States has faced in decades. Yet at the same time, and in spite of its many visible defects, the United States remains the stronger power in the U.S.-Chinese relationship—and it has good reason to think it can stay […]
More than 5,000 members of China’s political elite are expected to converge on Beijing in early March for the biggest event on the political calendar.Known as the “two sessions”, or lianghui , the annual gatherings of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and the National People’s Congress (NPC) are a window on the central government’s priorities […]
New Delhi and Islamabad’s sudden agreement to halt skirmishes along the Line of Control comes soon after India-China deal to end Ladakh stand-off. Ceasefire also coincides with establishment of China-India hotline and analysts believe US administration of Joe Biden may have been in the loop. Read Here | South China Morning Post
As in the 1970s, a severe economic shock has forced governments to pursue massive fiscal and monetary expansion, thereby sowing fears of future inflation. But not all shocks are the same, and the key question now is whether we can be confident that the current state of exception will end. Read Here | Project Syndicate
After a couple of years in which Indian-Pakistan relations have taken a nosedive over a series of bloody border clashes, the two sides have agreed to strike another deal. Both will hold their fire and continue negotiations to end the long-simmering conflict between them. There is reason for optimism; even a fragile peace is better […]
While Kennan observed that “Moscow sees in the UN not the mechanism for a permanent and stable world society founded on mutual interest and aims of all nations,” Beijing today in fact does see the UN as such a mechanism—albeit with a somewhat different vision than most Western powers for what such a “world society […]
looking beyond borders 