The Gwadar Dream

There is little doubt that the move to make Gwadar port fully operational will have a transformative impact on Pakistan. Still, there are good reasons to keep the optimism controlled, and to be mindful of the challenges ahead. For one, much of the engagement with China is being seen in Pakistan through an emotional lens, […]

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Straight From Shakespeare’s Pen

Welcome to Uzbekistan, a country that in recent months has been home to a drama that could have come straight from Shakespeare’s pen. Playing the leading roles are: a dictator, who has had his country under his iron grip for a quarter-century; his glamorous daughter, who he had been grooming as his successor; and his […]

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Rouhani’s Big Bet

Like Barack Obama, Iran’s President, Hassan Rouhani, took a big gamble last week, but his was riskier. In a speech on Friday, Rouhani declared that the proposed nuclear deal with the United States and five other major powers marked the “first step” in reaching “the highest point of constructive interaction” with the world. Iranians should […]

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Between A Rock And A Hard Place

For the Pakistani man on the street, the relationship with Saudi Arabia, the custodian of Islam’s two holy sites, is literally an article of faith. A Pew survey in 2013 found that 95 per cent of Pakistanis had a favourable opinion of the desert kingdom, and Pakistan was the only country in the Islamic world […]

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Sri Lanka Elections Coming Soon

Sri Lanka’s new leader plans to dissolve the country’s Parliament in May, setting the island nation on course for general elections in late June or early July — around the same time that he plans to announce details of a probe into allegations of human rights abuses during Sri Lanka’s long civil war, he told […]

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Perfecting Strategy

In the post-Cold War era, the biggest challenge for the U.S. is a rapidly rising China. During the Clinton administration, Washington had a clear hedging strategy toward Beijing — that is, both engagement and deterrence. At that time, China lacked the capability to challenge the U.S. Thus, Washington highlighted engagement in order to involve China […]

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India’s Slow Steps Towards Europe

A dramatic improvement in India’s relationship with Europe and remarkable progress in their economic cooperation is unlikely to happen just through one visit. There won’t be big strides forward in India and changes have to take place slowly and gradually. Read Here – Global Times

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Cold War II

It looks like a new Cold War between Russia and the West is inevitable, even if the conflict in Ukraine remains “frozen” in its current form until at least this summer. It became clear one year ago with the annexation of Crimea and the start of the war in eastern Ukraine that Russia’s relations with Europe — and especially with the United States — would not remain the same as before. […]

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