Saudi Arabia is facing multiple fronts for potential destabilization. A modern society and wealthy citizenry have depended on millions of skilled and unskilled foreign workers to build infrastructure and keep homes, banks and, restaurants running smoothly. Oil money is also behind tremendous investment in education and other social benefits. Yet fossil fuels are limited. Competition […]
What started as a small sit-in over government plans to bulldoze a park in Taksim to build a shopping mall mushroomed into a countrywide expression of discontent with Erdogan’s Islamist Justice and Development Party (AKP)—which may have only itself to blame for the protests. Read Here – Businessweek
Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged to scale up assistance to Caribbean nations in an effort to give fresh impetus to the cooperation between China and the region. He said China will set up one or two demonstration centers in the next three years to showcase agricultural technologies, Xi said at a luncheon meeting with leaders of Trinidad and Tobago, […]
India’s drive to develop maritime forces that can protect its coast and project power into its surrounding waters is one of the biggest defense stories of recent years, but one that doesn’t grab the headlines like its ongoing fast jet acquisitions. But the numbers don’t lie: in 1988 the navy’s annual spend was INR10 billion ($181 […]
The policy of a nation, Napoleon once quipped, can be read in its geography. For much of human history, the verity of such an assertion would have appeared self-evident. After all, what is geostrategy if not a state’s chosen response to a preexisting spatial reality? Read Here – The Diplomat
A Japan–India nuclear cooperation pact is problematic especially in view of the fact that India is not a party to the Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). India plans to build some 20 new nuclear power plants and to increase the share of nuclear power in total electricity supply from the current 4 percent […]
Xi Jinping‘s just-started journey to the west hemisphere will be his first tour to Latin America as Chinese president. Meanwhile, his June 7-8 talks with his US counterpart Barack Obama at Sunnylands estate, California, will also be the first summit between the world’s two largest economies after both countries underwent leadership transition. Read Here – China Daily
With a general election approaching in Germany this fall, Angela Merkel finds herself mired in a scandal about her communist upbringing. The belated reckoning with Merkel’s past reveals little about the chancellor’s political sympathies — and plenty about the German public’s historical ignorance. Read Here – Foreign Affairs
In the debate over the future of China’s growth, one factor typically animates the bulls more than any other: the country’s sheer size. One way or another, this undergirds most optimistic scenarios. China is so big it can absorb years and years of public-works spending without waste becoming a drag. The population is so large, […]
Among European publics ‘the Greek crisis’ is a phrase that invokes images of corruption, poor government, civil unrest, and social turmoil. Foreign governments and political commentators have grasped that this narrative also provides a way to provoke political change in their own countries. By threatening a future ‘akin to Greece,’ unpopular domestic reforms are passed […]
