Russia Looks East As West Growls

Russia’s security differences with NATO countries have been encouraging Moscow to strengthen ties with Asian countries, above all China. These differences range from concerns over U.S. missile defense programs to unease about NATO’s increasingly capable conventional weapons to dissatisfaction with Moscow’s minimal influence on European security issues due to Russia’s non-membership in NATO. Read Here […]

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Across Iran’s Eastern Border

Iran’s strategic ambitions are not limited to looking West into the Arab world and the war in Syria. It is also looking East, where it has an active alliance with China and a working relationship with India, but closer to its borders, Iran is working hard to build its influence in Afghanistan. Read Here – […]

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A Fantasy From New Jersy

Is the “India Story” over, as many commentators have begun to observe? Actually, the more relevant question today is: How did it grow and circulate as widely and rapidly as it did? Unlike China, with which it was routinely and inaptly compared, India never undertook extensive land reforms, nor did it adequately train its workforce […]

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In China, Xi Is Supreme

In the six months since he took over as General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Xi Jinping has accumulated more power and more personal authority than any Chinese leader since Mao Zedong, the founder of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) whom Xi often quotes. Even Deng Xiaoping had to contend with a […]

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China’s Economic Slowdown: How Much Can Beijing Tolerate?

To be sure, Chinese leaders would prefer balanced high growth to low growth. However, the current leadership is aware of the enormous risks of allowing highly distorted growth to continue. Since 2008, Beijing has maintained growth with a massive injection of credit, much of it invested in speculative real estate, excessive industrial capacity, and infrastructure […]

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India And It’s Own PRISM Debate

Acknowledging that better indigenous snooping capabilities may not be enough to protect India’s cyber security, National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon has advocated formulating a set of “standard operating procedures” (SOPs) — ground rules for cooperation which would help India succeed in obtaining Internet information from major powers that control much of cyber space. Read Here […]

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One-Party Rule Back In Japan, But Can Abe Blow It?

Sunday’s sweeping victory by the Liberal Democratic Party–New Komeito ruling bloc in the Upper House election put an end to the divided Diet and hopefully to the “revolving door” of prime ministers over the past seven years, as ridiculed by foreign media. That is at least until the next Lower House election, which must be held […]

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