Jaffna, the capital of Sri Lanka’s Northern Province and once the bastion of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), is once again experiencing unrest. Violent clashes broke out on November 27, Martyrs’ Day for Tamil, between students of Jaffna University and Sri Lankan security forces. Each year Tamils use Martyrs’ Day to honor friends […]
India‘s Gujarat state will hold a potentially game-changing vote on Thursday that could help decide whether Chief Minister Narendra Modi or Rahul Gandhi, scion of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, becomes India’s next prime minister. If, as many polls predict, Modi wins a fourth term as chief minister of the state, he is expected to project himself as […]
China stressed its adherence to peaceful development in response to a U.S. intelligence report predicting that China will surpass the United States to become the world’s largest economy before 2030. “China will unswervingly pursue a way of peaceful development. China’s development aims at making greater contributions toward peace and development of mankind, as well as […]
China has huge and long-term presence in Gilgit-Baltistan and is building extensive road, bridge and telecom networks to sustain it. The drivers compelling China to develop Karakoram Corridor are diverse and mainly pertain to its economic, strategic and political ambitions. However, the projects, which currently serve the strategic and economic interests of the investor, need to […]
That Wal-Mart Stores spent $25 million on lobbying in the United States over the past four years on such issues as whether India would open its own retail markets to the global behemoth should surprise no one, much less shut down India’s parliament, as it did. Wal-Mart is one of the largest companies in the […]
As a general proposition, it is refreshing to hear an American talk about “soft power.” Especially outside U.S. borders, in “old” Europe and the “new” emerging markets, hope inevitably rises that the United States is finally wising up. People there have long been befuddled by the United States’ penchant over the past decade to focus […]
The United States is a nation of immigrants. Except for a small number of Native Americans, everyone is originally from somewhere else, and even recent immigrants can rise to top economic and political roles. President Franklin Roosevelt once famously addressed the Daughters of the American Revolution – a group that prided itself on the early […]
New dynamics are emerging in the crucial Sino-Indian relationship. The two Asian giants are developing deeper global cooperation, while at the same time remaining stuck in a pattern of regional rivalry. Their disputed border, India‘s involvement in the growing confrontation in the South China Sea, and the US “pivot” towards Asia steer the Sino-Indian dynamic […]
Three major forces will be looming behind the headlines, driving events in 2013: the crisis of the Western democratic model, rising sectarian strife in the Middle East, and worries about American withdrawal from the world. The Obama administration must realize that no “foreign policy” issue will matter as much to global economic, political, and ultimately […]
All that remains of the sign above the Hitler clothing store in Ahmedabad, India, is the swastika that used to dot its “i.” Citing cultural insensitivity, the municipality tore it down on Oct. 30 after the store’s owners refused to change it. Rajesh Shah, a co-owner of the shop, which opened in August, is flummoxed. “We […]
