This May’s parade in Moscow to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II promises to be the greatest Victory Day celebration since the Soviet Union’s collapse. Some 16,000 soldiers, 200 armored vehicles, and 150 planes and helicopters are set to pass through and over Red Square. It will be a scene […]
Sri Lanka is a strategically vital island nation lying off southern coast of India, and its recent shifts away from China under President Sirisena, who won a surprise victory on campaign promises to balance away from China, could be a big blow against China’s “string of pearls” strategy. Read Here – The American Interest
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry championed the new Sri Lankan government’s push for democratic reform and promised closer ties with the strategically located Indian Ocean nation. Read Here – The Guardian
THE formal launch of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) during the recent visit of President Xi Jinping has understandably generated a lot of euphoria in Pakistan. With a planned portfolio of projects totalling around $45 billion, the size of the ‘investment’ in the CPEC over the next 15 years, if materialised, will equal the cumulative […]
The 19th Amendment to the Constitution puts Sri Lanka well on the road to meaningful democratic reform and signalled the return of a vibrant parliamentary democracy. For a President who has just completed 100 days in office, it is a shining moment. Read Here – Daily FT
It could be expected that military cooperation between the US and Japan could become more focused on containing the rise of China. The more comprehensive their collaboration is, the stronger backlash it will trigger from China, leaving Asia in jeopardy. Read Here – Global Times
A big new State Department assessment has identified a major threat to global security. It’s not ISIS or Vladimir Putin. It’s not a rickety global economy or climate change or the threat of global pandemics. Instead, the report argues, these individual problems are symptoms of a much bigger issue — namely, a slow breakdown in global […]
Signalling that Afghanistan is upset with Pakistan over its refusal to allow direct trade with India via the Wagah border, President Ashraf Ghani says that if the deadlock continues, “We will not provide equal transit access to Central Asia [for Pakistani trucks].” Read Here – The Hindu
The implications of the Pakistani refusal to help Saudi Arabia in Yemen should not be underestimated. If China is Islamabad’s “all-weather friend”, former Saudi intelligence chief Prince Turki bin Sultan once said that Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have “one of the closest relationships in the world between any two countries”. Read Here – The Indian […]
For the second year running, a Gallup poll rates U.S. leadership more highly than that of other big powers. Read Here – Bloomberg
looking beyond borders 