A Pakistani blogger has taken on Samuel Huntington as Muslims fight what looks like a civilisational war. Under the heading “The farce called ‘The Clash of Civilisations’”, a well-regarded Pakistani journalist says that “a lion’s share” of the foreign jihadists joining the terrorist Islamic State in Syria-Iraq “have come from Europe”, meaning it is the […]
Why is China announcing joint naval exercises with Russia in the Mediterranean, so far from home? There’s a global answer connected to the new cool war and China’s interest in responding to U.S. initiatives in the Pacific. But there’s also a more revealing local answer arriving from the nature of China’s growing involvement in the […]
Over the past month, two members of the Obama administration have made public statements regarding different aspects of America’s ongoing “war on terror.” The second has (understandably) received much more public attention than the first, but the first says something more important about the ultimate course of that long struggle. Read Here – The National […]
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, […]
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 […]
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Europe and Canada should help restore some balance to India’s international engagement. India is preparing to host the Africa Summit later this year and raise its game in the Middle East, where political turbulence is shaking up the old regional order. If geographic regions are one way of organising […]
Critical events of early 2015—cheap oil and Middle East violence—will probably continue to take their toll as the year goes on, according to a new projection of geopolitical hot spots. Lower overall prices for commodities may hurt the economies of resource-rich nations. Read Here – Bloomberg
When people say that Jeb Bush has a name problem, they often mean that he has a foreign-policy problem—his association with his older brother’s much-maligned stewardship of global affairs. Read Here – The Atlantic
The murder of two Japanese citizens by Islamic State terrorists shouldn’t be used as an excuse to eliminate the Constitution’s restraints on the use of military force. Read Here – Japan Time
The news that the Obama Administration is seeking formal authorization from Congress to wage war against the Islamic State isn’t unexpected. For months now, it has been clear that the United States and its allies are gearing up for an all-out military assault on the jihadi fighters who have occupied large swaths of Syria and Iraq, including […]
looking beyond borders 