In May this year, Japan, China, India, South Korea, Singapore and Italy were admitted as permanent observers to the Arctic Council—a forum bringing together the eight Arctic member states (United States, Canada, Norway, Denmark (via Greenland), Russia, Sweden, Finland and Iceland), indigenous Arctic populations, and other interested parties to discuss a range of issues posed in this […]
Instead of joining the race to commercially exploit this pristine region, New Delhi must use its position in the regional council to push for a global mechanism to prevent an unseemly gold rush. Read Here – The Hindu
No matter what one thinks should be done about global warming, the fact is, it’s happening. And its effects are not all bad. In the Arctic, it is turning an impassible region into an emerging epicenter of industry and trade, according to Scott Borgerson, Managing Director of CargoMetrics and Co-Founder of the nonprofit organization Arctic Circle. […]
Pakistan has played a crucial role in shaping contemporary Afghanistan, and it is recognized that no sustainable solution to Afghanistan’s current security problems is possible without Pakistan’s involvement. This is what makes Pakistan’s purported ‘strategic shift’ towards Afghanistan so intriguing, says a SIPRI report. Read Here – Stockholm International Peace Research Institute
Observers say he is a sure thing. His party hopes he is. In what is a three-way competition, Mongolian President Tsakhia Elbegdorj will be seeking to retain power in the presidential election scheduled for June 26, keeping his Democratic Party the dominant force in government at least until the next legislative election. Read Here – […]
India’s political, cultural, and historical ties to Central Asia date back to antiquity. But contemporary circumstances, namely the quest for energy and the threat of terrorism, have imparted a new urgency, adding strategic realities to historical tradition. Read Here – The Diplomat
New Delhi will be confronted by a host of rapidly changing scenarios in Afghanistan as the country heads for transition in the security and political sectors in 2014. The interplay between different actors jockeying for power could either allow India to retain its present level of engagement, provide opportunities to expand its influence or bring […]
China’s influence in post-Soviet Central Asia has steadily grown for 20 years. Beijing, striving to suppress Uighur separatist movements in and beyond its own Xinjiang province as well as to tap into Central Asian development projects, has backed the neighboring region’s largely unpopular authoritarian regimes. As a result, the populations’ receptiveness to Islamic forms of […]
In an increasingly contested Asia, with China rising and America rebalancing, middle powers are struggling to redefine their defense strategies. One such player, Australia, has now done so in a way that seeks to reconcile its extensive national interests with a close U.S. alliance, a web of new Asian security partners and a relationship of mutual […]
As China fends off multilateral pressure and pushes to establish its growing quest for maritime rights, using naval flotillas, white-hulled coastal defense ships, fishery vessels, and even cruise ships to sail into contested waters throughout the South China Sea, Beijing is also striving to solidify the principle that only claimant states may deal with disputes. […]
looking beyond borders 