It does seem noteworthy that the two leaders get along far better when abroad than when back home. Perhaps this is because they are removed from the context and don’t have to prove anything to the more reactionary parts of their bases. Then again, perhaps they’re like all of us. I’ve often noticed (and I […]
President Barack Obama wanted to show he was so serious about the threat posed by ISIL that he gave a speech from the Oval Office about it—standing up. But afterwards, America knows just about as much what he’s doing and what’s going on as it did before he scrambled Sunday’s prime time schedule with the ultimate […]
Chinese President Xi Jinping has requested breakthroughs in reform of the country’s armed forces by 2020, vowing to reorganize the current military administration structure and military command areas. Xi, also chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks at a meeting on reforming the armed forces which was held from Nov. 24 to 26. Read […]
For centuries the Silk Road, stretching across deserts, steppes, and mountains, linked the imperial dynasties of China with Europe. Chinese rulers used the thoroughfares to expand their power and influence deep into Asia. Today a newly assertive Chinese empire—this time, a communist one—is undertaking a gargantuan project to re-create those ancient trade routes and the […]
The early Sunday executions of two politicians convicted of war crimes in Bangladesh’s liberation war of 1971 are, for Sheikh Hasina and the Awami League government, a major challenge overcome. These executions are not the first on Hasina’s watch. Two other convicted war criminals, both belonging to the fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami, were executed earlier. The difference […]
Most aspects of India-Russia bilateral ties are quite institutionalized, and work in an automated manner irrespective of who is in power in New Delhi or Moscow. Russia could perhaps be seen as India’s only definitive “strategic” partner in its truest form, and this unique relationship has developed over decades. However, over the past year the Moscow-Delhi […]
The report that Pakistan could possess as many as 350 nuclear weapons in the next 10 years to have the world’s third-largest stockpile of nuclear weapons has received a lot of attention in India. This projection is from a US think-tank, but a statement from a senior Pakistani official around the same time should concern […]
It now appears that — barring some truly exceptional circumstances — Barack Obama has made his last decision regarding Afghanistan as president of the United States. The current force of about 10,000 U.S. service members will remain through the end of 2016, when it will quickly draw down to a force of about 5,500. The […]
India has watched the Sharif-Obama summit in Washington keenly, and while it is clear that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif returns to Islamabad without any big announcement to show for the bilateral, and no progress on US-Pakistan civil nuclear negotiations, there are many parts to the 2015 joint statement issued by the two that could cause […]
In spring 2003 an unnamed official at CIA headquarters in Langley sat down to compose a memo. It was 18 months after George W Bush had declared war on terror. “We cannot have enough blacksite hosts,” the official wrote. The reference was to one of the most closely guarded secrets of that war – the countries […]
looking beyond borders 