Iran’s parliament passed a bill on Tuesday supporting the government in implementing a nuclear deal with world powers, state news agency IRNA said, in a victory for the government over conservative opponents of the deal. Read Here – Reuters
The terrible, violent summer reflects nothing so much as an elite’s greed for power and willingness to treat civilians as dispensable. This has become particularly apparent since Turkey’s inconclusive June 7 election, and the way that various political parties and leaders did all they could to prevent the formation of a viable coalition government. Ultimately, the power game is […]
2015 marks an often overlooked anniversary, the 250th anniversary of the start of de jure British rule over India. The history of 18th century South Asia is a complicated whirlwind of competing powers and conflicting interests. By 1707, when the last great Mughal emperor, Aurangzeb, died, his empire controlled most of South Asia, but was also teetering due […]
Pakistan’s only “federal” political party, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), suffered a blow to its solar plexus when Asim Hussain was arrested in Karachi for corruption on August 26. An old schoolfellow of and personal physician to PPP boss Asif Ali Zardari, Hussain was federal petroleum minister in the PPP government till 2013… Ominously, August was […]
Among today’s geopolitical risks, none is greater than the long arc of instability stretching from the Maghreb to the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. With the Arab Spring an increasingly distant memory, the instability along this arc is deepening. Indeed, of the three initial Arab Spring countries, Libya has become a failed state, Egypt has returned to authoritarian […]
Beijing has yet to put together a credible response as to what should be done with zombie companies, the huge swath of unprofitable state-owned enterprises surviving on the good will of the Chinese government. Until it does, private companies in the world’s second-largest economy will continue to fight an uphill battle for growth, and China’s reform efforts will […]
Is the TPP really targeting China? US President Barack Obama said on Monday, “we can’t let countries like China write the rules of the global economy. We should write those rules, opening new markets to American products while setting high standards for protecting workers and preserving our environment.” This is not the first time that […]
The West has been unequivocal in its criticism of human rights violations in the Maldives. India, as a neighbour with major strategic interests, does not have this luxury. India has out of necessity adopted a nuanced and incremental approach. It is, of course, crucial that New Delhi actively engages Gayoom and his government. India will […]
This mobbing of Narendra Modi is referred to in the Indian media, in glowing terms, as a rock star’s welcome. What does that mean? The frenzied following of rock stars comes essentially from their charisma. It does not come from their humanity or their higher qualities, but from a fake heroism which is a creation of their […]
The Trans-Pacific Partnership is the biggest trade agreement in history, reducing tariffs and other forms of protectionism in a dozen countries making up about 40 percent of the global economy with economic output of almost $30 trillion. The White House estimates it will eliminate 18,000 tariffs on U.S.-manufactured goods, while giving everyone from Vietnamese shrimpers to […]
looking beyond borders 