The face-to-face conversation between President Obama and his Cuban counterpart, Raul Castro, marked the most significant thaw in the two countries’ relationship in decades…However, the process of fully restoring ties will be long and difficult—if it succeeds at all. Read Here – The Atlantic
Like Barack Obama, Iran’s President, Hassan Rouhani, took a big gamble last week, but his was riskier. In a speech on Friday, Rouhani declared that the proposed nuclear deal with the United States and five other major powers marked the “first step” in reaching “the highest point of constructive interaction” with the world. Iranians should […]
For the Pakistani man on the street, the relationship with Saudi Arabia, the custodian of Islam’s two holy sites, is literally an article of faith. A Pew survey in 2013 found that 95 per cent of Pakistanis had a favourable opinion of the desert kingdom, and Pakistan was the only country in the Islamic world […]
Iran’s geostrategic location makes it an intrinsic part of India’s security and economic space. A stronger and more globally integrated Iran will be an asset for India. Read Here – The Hindu
In the post-Cold War era, the biggest challenge for the U.S. is a rapidly rising China. During the Clinton administration, Washington had a clear hedging strategy toward Beijing — that is, both engagement and deterrence. At that time, China lacked the capability to challenge the U.S. Thus, Washington highlighted engagement in order to involve China […]
It looks like a new Cold War between Russia and the West is inevitable, even if the conflict in Ukraine remains “frozen” in its current form until at least this summer. It became clear one year ago with the annexation of Crimea and the start of the war in eastern Ukraine that Russia’s relations with Europe — and especially with the United States — would not remain the same as before. […]
In December, 196 countries signed an agreement in Lima, Peru, promising to pledge what they can to cut greenhouse gas pollution… To keep these countries on track, the climate change conference agreed that as many nations as possible would submit their proposals before March 31. Most of the world is about to blow past the deadline. […]
China says that 30 countries have been approved as prospective founding members of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). Read Here – Xinhua
“One of the asymmetries of history,” wrote Henry Kissinger of Singapore’s patriarch Lee Kuan Yew, “is the lack of correspondence between the abilities of some leaders and the power of their countries.” Kissinger’s one time boss, Richard Nixon, was even more flattering. He speculated that, had Lee lived in another time and another place, he […]
looking beyond borders 