The impression is now widespread that India-America relations are on a plateau, if not in the doldrums. This would not matter had they matured into a mutual understanding that allows two countries to be satisfied with nothing striking happening between them as welcome normalcy. Read Here – The Hindu
Hopes could hardly be lower for the talks between U.S. and Taliban representatives that are scheduled to begin this week in Doha. A day after announcing they would enter negotiations, the Taliban killed four coalition soldiers in a rocket attack outside Kabul, Afghanistan. Afghan President Hamid Karzai, worried that the U.S.-sponsored talks will legitimize his enemies, abruptly cut off […]
If the case of Edward Snowden — the former contractor for the National Security Agency who smuggled classified information out of his workplace and provided it to news organizations — has revealed anything, it is that the U.S. intelligence services made mistakes as they reformed after 9/11 and the Iraq war. Here is how to […]
When Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stepped on to the tarmac in Accra, the capital of Ghana, some wondered if the April trip would be his last visit abroad as the leader of Iran. Ghana wrapped up a broader tour of Africa that included stops in Niger and Benin. The fact that Ahmadinejad would even visit Ghana, a […]
On June 5, Pakistan’s National Assembly elected Nawaz Sharif as the country’s prime minister. Though it’s his third time in office, almost fourteen years have passed since Sharif last led Pakistan. There is a legitimate question, then, as to how exactly he will govern. Pakistan has changed in many ways since 1999, when Sharif was overthrown by General […]
Whether Rouhani’s appointment actually results in a radical change in Iran’s relations with the outside world, particularly over its nuclear programme, remains to be seen. While he might portray himself as a moderate, he has spent most of his political career at the heart of Iran’s conservative clerical establishment, says Con Coughlin. Read Here – Gulf […]
On June 8, Juan Cole, one of the few true Middle East experts in the US, posted a short entry on hisInformed Comment blog. The title said it all: “We misunderstood Barack: He only wanted the domestic surveillance to be made legal, not to end it”. But domestic surveillance was far from the only Bush policy that Obama has […]
The Chinese and U.S. approaches to surveillance and how each of their security apparatuses go about organizing and carrying out such activities are fundamentally different in nature. It might be useful to label them into two distinct models: the U.S. approach can be described as the democratic security state model and the Chinese version is […]
Rohani‘s reputation as a mediator and someone who has worked within the corridors of power should be an advantage that Khatami, who was director of the national library before he became president, never enjoyed…A big test will be whether Rohani pushes for the release from house arrest of Mirhossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karoubi, two reformist leaders […]
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
looking beyond borders 