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While the initiatives taken at the UN, including the draft code, could be viewed as a step forward, the clear differences in what the American and Russian sides seek to address through such a mechanism will remain a stumbling block.

This brief examines the rapid growth of the global online gaming industry and the consequent increase in cyber threats. Issues such as microtransactions, money laundering, and predatory practices by developers can stymie the industry’s growth potential if not addressed. Many countries’ current gaming-focused regulatory frameworks do not cover these challenges and will need to be revised. India—a significant gaming market—must also conside

The US has become more proactive in engaging with the international community to address cyberSpace challenges ever since the policy shift in 2009. However, it still maintains its opposition to the need for an international treaty to govern cyberSpace.

Although it would not be entirely false to suggest that Maoists have managed to capture the imagination of a large section of Nepalese society because of the widespread poverty and continued neglect by successive monarchs and political leadership, there are quite a few other, equally valid, reasons why Maoists have had a run of the Nepalese countryside.

If the Pakistan-TTP talks succeed Pakistan may actually metamorphose from a hybrid theocracy to a complete theocracy, as Ayesha Siddiqa argues, because the Taliban, good or bad, want implementation of the Sharia. Thus all would depend on how far Pakistan's military and civilian leadership want to go to accommodate Taliban demands or prefer to wage war against TTP.

To arrest the spread of brutal Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, the US must go in with a limited military mission, thus aiding the process of bringing stability in Iraq and the region at large. However, it should not look at staying in Iraq for a long haul.

Given their own shoddy handling of the COVID-19 outbreak, Trump and the Republicans believe they must demonise China to win the November elections.

Fifty years after the first LNG tanker sailed from Mississippi to UK in 1959 natural gas has finally matured into a global commodity. Gas is no longer limited to being a regional resource or a continental resource.

Fifty years after the first LNG tanker sailed from Mississippi to UK in 1959 natural gas has finally matured into a global commodity. Gas is no longer limited to being a regional resource or a continental resource.

The US Treasury Department's decision to designate the gangster based in Pakistan, Dawood Ibrahim, as a terrorist on October 16, 2003, was undoubtedly belated but could still prove to be a milestone in the War on Terrorism if Washington could arm-twist President General Pervez Musharraf to hand over the criminal to the interrogators for questioning about his links with al Qaida and other terrorist groups.

The recent attack on the British Council in Kabul by the Taliban shows that, apart from military tactics, there is an urgent requirement in the West to reconsider the political objectives in Afghanistan.

Mumbai today has a plethora of institutions - BMC, MMRDA, MSRDC, MVRC, etc. At last count, there were 23 institutions directly or indirectly 'planning' for Mumbaikars. There is an urgent need to 'de-institutionalise' urban planning.

There is a need for Sri Lanka and Sri Lankans to acknowledge that the Indian vote in Geneva owed mainly to the un-kept promises from the war years, and less to do with the 'Tamil Nadu factor'.

Despite the positive connotations of a de-radicalisation initiative in Pakistan's Swat, lead by Pakistan's army, the relationship between the military and terrorist groups still remains unclear.

History is all set to repeat itself in the subcontinent. As usual, the search for a permanent thaw in the India-Pakistan relationship seems to be hitting a big bump in the days ahead that might possibly derail the bilateral negotiation process initiated during the Islamabad SAARC Summit in January this year.

The killing of Punjab Governor Salman Taseer on January 4 in Islamabad and the wide-spread adulation of his killer, a Punjab Police commando, has raised a whole litany of fears and dilemma in, and about, Pakistan.

The most important lesson for India from the US operation on Osama bin Laden safehouse is that it should have a clear policy as to how to deal with the principal accused in the concerned case; how to deal with him or them.

To confuse the delay in executing the death penalty in the Rajiv Gandhi Assassination case to politically imply that the convicts were not involved in the heinous crime would not pass legal or judicial muster. It could complicate matters, but things would remain where they would.

The IFS is criticised in some western circles because it resists efforts to incorporate India into the West's sphere of political and intellectual influence. Some who are attacking the MEA today want this resistance to end.

The nature of nuclear threat that India faces is not "binary" as India's concerns related with Pakistan and China are intertwined. The history behind China-Pakistan nuclear collusion makes it important to look into the "interlink".

This paper dissects the causes behind Pakistan’s ongoing economic crisis. The causes include dwindling forex reserves, the phenomenon of ‘galloping inflation’, a falling Pakistani Rupee, uncompetitive and undiversified export basket, burgeoning external debt, lack of fiscal prudence, debt distress, and a worsening business environment—all cascading to a balance of payment crisis. While austerity measures, appeals for loan rollover to debt

Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil¿s none-too-recent hint that the Centre was considering the setting up of a new commission to review Centre-State relations is a welcome move. While it may be yet another effort at decentralization of administrative power between the Centre and the States, care should be taken in formulating the terms of reference and in the choice of the commission¿s members that the process percolates down to the panchayat-lev

In the Finance Bill introduced in Parliament on February 28, the budget estimates (BE) for defence have increased marginally from Rs 83,000 crore in 2005-06 to Rs 89,000 crore for 2006-07 ¿ a rise of about 7 per cent. With inflation ruling at 4 to 5 per cent, the real increase in current rupees is only of the order about 2 per cent.

The reason why there has been a decline in marginal farmers is because of the overall low agricultural growth. It has been less than 2 per cent per annum in the decade of mid-1990s to mid-2000s.

In what is being touted as a major shift in Indian policy towards Israel, New Delhi abstained from a vote against Israel at the UN Human Rights Commission. The UN human rights body called for Israel's accountability in alleged war crimes committed by its officials during the conflict in Gaza in July 2014.

The Modi government's policy of engagement, rather than isolation of sanctioned countries, is very much in line with its predecessor, United Progressive Alliance, led by Manmohan Singh. However, like Singh, Modi too has refrained from speaking on the issue of sanctions.

At this juncture of the US Presidential campaign, Mitt Romney's worldview seems to be defined, more than anything else, by the desire to sound different from President Obama. But foreign policy is still very much President Obama's turf, and Romney's recent foreign trip did nothing to change that.

As the world grapples with uncertainty in the post-COVID-19 era, China appears to be focusing on bolstering its rural economy. China claims to have brought nearly 100 million people out of poverty since 2012, but the regime feels that unbalanced development can jeopardise the gains of poverty alleviation. The widening economic gap could also foment unrest in the rural areas. Additionally, the government believes that the reliance on grain

We need to look beyond the Presidential vote in Afghanistan, scheduled for next April. These elections would not only test equations of military and political power as the NATO forces pull out but also the strength and possibility of deeper enduring facts of the Afghan reality.

Extremists' groups like the ISIS have capitalised on Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki's ethno-sectarian politics. And, the resurgence of ethnic animosities has long-standing implications for Iraq and the West Asian region as a whole.

The new land acquisition bill has brought transparency in land acquisition. But by incorporating too many instruments and agencies to ensure the same, it instead risks making the process bureaucratic. Thus, the bill ends up replacing a coercive colonial law with a cumbersome one.

Monday's terrorist attack on Dinanagar police station in Gurdaspur district, the first major terror attack in Punjab since 2002, and that took the lives of 11 persons, is a puzzle. This could be a routine warning from the LeT to both the Indian and Pakistani governments against getting too close to each other.

Narendra Modi is viewing Obama's New Delhi visit on a longer perspective where he seeks to leverage the U.S. connection to attract technology and investment from the western world, as well as build ties to balance China.

Development and production of tactical nuclear weapons (TNWs) by Pakistan has increased the level of tensions in South Asia, though it has, in an attempt to ease global concerns over its development of TNWs, has assured that its top leadership will continue to have complete control over its TNWs if deployed.

Experts from India and Germany, including academics, practitioners and policymakers, took part in a day-long seminar titled "Deconstructing the Economic Crisis" organised jointly by Observer Research Foundation (ORF) and the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung (RLS), Berlin.

For both Myanmar and India, Suu Kyi's visit needs to be viewed as yet another important step towards strengthening relationship between the two neighbours. It will serve nobody's interest if the visit were to be seen as a political gain for a party at the cost of others in Myanmar.

The political health of the US is important not just for the country itself, but the world, given its outsize influence as the foremost economic and military power.

The emergence of Bangladesh as the new hub of international Islamist terrorism, insurgency in Nepal and Maoist militancy across several states, add new challenges to national security threats that India traditionally tackles. Despite these, India's defence expenditure continues to decrease in real terms and as a percentage of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) every year.

China has discarded the traditional emphasis on criticising the arms control agreements promoted by the Western powers and focuses instead on securing Beijing's national interests by actively participating in international and regional military negotiations and shaping the international military norms.

Defence needs to be viewed as an integral part of national planning so as to comprehensively quantify the overall requirement to meet our legitimate security needs and strategic aspirations.

There is need to re-prioritise the expensive items in the services' wish list in a manner that will not strain the economy, without necessarily increasing the vulnerability of the country.

Resources are constraining the modernisation drives of India's three services. The government has not been able to check the growth of manpower in the Army and paramilitary forces. This has a direct repercussion on the modernisation plans of the military.