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The three synchronised Delhi blasts of October 29,2005, have proved¿¿if further proof was needed¿¿that the motivation and the morale of the pan-Islamic jihadi terrorists belonging to the International Islamic Front (IIF) formed by Osama bin Laden in 1998 continue to remain undamaged, despite the successes scored by our security agencies in neutralising many of their sleeper cells.

With 23.5 per cent proposed salary hikes, everyone expects that the government will work more efficiently. But the hard performance criteria of the pr

Indian designers seem to be gaining in importance both in India and abroad because they are using a lot of embellished textiles in which intricate embroidery, zari, beads and semi precious stones are sown into the fabric. Unlike the western designers who use the cut of the dress or suit as the unique selling point,

Women’s participation in spaces of power is the need of the hour to solve the current climate crisis

In a perceptive essay written some years ago, Joseph Nye had observed that "national interest is a slippery concept used to describe as well as prescribe policy." Decades earlier, the philosopher Gilbert Ryle had cautioned against "systematically misleading expressions" couched in a syntactical form improper to the facts recorded.

Until recently, Nepal had maintained silence on the Doklam standoff.

The Democratic Party of Japan ( DPJ ) has been in power for about a year and a half. Despite scoring a landslide victory in the House of Representatives election in August 2009, the ruling party has failed to cash in on this great opportunity.

The recommendations are based on a stakeholder consultation organised by ORF on 1 December 2022. Although the authors have made the best efforts to give voice to the concerns of various stakeholder groups, this is not a consensus document and does not attribute comments to, or claim to represent, the positions of any individual or organisation. All statements, assertions or factual errors are attributable only to ORF.

India has indeed sounded the trumpet of defence diplomacy as part of its engagement with the ASEAN over the last two decades. If Delhi does not help promote a stable balance of power in Southeast Asia now, India's own security challenges in the future could get a lot more daunting.

It took a long time for the West to recognize the need for an alternative to China’s Belt and Road Initiative and that it has already stolen a march on it in this domain

Ensuring national security is an important attribute of a modern nation-state. But as the erstwhile Soviet Union realised, the threats to the state these days do not come from orthodox sources. And looking at India with its nuclear weapons and huge armies, it is even more difficult to believe that any combination of external and internal threats can actually pose an existential challenge to the nation.

This paper examines the maritime infrastructure of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)--tracing the history of the development of its maritime organisation, infrastructure and strategy. The paper focuses on the salience of sea power as perceived by a violent non-state actor and provides a perspective on how non-state actors employ sea power in asymmetric conflicts

Fifty-six years after the ceasefire line was drawn between the Indian and Pakistan occupied Kashmir, the underlying seismic fault lines have made a mockery of this line. This map delineation, which was renamed as Line of Control after the 1971 Indo Pak war, has gone out of control, at least temporarily, by the fury of the nature when the earthquake struck this area on 8 October.

The shocking Easter Day terror attacks in Sri Lanka underscore a regional problem.

The situation in the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka is getting messier by the moment with twists and turns in the script has made it that much more difficult for all the actors in the ¿peace process¿.

Before the situation worsens, those in power must take urgent pragmatic measures to revamp the ailing economy

Understanding the importance of peace has been accorded high priority in many religions, such as Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism. In recent years, many economists have realized the monetary value of peace. Peace is a pre-requisite for the development of infrastructural facilities like education, health, roads, irrigation, power and communications.

Taliban 2.0 are working towards ensuring that they are not dependent on external sources of revenue

Prevention must mean more than the detection of people at risk of radicalised behaviour, it should rely on the adoption of a healthy lifestyle.

The 2024 Pakistani elections is a significant indicator of the increasing vulnerability of the military in the nation's political landscape and the po

The stablecoins have not achieved full price stability, thus raising concerns about their credibility. Continued monitoring and proactive policymaking

The BRICS' National Development Bank is not trying to replace the IMF-World Bank. It will play a complementary role, catering to the needs of developing countries.

As the EMEs grow and mature, they can no longer rely on export-driven, credit-fuelled growth and must look inward to initiate deep seated structural reforms and modify their path to economic prosperity. There is a need for effective governance and strong leadership to restore the lost pride of emerging markets.

The financial products conceptualised so far are not yet catering to the needs of the poor affected by climate change, especially at the critical inte

After days of disputing the 2020 election results and claiming widespread fraud in the polls that gave the National League for Democracy a second term, Myanmar’s military, the Tatmadaw, staged a coup on 1 February 2021. The coup supposedly ended a decade of inadequate democratic reforms in Myanmar, which came after almost five decades of oppressive military rule. Ironically enough, the military regime itself had set the course of reforms post-2

The economic consequences of the ongoing pandemic have pushed millions of people into hunger and poverty. Yet, in some parts of the world, critical levels of widespread hunger, or famine, had already made a resurgence long before the outbreak of COVID-19. This brief studies the famine-like situation in four countries in two continents—Yemen, South Sudan, Ethiopia, and North Korea—to demonstrate the direct link between conflicts and modern fam

The impact of Indo-Russian relations on the domestic and foreign policies of India from the 1960s is difficult to underestimate. The USSR was instrumental in helping independent India industrialise, develop its scientific potential, and defend its territorial integrity. The Indo-Russian relationship developed a level of trust between two independent countries that was unprecedented in international affairs. The collapse of the USSR negatively aff

First let me say how pleased I am to be here. The Observer Research Foundation has a strong track record of building partnerships between business and policy makers, and generating innovative thinking on how to tackle the major challenges of our times.

Inside Big Tech companies whose products have seeped into the lives of billions of customers, the idea of the audience as patterns on a flickering scr

China has employed cognitive warfare tactics to sway the opinions and beliefs of the Taiwanese public without resorting to direct military confrontati

Proper regulations need to be put in place to control the NFTs’ impact not only from a climate perspective but also in the ethics and legislation ar

After a brief discussion on the uneasy relationship between Regional Trade Agreements and the WTO, the implications of the “deep” integration that the EU is seeking with India are discussed, and the respective positions, interests and concerns of the partners in the long drawn out negotiations are examined. The challenges for India in plunging into such “deep” territory, unprecedented in its history of bilateral or multilateral negotiatio

India and the EU must work together to ensure that their partnership remains a positive force for stability and development in the Indo-Pacific region

With elections due in 2024 in both the EU and the US, stabilising the relationship and easing lingering tensions before potential changes in leadershi

This week, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg once again underlined that Ukraine could expect more deliveries of heavy weapons from western nations.

What is a security actor and how is it different from being a great or major power? In many ways, this question is central to understanding the lack of appreciation of the European Union as an actor in the security arena in India and certainly in some other parts of Asia.

Brussel’s faith in China fulfilling its end of the pact reveals a myopia that will weaken the EU geopolitically

The recent update released by the EU on its Economic Security Strategy is aimed at positioning it as a geopolitical as well as a geoeconomic bloc

Like about the Loch Ness Monster, we have only heard that the West has proof of the Assad regime using chemical weapons. But we've seen no credible testimony. For all one knows, it may have been the rebels' doing to instigate a US military response.

The virus “lab origin” narrative is gaining traction in the US.

Fifteen years ago, the USA had promised to sell F-16s to Pakistan. Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, the company manufacturing the aircraft, took the necessary advance for it. Then there were sudden changes in the global and regional strategic environment. The Jehadi war in Afghanistan got over and Pakistan started diverting Jehadism into Jammu and Kashmir. The Cold war also was over.

Kabul fiasco will affect US’ ability to mobilise coalitions against a common cause

The fall of Nagorno-Karabakh could lead to the rise of a new geopolitical order in the Caucasus and beyond