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Nepal is in deep turmoil. At the centre is the 8-year-old Maoist insurgency, the cost of which has been enormous ¿ 10,000 lives, a disrupted economy and a sharply fragmented society along ethnic, caste, regional and religious lines. The worst chaos is in the political arena where the government stands discredited and paralysed and the State is gradually sliding towards total collapse.

Russian strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure have been ramping up. But the impact of the recent US sanctions will only be felt if there is some long-term thinking behind this move

Like the US, India, too, is grappling with its own version of the fiscal cliff, the biggest challenge before Finance Minister P. Chidambaram. The UPA has exhausted its fiscal space even as growth has fallen to a 10-year low. The challenge is to effect a sharp reduction in the fiscal while not adversely affecting quality public investment, which can in turn give a fillip to private investment.

The gap between India and China in this regard is quite big. So it makes sense for India not to make any peaking commitment until it meets the backlog of providing basic energy needs to the majority of the poor

The COVID-19 pandemic has once again highlighted the increasing frequency of spillover of infectious disease from wild animals into humans. The SARS coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2) almost certainly “jumped” into humans from bats, evolved towards efficient human-to-human transmission, and caused a global pandemic. Ecological changes such as deforestation, increasing greenhouse gas emissions, and climate change are important drivers of disease

Few days before the fourth anniversary of the Mumbai terrorist attacks, Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT) is planning a two-day training convention at Muridke (near Lahore), its former headquarters from where the terror attack was planned and executed.

If India aspires to be a 'leading power', it may soon have to choose between its strategically autonomous goals, and those which the Trump administration has in mind for the region.

Bandwagoning with the US cannot be a substitute for a working foreign policy in our own region and near abroad.

As a responsible nuclear power, India is ready to work with like-minded countries in strengthening the global non-proliferation system. That was the clear message from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at his recent joint press conference with the visiting German chancellor, Gerhard Schroeder.

Disregarding opposition from the local population in Okinawa, Tokyo continues to state that it will go ahead with its current base relocation plan to Henoko. Tokyo and Washington should comprehend that when constructing a military base in a democratic country, the popular will and voices of local citizens should be carefully considered and heard.

Ukraine’s military campaign is indeed faltering but it is also the West’s political strategy that is unravelling.

The latest round of Trump tariffs got a tough response from Beijing. Chinese authorities declared that they would fight back against US plans at any cost.

In the aftermath of the serial train blasts in Mumbai on July 11, in which 179 people were killed and 772 wounded, the question uppermost in public mind is ¿why has India become the most affected target of terrorism?¿ Ever since June 1985, when Air India¿s ¿Kanishka¿ was blown up over the Ireland coast, India¿s share of terrorists¿ incidents and civilian casualties has risen to become the highest in the world.

Indian customs officials reportedly intercepted a Malta-flagged merchant ship carrying a computer numerical control machine en route from China to Pakistan.

Relaxation of China's One Child policy reform proposed in Third Plenum is not a full proof plan. President Xi Jinping has a perfect analogy with Deng Xiaoping in grappling with a compulsion of sorts. Deng was faced with a bulging population; Xi finds the challenge in ageing one.

The coming together of cognitive computing, digital devices with capabilities to touch, feel, smell and hear and super-speed Internet is poised to transform telemedicine.

Miscarriage of justice appears to have become the norm and draws little outrage, even from those most affected by its outcome.

One does not need a historiographer's findings to understand the central problem that the Indian state is facing in its defence procurement in current times. It lies with intentions, structure and accountability.

The primary aim of the ISPS Code was to strengthen the security of international shipping, ports, waterways and the high seas by directing the governments, shipping companies and port operators to enhance security of the maritime edifice.

This brief analyses the impact of the Christchurch Call to Action, issued to gather countries and technology companies to stop the use of the internet for disseminating violent extremist content. The Call was the result of a summit organised shortly after a terrorist attack in New Zealand in March 2019. This brief finds that the Call lacks clear conceptual definitions and is singularly focused on social media platforms. It also raises questions a

That India and China are rivals in Myanmar is a widely accepted premise. Much of the Indian and international reporting on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's just-concluded visit to Myanmar reflected this understanding.

If rich nations want to preserve the liberal order, they must invest in the institutions that can help poorer countries survive this crisis.

Given the present leadership impasse, the world would be keenly following India’s role on climate action in key upcoming forums such as the G20 and COP23. As China looks for a global partner to leverage its influence at the international stage, India is poised to utilize this potential opportunity and fill the leadership void in global climate change governance.

Since joining the SCO as a full member in 2017, India has sought to reorient it toward genuine connectivity and cooperative endeavours that respect sovereignty

The multiple ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the lockdowns imposed by countries as a response, are being felt in sectors ranging from agriculture to healthcare. The global community must now hurdle massive obstacles to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). To correctly assess the impact of the pandemic on global sustainability-driven concerns, it is important to understand not only the inter-linkages between the SDGs,

As per the OPEC deal, Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest crude exporter and OPEC’s biggest producer and the de facto leader had to cut output by 4,86,000 barrels per day (bpd) to a ceiling of 1,00,58,000 bpd.

Bangladesh's stake in the Bay of Bengal has increased following the order of the International Tribunal on the Law of the Seas (ITLOS) in the dispute regarding delimitation of the maritime boundary with Myanmar.

I am addressing this open letter not only to you, but also to other members of the US Congress, who have expressed their concern over the course of the US-led war against international terrorism in Iraq and have started suggesting, if not demanding, the withdrawal of the US troops from there.

The concept of ‘intelligence’ immediately brings to mind a covert world of spies, secrets, and classified documents. That might have been true in the past, but in the current age, Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) is gaining prominence. OSINT is intelligence based on information that is publicly available and processed by any interested party, and complements traditional intelligence while providing greater situational awareness to a range of

It is increasingly difficult to make sense out of what is going on in Iraq.

PLA’s response in relation to India-China standoff, that India should not forget lesson of history, suggests that the PLA itself may have forgotten some.

Pakistan and the US have much to lose if the US disengages from Pakistan. Therefore, US-Pakistan relations are likely to overcome their present turbulence and continue being an alliance of convenience for both.

The most important lesson is that contemporary warfare is now multi-dimensional

An India that’s firmly on the rise has signalled its resolve to shift the cost of terrorism to its epicentre

China’s PLA Air Force (PLAAF) has been aiming to acquire strategic and expeditionary capabilities since the Gulf War in 1991, with President Xi Jinping targeting operational proficiency by 2035. The PLAAF has since made strides in hardware, incorporating fourth-generation and stealth fighters into its fleet. It lags in combat experience, however, as well as in operational tactics, military doctrines, and pilot efficiency, particularly when comp

Blue Economy is fast becoming an area of huge interest for African policymakers. Has the rhetoric translated to concrete developmental outcomes? This brief examines the question of how the concept of ‘Blue economy’ should be operationalised nationally and regionally in Africa. It highlights strategic entry points that should be driven by both public and private sectors and supported by South-South cooperation: the development of ports, promot

Apart from his participation in the SCO Defence Ministers' meeting in China's Qingdao, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is likely to meet his Chinese counterpart Dong Jun, possibly to restart the China-India military hotline.

Since being initiated by former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe formally in 2016, Tokyo’s Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) vision has become the preferred framework for diplomatic engagement among like-minded countries in the Indo-Pacific. This paper undertakes an assessment of FOIP. The motivation is threefold: first, it creates an understanding of Tokyo’s vision of maintaining a stable global order; second, because FOIP has become inclusive—it

The Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi and the Experimental Creativity Centre, Moscow have initiated a collaborative research project on Radical Islam. The first meeting under this project took place in Moscow on the 8th and 9th of October, 2009.

Lt. Gen. Nirbhay Sharma (Retd), Distinguished Fellow at Observer Research Foundation, New Delhi, has been appointed the new Governor of Arunachal Pradesh, a strategic border State in the North East.

Mr. Thomas Haahr, First Secretary, Climate Change, Royal Danish Embassy outlined deep cuts in emissions of industrialised countries, financial support for developing countries, enhanced mitigation action by developing countries and adapting to the impact of climate change as the key challenges that would have to be addressed in Copenhagen

As part of the worldwide launch of the Global Go To Think Tank Index Report 2014, an event was organised at ORF in Delhi on Thursday. According to the Report, ORF has been placed at 8th position amongst the Top 10 think tanks in Asia.

The Kolkata Chapter of Observer Research Foundation has started functioning from its own new building in New Town, Rajarhat, Kolkata. The chapter moved to the new premises on April 15, the auspicious occasion of Poila Baishakh or Bengali New Year.

The Observer Research Foundation (ORF) was invited to put together a group from India for the Moscow conference by the Polity Foundation, one of the principal Russian organisers. ORF and Polity have had earlier contact and a bilateral event had been jointly organised by