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Phone calls are making waves with Nawaz Sharif and Tsai Ingwen - showing there is no indicator on which way US will go under new presidency

Trump's belligerence towards the Paris accords may ironically become its undoing.

US President Donald Trump’s new Afghanistan strategy for America’s longest war has potential to drastically alter existing regional relations. The policy, announced after an exhaustive eight-month-long review process, attempts to give a new direction for future US involvement in Afghanistan. Becoming president at a time when old alignments are undergoing transition, Trump’s task has not been easy. Given the constraints, however, Trump’s A

Trump campaign likely to remain main drivers of his administration – trade & immigration. While latter is domestic in scope former will have ramifications

The broad thrust of the NSS document transcends Trump and reflects a growing consensus in the American establishment that China is an adversary. As far as India is concerned, this is the good news.

The general elections of 7 June 2015 were Turkey's last scheduled elections until the next one in 2019. Coming at a time when the country and its neighbours are on the brink of profound transformation, and given the increasing complexity of the socio-political situation in the Middle East, the elections results may well re-define the direction of West Asian politics for some time to come.

The Syrian crisis has become a test case for Turkey's foreign and domestic policy. Determined to find a balance between its global expectations and regional objectives, Turkey aimed towards the downfall of the Assad regime, relying on its strength in the Arab streets and support to rebels to ensure a rapid outcome. This tolerance for the radical opposition in Syria, along with the failure in finding a resolution to the Kurdish issue, has contribu

Countries in the Gulf region are facing a proverbial perfect storm: oil demand falling to its lowest levels in decades, disagreements within the group of oil-exporting nations on supply cuts, and the COVID-19 pandemic. The plummeting of oil prices is affecting these countries’ fiscal positions, business sentiments, and economic growth. India has stakes in all this; after all, the country has strong economic, commercial and diaspora ties with th

States and UTs’ governance and information sub-domain scores and rankings differ considerably from their scores and rankings on the overall health index.

Instead of agonising over the failures of the Saarc, Delhi has recognised that two-speed regionalism is quite common around the world. Also, India has often looked beyond the Saarc to benefit from trans-regional cooperation, like BIMSTEC

There is a preponderance of storms around the Black Sea. Its ancient beaches are littered with shipwrecks from the classical world. Some American geologists insist the great Biblical flood occurred there.

Former Prime Minister of Sweden, Mr Goran Persson, feels that India should take an active role in negotiating between the European Union and Russia, who are fighting over Ukraine. He believes that new developments will mean that China-Russia relations will prosper at the cost of Russia-Europe relations.

As Yemen's two-year transitional period comes to an end, there is increased anticipation regarding Yemen's future. Main points of contention in the National Dialogue Conference (NDC) were pertaining to the solutions to the southern issue.

Through most of the Cold War and for over a decade after it ended, the phrase that best described Indo-US relations was ¿estranged democracies¿, coined by Dennis Kux, a former US diplomat. The two democracies, the world¿s largest and the world¿s most populous, regarded each other with wary suspicion.

This paper examines the influence of Islamic State (ISIS) in India, chronicling its rise beginning in the early 2000s to its supposed demise in 2017. It seeks to understand the effects of ISIS’ ideology and brand via India’s neighbouring countries and the people who joined the group (or came close to doing so). The author studied more than 80 cases to cull trends unique to the landscape of terrorism in India, and ponder the peculiar societal

In recent years, China has been expanding its diplomatic and economic profile in Afghanistan, with its policy evolving from being premised on ‘calculated indifference’, to strategic engagement. Although China’s actions may be predicated on domestic compulsions, Afghanistan could also benefit in the process, especially in relation to China’s transcontinental connectivity ventures. Other considerations like China’s geographical proximity

Pakistan is often accused of being a state sponsor of terrorism. This article bases itself in the belief that though the problem of ?Jihadism? may well have originated from some of Pakistan?s security paranoias, it is now assuming proportions far larger than Pakistan itself. At this stage, Jihadism will be a problem for Pakistan itself as much as for the rest of the world. At the same time, the ability of the Pakistani state to counter this pheno

Reports of incursions by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army along the Line-of-Actual Control (LAC) are rife in the Indian media. A commonly held opinion is that the Indian media tend to sensationalise their reportage of these incursions, or “China’s transgressions”, as the Indian government calls them. This paper analyses these incidents, as reported in select Indian newspapers, over a period of 12 years. It outlines the nature of these

In the last five years, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has undergone a massive transformation and is today the country’s most formidable political force. The party won the 2014 general election with a convincing majority under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi who assumed power in May 2014. It is in power in 20 states, either on its own or with its allies. This rise can be attributed to various factors, including the party leader

If the dreams of this Union Budget have to become a reality, two important aspects need to be addressed -- transparency and efficiency, says former Revenue Secretary Sivaraman.

Continuity rather than change may well be the mark of the second Bush administration's foreign policy.It was billed as `the liberty speech.' George W. Bush, beginning his second term as President, said: ""It is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world.""

From 'being the Congress's most trusted alliance partner' during the UPA years, the CBI has now morphed into the BJP's instrumentality of 'fixing' political opponents. Prima facie it appears to be the case and analysts think one will see more empirical evidence of an aggressive CBI in the coming weeks as the BJP feels the pressure on rising intolerance in the country.

As the strategic environment in Asia turns increasingly fraught, regional navies have been focusing on the development of autonomous and unmanned systems — not only to improve situational awareness, but also as a means to undertake intrusive missions in forward locations. A transformative and potentially disruptive capability, autonomous platforms with artificial intelligence (AI) systems are pushing the boundaries of maritime interdiction to p

After the Ladakh intrusion, Delhi has sensibly stepped up the conversation on LAC management with Beijing. The recent violence on the LoC demands the same with Islamabad. When he meets Nawaz Sharif in New York next month, Manmohan Singh must seek Pakistan's renewed political support for the LoC ceasefire and an agreement to translate that commitment into a military reality.

Reveals continuing limitation of politics and Imran Khan’s failure to change it

India will repent at leisure if it gives up the race for the UNSC seat now only to find, after some years, that countries with lesser weight but greater perseverance have left us irretrievably a rung lower in the international hierarchy.

Social media has had a transformative impact on how people live, engage with one another, and work. However, it can be a double-edged sword as it constantly evolves owing to modern technological innovation. This cannot be more true for the world’s women: social media gives them political, financial, and social empowerment, even as they battle lack of access, language barriers, and safety concerns. This paper analyses the intersection of

This report is part of the Observer Research Foundation’s “Financing Green Transitions” series which aims to find potential linkages between private capital, in all its forms, and climate action projects. The series will primarily examine domestic and international barriers to private capital entry for mitigation oriented climate projects, while also examining potential avenues for private capital flow entry towards adaptation and resilienc

With its transition from a middle income to a developed country, China is facing several challenges. Inconsistent and changing categories of administrative divisions create problems in the governance of urban centres.

Láffaire Snowden, the Moscow CIA station chief's name being published by Russia; tit-for-tat lists of alleged human rights violators released by the two countries; Syria, Iran, Ballistic Missile Defence, nuclear arms reductions—these are the issues concerning US-Russia relations that have dominated the headlines in the last few weeks. It would appear that the Cold War is upon us again! However, seen from another perspective, there are some sig

The US today is on the horns of a dilemma in the Middle East.

The drastic and sudden drop in Venezuelan and Iranian oil exports to India in 2019-2020, due to the looming threat of US secondary sanctions, is the latest supply chain disruption to India’s energy security. To avoid similar disruptions in the future, India must act decisively to increase its Strategic Petroleum Reserves to meet at least 90 days of emergency oil stocks, and combine lobbying efforts between India’s private and public oil compa

Sanctions, a mechanism to penalise international legal violations, usually prohibit nationals of the “sanctioning country” from engaging in specified activities with the “targeted country.” Secondary or extraterritorial sanctions, on the other hand, penalise third-country individuals and companies for dealing with sanctioned countries. Recent measures adopted by the US—the enactment of the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanc

The United States' pivot to Asia is real and enduring, according to Professor Jeffrey W Legro, Professor of Politics and Randolph P. Compton Professor in the Miller Center at the University of Virginia.

The SAARC region needed to be rescued from colonial era cultural definitions as they were too narrow and a broader range was sought to create cultural zones within the natural boundaries, argues well-known Sri Lankan archeologist Prof. Sudharshan Seneviratne.

Cross-border payment is one part of the banking sector that has yet to benefit from recent progress in digitalisation. Most international transactions are still processed using a 600-year-old correspondent banking system devised by the Medici.[1] However, this system of manual entry of transactions is not a scalable solution for the burgeoning digital payments space. While this may seem like an issue for institutions, a huge segment of the popul

Uttarakhand devastation would not have been so furious but for years of human greed, administrative and political connivance. We greedily ravaged nature beyond its tolerance and without any rules. When nature responded with a kind of pent up fury, our response was sluggish and confused.

The Vice President of India, Shri. M. Hamid Ansari and the Union Finance Minister, Shri. Pranab Mukherjee, remembered the contributions of late Shri R.K. Mishra, ORF Founder Chairman, while releasing 'A Brahmin Without Caste: Remembering Rishi Kumar Mishra' -- a volume contributed by 56 personalities from different walks of life.

Hanoi's decision in granting oil blocks to New Delhi could make China uneasy as Chinese foreign policy, especially towards the South China Sea and the East China Sea, has undergone a major shift in the last few years.

The expansion of access to affordable drugs will play a central role in addressing present and future global health challenges. Given the vast social implications of increased access to medicines, the Indian patent system has historically maintained a pro-public health stand. However, the international political community is increasingly advocating for stricter patent regimes and India can no longer continue to ignore the pressure exerted by deve

This paper aims to analyse the reasons for the rise of piracy in the Gulf of Guinea, its characteristics, the primary drivers for the growing menace and international responses; it also compares the differences in modus operandi between Gulf of Guinea and Somalian piracy. Till the early 1980s, piracy was often dismissed as being “archaic Tand folklore of the past”, rarely entering the main maritime discourse. But true to its nature, ‘moder

Twenty-six persons were killed and over a hundred injured by two explosions in Dimapur, the only railway station in Nagaland in India's North-East, on October 2, 2004, the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. The same day, in a series of co-ordinated attacks in different places in Assam, also in the North-East, involving the use of hand-held weapons, hand-granades and explosives,19 persons were killed.

Most analysts agree that a dangerous mix of demand, supply and currency is responsible for Punjab’s drug menace. Punjab is both a transit point and a market for the drugs smuggled from the so-called Golden Crescent that is Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran. While the heroin produced in Afghanistan is smuggled through the 553-km-long, porous India-Pakistan border, the opium, poppy husk, charas and hashish, among other drugs, come from the neighbour

This paper examines current water management ideologies and practices and the impact they create on strategies for pan-Asian connectivity. It suggests that 'business-as-usual' management principles and the harnessing of transboundary rivers tend to undermine efforts at achieving economic and ecological sustainability goals, as well as meeting long-term development challenges. The Mekong and Ganga basin regions, in particular, suffer from inadequa