160 results found
The year 2020 was a bad year for the world, owing to Covid-19 pandemic, but for the Middle East, it was even worse.
Saudi Arabia recently extended an invitation to Iranian Foreign Minister, indicating towards a possible thaw in relations. Is this shift in Riyadh's stand because of a change in US-Iran relations and the positive reception of Iran's overtures by the other GCC States?
Will the continued attacks on Abu Dhabi douse the glimmer of optimism raised by recent efforts to bring about peace in West Asia?
As 2024 moves closer, the vague Middle East policy blueprint of the US is only fuelling the “power in recession” narrative
The BRICS expansion is a big win for China as it would be able to enhance its geopolitical influence by admitting Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Sa
Despite the diplomatic normalisation, fundamental issues that divide Saudi Arabia and Iran will remain. Can China deliver as a peacemaker in West Asia
With the cancellation of his visit, King Salman becomes the second global leader to have dropped Maldives from a multination visit.
Beijing would find it hard to sustain its balancing act between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
While China may aid West Asian countries to hedge their interests against the US, the lack of Chinese diplomacy on ground shows that there is still a
The China-brokered Saudi Arabia-Iran deal puts the spotlight on New Delhi’s ties with Tehran
Beginning March 26, 2015, a Saudi Arabia-led coalition of countries, comprising nine other Arab countries, backed by the USA, France and UK, launched air strikes in Yemen against the Houthis and army units loyal to former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
While successfully balancing relations between Israel, Iran and Saudi Arabia power blocks, New Delhi’s affinity for this Gulf outreach is rooted in geopolitical and geo-economic realities
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has been engaged in significant diplomatic activism since he took office. He has met with regional leaders from Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the UAE and has emerged as a key pillar in Riyadh's attempts to consolidate a Sunni bloc in the region.
Amidst the war in Gaza, the surge of alternative news media outlets and social media has significantly bolstered support for the Palestinian cause
The final attempt to win the presidential elections by using a concoction of nationalism and religion helped Erdoğan snatch victory from Kemal Kiliç
Since 1995, when the first incident of jihadi terrorism took place in Saudi Arabia, there have been 25 acts of terrorism as indicated below:
The permission for Air India to fly over Saudi Arabia must be seen as a major breakthrough, cutting hours off flights between India and Israel
Has New Delhi forgotten its breast beating against cross-border terrorism in Kashmir atleast since 1989? How will it ever raise that issue again having voted along with the west which stands for cross border terrorism by US, France, UK, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey against Syria?
Not only are the important regional players getting into a huddle to discuss the implications of President Trump’s actions, but are also re-calibrat
Fostering women's participation in the workforce is a cornerstone towards achieving not only a more equitable world but also promoting economic effici
The Taliban story has only just resumed and could see a return of the US and other powers to this theatre in the future as global jihadist movements v
The emergence of this new grouping is clearly an outcome of the Abraham Accords of Aug 2020 and the possibilities that they have created for Israel and the UAE to be on the same platform with India and the US. As President Biden moves to Saudi Arabia for the second leg of his visit to West Asia, we are likely to see a push towards integrating Israel through trade, technology, direct flights and people-to-people contact even with countries where f
The ensuing kerfuffle between the US, Iran and Saudi Arabia has displayed the different directions that both Riyadh and Washington have taken, despite
This episode illustrates the danger facing Indian foreign policy from domestic political developments, increasingly centered on religious conflict.
The political tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran can be better understood through the lens of ‘regimes.’
This report presents an initial stocktaking of the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) announced in 2023 following a meeting in New Delhi between the leaders of India, the US, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Italy, France, Germany, and the European Commission. Given that the participating economies contribute to almost half of the global GDP, there are many opportunities and challenges associated with the economic corridor.
While energy security continues to dominate the agenda, security and defense cooperation are becoming more important in the India-Saudi relationship.
A significant thaw is happening in the relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia. Once Saudi Arabia decides to mend its ties with Iran, the US should hardly have any reason to go on punishing Iran. In this scenario, it seems the resolution of Iran's nuclear negotiations is not far off.
'Post-Islamism' has become the new face of political Islam which incorporates the positive and accommodating attitudes of the West towards Islam and the pluralistic attitudes of Islam towards the West, according to Mr Talmiz Ahmad, former Indian ambassador to Saudi Arabia, UAE and Oman.
The chase for strategic one-upmanship by Iran and Israel could lead to an expanded regional war with global, long-term ramifications
The recent shift by the Middle East prioritising geoeconomics over the Palestinian issue could suffer a setback. The crisis ignited by Hamas highlights that the gap between top-heavy policy decisions and groundswell public opinions, movements, and crisis points need to be addressed by regional powers to ensure long-term sustainability of economic cooperation programmes
Saudi Arabia, a regional ally of the UAE, is infamous for the treatment of its female population.
Iraq, Saudi Arabia, the Pakistan-Afghanistan region, India, Israel, South-East Asia, Russia and the USA would be the main theatres of jihadi terrorism of a strategic nature during the year 2005.There could be sporadic incidents of jihadi terrorism in other parts of the world¿¿such as West Europe and the Central Asian Republics¿¿but they would be more of a tactical than of a strategic nature.
Kashmir is a live political issue in India in a way that it never has been before. The India of the 1990s had to deal with an insurgency and managed without worrying about national machismo. This is no longer the case.
These are clear indications that Lashkare-toiba, Harkat-ul Mujahideen and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi are poised to regroup and re-emerge in the coming months as part of Al Qaida¿s new plan to extend and consolidate its activities in the Middle East and Asia, especially Saudi Arabia and India.
The successive torture and slaying of individual Americans in Iraq, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere in the Gulf region has a new message for the civilized world. Whatever be the rationale behind the decision-making at the governmental-level, the average American is ready for a long engagement with terrorism and terrorists.
The presence of almost nine million Indian nationals in the Gulf region makes India a key source of human capital for the six GCC nations. The majority of these Indians are blue-collar workers engaged in low-paying jobs. As countries like the United Arab Emirates (UAE) move up the technology ladder, they are increasingly seeking workers with specific, certified skills. This report outlines a pilot project for the mapping, harmonisation and accred
Before MBS’s rise, activists could ask for legal reforms even if in whispers. Now, they cannot.
Amid the ongoing fundamental changes in the international order, such as the growing bipolar competition between the US and China and the promotion of multipolarity, middle powers may take more ownership of conflict points such as Afghanistan. To comprehend this possibility, it is important to trace the evolution of middle powers in the Persian Gulf. This paper looks at the complexities of the Gulf middle power states, with Afghanistan as the the
India's newly aggressive strategy puts Gulf money and Israeli weapons first.
Top 10 commentaries by ORF analysts this year.
As the NDA government recalibrates India's Kashmir and Pakistan policies, Delhi must do a much better job explaining the logic behind the cancellation of the foreign secretary talks, widely seen as abrupt.It must let the international community, especially Pakistan's friends, including the US, China and Saudi Arabia, know India is not abandoning the peace process with Islamabad.
