Search

Modalities of statecraft have abiding relevance. In a celebrated letter to Moghul Emperor Akbar, Shah Abbas the Great commented on a predecessor's misrule and said that "internal diversity of opinions made the foreigner covetous and caused anarchy in the country."

The recently concluded fourth Vienna meeting, between Iran and P5+1, has revealed that Iran and the international community will have to cross the major hurdles for the successful conclusion of a comprehensive nuclear deal.

The unexpected good showing of the conservative Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the former Mayor of Tehran, in the first round of the Iranian Presidental elections held on June 17, 2005, and his emergence in the No.2 position with 19.5 per cent of the valid votes polled as against 21 per cent for the favourite Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani throws open the possibility that in the second

In voting for a moderate President, Iranians have demonstrated their desire to overcome continued political isolation, marked by significant economic deterioration and disappearing democratic accountability. Can Mr. Rouhani overcome challenges and deliver?

The changing world order has opened the doors of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation to Iran, but whether it will prove useful to the country is yet

The ongoing Israel-Palestine crisis adds to the wider Israel-Iran rivalry, with Tehran’s vocal promotion of an “Axis of Resistance” that is draw

A decade ago this month, the United States and its British auxiliaries abused international law by invading Iraq. India looked on helplessly then, but is it in a position to affect another unjust invasion, this time directed at Iran?

Last week the curtains came down on the 21st century's first unjust war - the US involvement in Iraq. But worse may follow after the American pullout. The implications for India of further turmoil in the Persian Gulf, particularly Iraq are enormous.

It may not be the story that Paul Bremer or Iyyad Allawi would want to muse over for their grandchildren: ¿I was among the handful there...¿ Yet, that¿s truth about power-transfer in Iraq, America¿s testing-ground for western democracy in the feudalistic Gulf Arab region living in a decadent past.

Police and Army are perceived to be low . The mercenaries of the Iraqi members of the governing council such as Ahmed Chalabi are better paid. The staff of the Iraqi Police and Army were till recently not entitled to the war hazard allowance. A proposal to grant that allowance even to them was under consideration.

The fact that ISIS has managed to attack in and around Baghdad is an anecdotal yet strong indicator that during this time of multiple crisis, the terr

The invasion of Iraq by the ¿Coalition of the Willing¿ was supinely endorsed by the UN Security Council in Resolution 1483 of May 22, 2003. It bestowed legitimacy on the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA). Paragraph 8 of the Resolution, and sub-paragraphs (d) and (e), specifically referred to the work of reconstruction that the Secretary General¿s Special Representative was to coordinate with the CPA. One year later

Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki led a landmark cabinet meeting in the country's Kurdish region, in an effort to diffuse tensions between Kurds and the central government, a dispute that is the biggest threat to Iraq's stability.

Nineteen US troops and three others were reportedly killed on December 21, 2004, in an attack on an improvised dining hall of an American military base at Mosul in northern Iraq. An organisation called Jaish Ansar al-Sunnah (JAAS) has claimed responsibility for the attack.

India's own satellite-based navigation system, similar to the well-known American Global Positioning System (GPS), is being readied. The first satellite of the seven satellite constellation is scheduled to be launched on July 1 from Sriharikota.

It is not the first time that the militaries of the two countries have agreed to maintain calm at the border.

Going by the Sri Lanka-related events and developments on the global arena, it looks as if the international community has not learnt any lessons from the recent past in and of the country. Be it the Indian neighbour, or the distant Norway, or whoever had attempted to help resolve the ethnic issue, had to give up after a point.

The series of counterattacks between Israel and Syria over the last few days have rung alarm bells across West Asia. The events prove, thus far a rela

In countering India’s efforts to dominate South Asian waters, China may be seeking a grand bargain: allow each side control over their respective littorals – the Bay of Bengal and South China Sea – and the maintenance of respective constabulary presences

The rising Chinese bellicosity in the South China Sea and the lack of Chinese investments has made the Philippines rethink its China policy

It is the unease arising from China's domestic, political and economic considerations at a time of the ascendancy of a new political leadership in Beijing that could contribute to Chinese adventurism and recourse to hyper-nationalism.

With China potentially overturning the moratorium on nuclear testing, India must augment its military strength in the nuclear and missile domains to t

Developing countries owe Beijing a lot more money than is commonly realized. This is how empires start.

China's aggressive postures in the disputed South China Sea regions have not only increased the unease and apprehensions of the affected countries but have also drawn it to the US strategic trap, placing China in a no-win situation.

The unilateral tariff imposition by the United States on various countries has started a trade war that threatens to adversely affect the world’s major economies. This paper finds that no country, including the US itself, is likely to benefit from a tariff war. In India, some analysts had expected that the country’s export penetration in the US and elsewhere will increase, as China loses out. An analysis of trade data, however, shows that whi

Lab-grown meats are new, and the health outcome is still unknown. Most consumers prefer natural products and reject foods derived from unnatural sources.

We cannot overlook the fact that the country's courts continue to be the objects of terrorist attacks while looking at the 'disciplining' of a police constable in public view, for neglecting the checking duty at a New Delhi court.

Rampant corruption in Nepal has raised a question mark about the sustainability of the present form of federalism in the country

Hydrogen is not just a fuel, but more a universal carrier and a way to store energy.

A divided domestic telecoms industry, disagreement within the central government, and a desire for India to develop its own systems have made the country’s calculations on 5G all the more complicated.

Most of the FDI is going to the service sector followed by pharmaceuticals, infrastructure and manufacturing. Foreign investors are interested in quic

India will never lose its allure in some ways because of its unique culture and warmth. But on other fronts, India is slipping especially if it does not care about giving an equal opportunity to all its citizens for a better life -- like good rural roads, affordable housing, clean drinking water, food, sanitation, education and health services.

The country has good reason to want first-strike capabilities. But the actual state of its arsenal suggests that it won’t get them.

With the ongoing multi-polarisation of global politics, new powers would emerge which would in turn increase global insecurity and lead to a greater demand for nuclear weapons even by the countries that as of now do not possess them, cautioned Prof. Rajesh Rajagopalan during an ORF roundtable on nuclear non proliferation.

In the kind of politics that currently prevails, all civil service reform will prove to be meritless until politics attain the desire to improve gover

The 2021 BRICS leaders’ summit, slated to be organised by India as the chair, might present an opportunity to hold the bilateral summit on the same

India must emulate global examples of countries that have moved their national capitals to new cities owing to growing congestion, pollution and deter

The only way Japan can cope with the current nuclear crisis and emerge strong is by believing in, what critics called as, "idealistic" reforms and plans that may look "impractical" in the short run.

The Taliban today undoubtedly has a stronger hold over how the US militarily plans to withdraw from the conflict in Afghanistan. This raises questions about the continuing challenges to security in South Asia—in particular, the influence of IS Khorasan (IS-K), the group’s Afghanistan avatar, and its rise both as an ISIS-aligned entity and a big-tent brand for various jihadist groups in the country. As the ‘Khorasan’ project of ISIS gets m

The key problem with offering NSG membership to Pakistan is its obstructionist approach. Pakistan will try to block any decision which it might think will be advantageous to India. Since the NSG functions on the principle of consensus, Pakistan's pursuit of parity with India will lead to a stalemate within the NSG.

As 2012 draws to a close, the question uppermost in the minds of Maldives watchers is if the country was moving away from the strategic sphere of Indian influence, and has begun tilting towards China.

Islamic State (IS), metaphorically a "baby" of al-Qaeda, may not survive for a long time when public fascination with it wanes, says Dr. Bernard Haykel, professor of Near Eastern Studies and director of the Institute for Transregional Study, Princeton University, USA.

Is India confident to connect its North-East with the neighbouring countries like China, Myanmar and Bangladesh. This is one of the questions that came up during a workshop on "Increasing Connectivity of the North East with Peripheral Countries like Bangladesh, Myanmar and China" at the Kolkata chapter of Observer Research Foundation.

Though it is too early to interpret possible impact of the new activism of India's burgeoning urban middle class on nature and character of politics and system of governance, if we take recent global events as a sort of barometer, the change has already begun.

With Türkiye adopting a more pragmatic approach to its foreign policy, can India and Türkiye hope to repair frayed ties?

The Organisation of Islamic Conference, often called (inappropriately though) the Islamic UNO, had, ironically, never visualized its purported role as the defender of the faith. Over the years, so diffused had its role become that several disillusioned leaders, like Libya¿s Colonel Gaddafi, termed it a Dead Horse, a nomenclature that describes the conference aptly even today.

Is China's FDI in the OIC member countries preventing the political elites of these states from condemning the injustices carried against the Uyghur

On November 3, the White House turned red once more.When the men, and women, in blue were finally convinced that George W Bush was going to reoccupy the most powerful chair in the world, a chunk of the deeply divided America groaned loudly. Joining them in their crib was, apparently, the rest of the world.

Pakistan's persistent anti-India stance and unreliable dialogue offers from the civilian leadership in Islamabad have rendered the relationship insign