KSA & CPEC: Marriage of convenience?
News Review|
Pakistan has struck a $10 billion deal with and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia after taking the Chinese authorities in confidence over the KSA joining as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project as a...
Global watchdog takes Saudi Arabia to task for lax anti-terrorism finance measures
James M. Dorsey |
A Financial Action Task Force (FATF) report criticizing Saudi Arabia’s anti-money laundering and terrorism finance measures puts the kingdom on the spot 17 years after the 9/11 attacks and casts a shadow over...
Is US ready for peace talks with Taliban?
Asif Haroon Raja |
17 years have gone by but so far there are little prospects for the longest war in Afghanistan to come to an end. Lilliputians have paralyzed the Gulliver and brought a...
Turkey looks for new allies after rift with USA
News Analysis |
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was the bulwark of the West against the Soviet Union and communist expansion. Militarily as well as politically, NATO has been the symbol of unity for the...
The Two-Trillion Bubble: What Aramco IPO reveals about MBS’s 2030 Vision
Dr. James M. Dorsey |
The disconnect between Saudi imperatives and the expectations of Western governments and financial markets who repeatedly focused on unmet Saudi time indications of the Aramco IPO rather than broader policy...
Saudi King Salman Looking to Remove Son Mohammad as Crown Prince: Report
News Analysis |
The Saudi crown prince, for his involvement in controversial projects and issues, invited national and international criticism including, it seems, the loss of confidence of his father, the King.
Saudi crown prince Mohammad...
Why the US Re-Deployed HTS-ISIS terrorists from Idlib to Afghanistan?
Firas Samuri |
Recent intensified fighting and offensive action in Idlib proved the U.S. is losing its ideak leadership. The more so, there is much talk today about the risks of a new era of...
United States overseas operations: Role of CIA
Jacob G. Hornberger |
Yesterday, President Trump, yielding to the overwhelming power of the Pentagon, CIA, and NSA, announced that he has decided to keep U.S. troops in Syria indefinitely, thereby abandoning his intention announced...
An Indian billionaire hires 12 servants for daughter at UK University
News Desk |
An unnamed Indian billionaire has put an advert to hire 12 servants to look after his daughter when she will start her four-year course at St. Andrews University in Scotland this month.
The...
Party vs Faith: China drafts restrictions for all religions
James M. Dorsey |
China intends to extend aspects of its crackdown on Islam in the north-western province of Xinjiang to all religions as is evident from the publication of proposed restrictive guidelines for online religious...
Prince Salman: An outlier in the conservative state
M. K. Bhadrakumar |
The royal decree of June 21 by Saudi Arabia’s King Salman appointing his son Mohammed bin Salman as the Crown Prince and next in line to the throne is a watershed event in...
NSG membership: Will Russia convince China to vote in India’s favor?
M. K. Bhadrakumar |
The External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj seldom if ever would say a bloomer. Therefore, her remark on June 6 seems odd, where she reportedly said that India will take Russia’s help...
How Putin intends to jump on the OBOR bandwagon
M. K. Bhadrakumar |
Russia has not been a significant beneficiary so far of the Chinese honeypot known as Belt and Road Initiative – although there is vast untapped potential to attract Chinese investments into...
Will Trump be left standing alone against North Korea?
M. K. Bhadrakumar |
On Tuesday, even as Moon Jae-in got elected as South Korea’s next president, in faraway Oslo, North Korean and American representatives sat down to hold “informal discussions” for the second day. The...
Trump’s ‘America First’ reappears centre stage
M. K. Bhadrakumar |
The US President Donald Trump’s foreign policy team bears an appearance of being dominated by the military brass. This, in turn, engendered the perception that Trump’s ‘America First’ foreign policy is...
A Restrictive foreign policy: Is India inviting trouble?
M. K. Bhadrakumar |
When diplomacy becomes brittle, foreign policies become sub-optimal. India’s diplomacy toward China and Pakistan testifies to it. Dialogue with Pakistan is inevitable, especially in Kashmir where the Indian state has all...
How India botched up with Erdogan’s visit?
M. K. Bhadrakumar |
The Indian Ministry of External Affairs schedules high-level visits by foreign dignitaries on the basis of clear-cut diplomatic objectives. A visit for visit’s sake is seldom the case. In all respects, Turkish...
Trump administration desperately seeking engagement with Iran
M K Bhadrakumar |
With the “2+2” dialogue between India and the United States due to begin in New Delhi on Thursday, the Modi government has done the right thing to allow India’s state refiners...
In Philippines’ ‘city of the future,’ smart planning goes green
Benoît Morenne |
In 2013, Francis Tolentino, the head of the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA), sent American best-seller author Dan Brown an outraged open letter. “We are greatly disappointed by your inaccurate portrayal of our...
South Koreans arrive in North amid stalled denuclearization talks
News Desk |
South Korean envoys held talks in North Korea on Wednesday to finalize details on a third North-South summit to be held this month amid stalled talks on denuclearization between the North and...
Typhoon Jebi leaves trail of destruction across Japan
News Desk |
At least 10 people have been killed by Typhoon Jebi, the worst storm to hit Japan in 25 years.
Jebi left a trail of destruction across the west of the country, hitting major...
Multiple diplomatic spats raise questions about Saudi concept of sovereignty
James Dorsey |
The failure of Western allies to rally around Canada in its dispute with Saudi Arabia risks luring the kingdom into a false belief that economic sanctions will shield it from, if not reverse mounting...
Dimensions of Pakistan’s foreign policy
Nida Hameed |
Every new government has its own way of foreign policy formulation. This time it will be Pakistan Tehrik e Insaaf’s (PTI) turn. According to Imran Khan, “PTI would formulate an independent foreign...
Regional powers trying to woo Pakistani prime minister
James M. Dorsey |
An offer by a Saudi-backed bank to lend financially strapped Pakistan US$4 billion is likely intended to bolster Saudi influence when former international cricket player Imran Khan is sworn in in the coming...
Still dying for nothing in Afghanistan – Jacob G. Hornberger
Jacob G. Hornberger |
It wasn’t until history class in college that I heard of the Thirty Years War. My immediate reaction was: No way! It just wasn’t possible that a war could last 30...
Is India eyeing to become a new power in Asia-Pacific?
M K Bhadrakumar |
Static diplomacy, like stale fish, stinks. Therefore, it is gratifying to see the delightful vagueness of the formulation in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s opening statement at the 15th ASEAN-India Summit at...
Will US succeed in creating rifts between Iran & Iraq?
M K Bhadrakumar|
The US project to create a rift between Iraq and Iran backfired just a couple of days of its launch from Riyadh on October 22 by the US Secretary of State Rex...
Russia-Iran ties surge under US pressure
M K Bhadrakumar |
A commentary entitled Tehran, Moscow boosting strategic relations, appearing last week in the Iran Daily newspaper, which is close to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei – and subsequently circulated by IRNA –...
To pull out of Syria or to attack Syria: The Trump Dilemma
M K Bhadrakumar |
The United Nations Security Council turned down a compromise resolution on Syria, proposed by Sweden and seconded by Russia seeking investigation on the alleged chemical attack in Douma. Five countries supported the...
Why back-channel diplomacy between Pakistan and India has no future
M K Bhadrakumar |
Those who were close to late J. N. Dixit, one of India most distinguished diplomats, would know that he had a keen sense of humor, at times of a kind bordering...
