M K Bhadrakumar l
Compared to the events two decades ago when the Afghan Taliban appeared in the Amu Darya region in northern Afghanistan and Central Asian states and Russia went into feverish tantrums, there is an eerie calm palpable in the steppes today.
The contrast couldn’t be sharper. In 1997 when Taliban first appeared in Mazar-i-Sharif on the Amu Darya...
M K Bhadrakumar l
Editorials have appeared in two leading Delhi newspapers (here and here) urging the government to present a credible, appealing diplomatic narrative on the J&K developments.
The Indian narrative so far is largely focused on the domestic audience. It has gone to ridiculous extents by projecting that the situation is actually quite “normal” in J&K. Pictures of National Security Advisor...
Saad Rasool |
On 5th of August, 2019, the myth of a secular India – inclusive of its many minorities – was finally buried by the right-wing, fascist, Hindutva government of Narendra Modi. And with this move, Indian presence in Kashmir is at par with Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories; except that the hotbed of Kashmir now also forms a flashpoint...
Sabah Aslam l
Throughout the past, nations have strived to seek knowledge from each other. In order to enhance the society and uplift its standards, lessons from past ventures of one society proved beneficial for the others as well. Whether it bethe military tactics or economic programs, every civilization as well as nation has much to edify others. Dr. Mehbub-ul-haq,...
Khurram Ali l
The key Chinese foreign policy-makers, including the whole standing committee of the politburo, summoned a landmark conference dedicated to ‘Peripheral Diplomacy’. It was aimed at outlining the country’s strategic direction, in particular, with its neighbors. In the conference, President Xi categorically articulated the nodal points of peripheral diplomacy, arguing that: “The core concern of the peripheral diplomacy...
Andrew Korybko |
The idea is that Russia and China, which have historically been closer to India and Pakistan (both of which are member states of the SCO) respectively, could join forces in somehow encouraging their regional partner of choice to moderate their positions and therefore reach some sort of a “compromise” on the future status of the disputed region....
TIC Focus l
Former Maldivian President Mohammed Nasheed has clashed with the Chinese envoy over Male's "alarming levels" of Chinese debt, which stands at $3.4 billion, even as India has regained ground in the strategically important Indian Ocean atoll nation with the exit of pro-Beijing former president Abdulla Yameen.
Speaking at a think tank meeting last week, Nasheed said that the...
M K Bhadrakumar l
India’s impending purchase of the Russian S-400 missile system has come to be the leitmotif of the “2+2” dialogue of the foreign and defence ministers of India and the United States due to take place in New Delhi on September 6. However, the issue here is not about a single defence transaction, either. There are far...
TIC Focus l
Tensions have risen in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK) as the Indian Occupation took a major decision with regard to the state's special status by revoking Article 370. Rumours about abrogation of Articles 35A and 370 first started doing the rounds with New Delhi's decision to deploy 100 additional companies of paramilitary forces in the state.
Tens...
Sabah Aslam l
From the coasts of Caspian Sea to the rouged lands touching Afghanistan, there lies a belt of resource rich countries – the Central Asian States. Comprising five states, the region is fast becoming the new hub for social and economic development. As it lies at the heart of the ancient Silk Route, Central Asia also holds key...
Andrew Korybko |
Russia’s CSTO mutual defense ally and fellow Eurasian Union member Kyrgyzstan has been suddenly thrown into yet another crisis earlier this week after a long-simmering power struggle between the current and former presidents finally turned violent. Former President Atambayev was stripped of immunity earlier this summer and charged with corruption by incumbent President Jeenbekov, his former protege, but he...
At the heart of constitutional changes to Article 370 is Presidential Order C.O. 272, which constitutes the basis for everything that follows. The second is a Statutory Resolution introduced in the Rajya Sabha, which – invoking the authority that flows from the effects of Presidential Order C.O. 272 – recommends that the President abrogate (much of) Article 370. The third is the Reorganisation Bill, that...
M K Bhadrakumar l
The Arab sheikhs who instigated the US-Iran standoff have heard the African proverb, ‘When elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers’. But they chose to ignore it. The assumption in Riyadh and Abu Dhabi was that President Trump’s ‘maximum pressure’ strategy would frighten Tehran and life would be back to normal very soon with a...
Andrew Korybko |
India just did everything that “Israel” wished it could do in Palestine by abrogating Kashmir’s relative “autonomy”, imposing a draconian curfew in the disputed region, and “legally” facilitating the large-scale influx of “Weapons of Mass Migration” there to disrupt the demographic balance, and the only country that has the political will to realistically force this rogue state to reconsider these highly counter-producive...
Asif Haroon Raja l
Sudan had remained a colony of the British for 56 years after which it gained independence on January 1, 1956. Located in northeastern Africa, it shares border with Egypt to the north, Libya to the northwest, Eritrea and Chad to the east, Central African Union to the southwest, and Chad to the west. Red Sea is...
TIC ANALYSIS l
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) rejected India’s request to ‘acquit, release and return’ its convicted spy, Kulbhushan Yadav, however it directed Pakistan to ensure an effective review and reconsideration of his sentence. It also ordered Pakistan to allow India consular access to Kulbhushan Yadav. The ICJ, in rejecting India's demand that Pakistan's conviction of Yadav be...
TIC ANALYSIS l
The threat of war between Iran and US has escalated in the wake of US unilateral sanctions on Iran, Iran’s partial withdrawal from the Nuclear deal and US military deployment in wake of unproven threats by Iranian proxies. The reality of the threat of war is hard to interpret especially in face of the US President’s personal...
Andrew Korybko |
India’s revocation of Kashmir’s relative “autonomy” embodies everything that its new “Israeli” ally wishes it could do to Palestine such as eliminating its separate political status and giving non-residents of the UNSC-recognized disputed territory the right to buy property there as part of its long-term plan to wage demographic warfare against the locals, yet few around the...
Asif Haroon Raja l
Sectarian and tribal divides in Yemen had sharpened during the long rule of President Gen Ali Abdullah Saleh. Separatist movement in South Yemen sought independent country. Saleh unified the country for the first time as an independent state in 1990. The Houthi movement in North Yemen, which champions Yemen's Zaidi Shia Muslim minority, and backed by...
TIC ANALYSIS l
The recently concluded visit of Prime Minister Imran Khan has emerged as a game-changer in the political landscape of South Asia. All the highlights of the trips such as the austerity showcased by the PM and entourage travelling by commercial flight, the massive Pakistani American rally in Washington, the meeting with US President Donald Trump and the...
M K Bhadrakumar |
There could be several ways of interpreting the US State Department’s decision on Tuesday to designate the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist, which imposes economic sanctions on the group and anyone affiliated with it. What is absolutely certain is that this is by no means an altruistic decision by Washington.
The BLA is based...
Asif Haroon Raja |
Donald Trump has been maintaining a highly belligerent posture against Pakistan as was evident from his policy on Afghanistan and on South Asia and his random statements accusing Pakistan of harboring Haqqani network and Afghan Taliban, and holding it responsible for the instability in Afghanistan.
On one hand Pakistan is accused of sheltering and supporting Afghan...
M K Bhadrakumar |
The Four-Party Meeting on the Afghan Peace Process, held in Beijing last Thursday and Friday, comprising China, the US, Russia and Pakistan, is a dramatic development auguring a peace settlement in Afghanistan. In a regional setting, it also signifies that Pakistan has inflicted a heavy defeat on India in the decade-old proxy war in Afghanistan.
The special...
TIC Analysis |
The entrance of the nuclear weapons changed the paradigm of overt conflict throughout the world. Not only did nuclear weapons stopped aggression against nuclear armed states but also a global taboo against the use of nuclear weapons deterred nuclear states from using their strategic weapons as leverage against other nations. This change caused modern conflict to largely...
Dr. Zafar Nawaz Jaspal |
Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program is primarily predicated upon its ability to act as a deterrent, to prevent nuclear blackmail by, or a nuclear conflict with, India. Therefore its nuclear posture is governed by the quantitative and qualitative reforms in India’s conventional and nuclear forces.
Nuclear-armed diesel-propelled submarines aim to discourage Indian aggression through the concept of...
