Int’l Affairs

The inaugural session of US-India Ministerial 2+2 Dialogue was held in New Delhi on Sep 06. Major takeaways from this dialogue were the signing of the Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA) and setting up of a hotline between Indian ministers of external affairs and defence with their American counterparts. What is 2+2 Dialogue? A ‘2+2 dialogue’ is a term …

Implications for the region On July 30, the United States Department of Commerce granted the Strategic Trade Authorisation-1 (STA-1) status to India, making it the world’s 37th and Asia’s only third country – after Japan and South Korea – and the only South Asian country to get this status. The biggest gain for India in this is the relaxation in …

  Introduction Every life is precious, but some lives are more precious than others; the inequality in application of law brings into question the whole edifice of the international legal framework into question. Two recent incidents bear witness to this. In the first incident, the US along with its allies attacked Syria, on 14th April 2018, for its alleged use …

A mistaken notion of dominance In addition to its army, its navy, the Marines, the Coast Guard and the Air Force, the armed forces of the United States will now also have a branch of the military beyond our planet — Space Force. US President Donald Trump announced, on June 18, a sweeping new space policy that will focus both …

The Afghan peace process has entered a new – perhaps the decisive – phase as the United States has offered to hold direct talks with the Taliban, for which the latter were waiting and had been pressing since long. Although the United States has been involved in negotiations since their efforts at making peace with the Taliban began in 2005, …

Trade war between the United States and China is escalating. The US imposed an additional 25 percent tariff on US$34 billion of Chinese goods on July 6, and China retaliated with a similar tariff on US imports worth US$29.6 billion. The US may impose an additional 25 percent tariff on another US$16 billion of Chinese goods in September and perhaps …

Can the US plan for Middle East deliver peace? This year has been full of speculation about what Trump’s “Deal of the Century” for Israel-Palestine peace might look like. Even though Trump’s officials have given away nothing publicly, the plan’s contours are already evident. What is thus far known goes something like this. Jerusalem, which was recently shuffled, is now …

Introduction According to Roberto Azevêdo, the Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), seeds of impending ‘trade war’ have been sown. He recently wrote: “Global trade is under threat. Whether or not you call the current situation a trade war, certainly the first shots have been fired. This calls for our attention, and most importantly, our action.” His statement is …

Analysing the Economic and Political Fallout Three months after the United States first announced it was withdrawing from the 2015 Iran Nuclear Deal, the Trump administration has imposed new sanctions on the Islamic Republic. The first set of sanctions targets Tehran’s purchase of US banknotes, trade in gold and other precious metals, as well as the use of graphite, aluminium, …

By: António Guterres  Terrorism is a persistent and evolving global menace. No country is immune. Social media, encrypted communications and the dark web are being used to spread propaganda, radicalize new recruits and plan atrocities. The threat ranges from the crude tactics of lone actors to sophisticated coordinated attacks and the horrific prospect of terrorists using chemical, biological or radioactive …