2016

Few would believe that Russian strongman Vladimir Putin has been persistently pursuing peace and is eager to go the whole hog in pursuit of his purpose of establishing peace, though his peacemaking policy has always been received with scepticism. Though the cyberspace keeps resonating with tirades against Putin, views from a cross section of analysts reveal that Putin is inherently …

The emergence of one of the wealthiest and  the deadliest militant organisations, the self-styled Islamic State or Daesh, poses an existential threat to the security and territorial integrity of some South Asian countries. Media reports and some recent incidents suggest that the militant organisation has ominously spilled over into Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Pakistan and India; but the governments in all these …

Since the beginning of human societies, there has been a continual debate as to which form of government is better for the welfare of the state and prosperity of its citizens. And after centuries of evolution, it is now believed that only that state can prosper and develop where democracy reigns supreme. Over the centuries, monarchies, aristocracies, oligarchies have faded …

It seems that Afghanistan’s problems aren’t going to end anytime soon. At a time, when the country is slowly yet steadily slipping into the hands of Taliban and the influence of already fragile Unity Government is waning, the top political leadership of the country has resorted to political wrangling. The cleavages in the unity government became more than evident when …

Quietly, amid the carnage and chaos in the daily news, 2016 is shaping up as a good year for peace in the world. You read that right. A significant escalation of war over the past few years is, at the moment, abating. For nearly two-thirds of a century, from 1945 to 2011, war had been in overall decline. The global …

On August 9, an extraordinary event took place at the Constantine Palace in the Russian city of St. Petersburg. The event was the meeting of the presidents of Russia and Turkey which took place in the wake of months-long angry rhetoric and the bad blood between the two countries over the downing of a Russian fighter jet in November last …

On 16th of July 1945 a desert outside Alamogordo, New Mexico, witnessed the test of world’s first nuclear device named the “Gadget”. J. Robert Oppenheimer, often called the “father of the atomic bomb” for leading the Manhattan Project named the site of the test as ‘Trinity’ – a name that evoked his intellectual mysticism. This was the ushering in of …

Since the signing of the P5+1-Iran nuclear deal that lifted most international sanctions on the latter, China has emerged as a principal beneficiary. This is as much a result of aggressive Chinese push as it is difficulties faced by the West. China has pursued opportunities in the Iranian nuclear energy market, increased investment and expanded influence, with what could be …

In an essay published in Time Magazine in 1941, magazine’s founder and “the most influential private citizen in the America of his day,” Henry Robinson Luce proclaimed twentieth century to be “The American Century”. But, now observers and experts of international relations such as Joseph S. Nye and of politics and economics of globalization Rawi Abdelal are declaring a close …

The Occupied Kashmir is aflame again with Kashmiri people facing the worst-ever brutalities by the Indian security forces. This time nobody can blame any foreign hand in the volcanic eruption of popular anger and frustration against India’s military occupation of their State. It is the killing of Burhan Wani, a social media icon who never shot anyone but gave a …