The latest news from the Line of Actual Control (LAC) between India and China is that effective measures are being taken to disengage at the Galwan valley and other areas in Eastern Ladakh and that the situation is stable and improving, according to Chinese sources. India has also reported that the Chinese were seen removing …
The Many Dangers of Civilizational States: China as a Case in Point
The idea of civilizational state has been around for a long time. However, a lot of analysis of this notion remains detached from the ground reality. What goes unreported is how the notion of civilization tends to be subsumed under political nativism, victimhood mindset and inward-looking economic practices in democracies and single party regimes alike …
Asia is now the Global Geopolitical Center, It’s Time for an Indo-Pacific Charter
Two months after Hitler invaded the Soviet Union, on August 14, 1941, the heads of government of the United States and the United Kingdom issued the Atlantic Charter, a set of principles that were intended to define the world order after the eventual defeat of Nazi Germany. The principles enshrined in the Atlantic Charter …
What does the National Security Law Mean for Hong Kong’s Future?
Hong Kong has been volatile for more than a year. The top down push for assimilation exerted by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has exposed the existing fault-lines between the people of Hong Kong and the Chinese leadership. It has also exacerbated the already strong demand for greater democracy and autonomy. In addition, the economic …
Microbes in Outer Space: Implications for Spacefaring and Human Health
One of the long-term implications of global crises like the COVID-19 pandemic on outer space could be an intensification of the effort to explore new worlds for human habitation. It appears that outer space could be the only place to remain free from the pandemic threat that has been ravaging the world of late. Though …
WHO: China Loses on Investigation, Wins on Taiwan
China fought on two fronts at the just concluded virtual World Health Assembly (18-19 May 2020) in Geneva in its first open bid to dominate the post-corona world. On the one hand, it wanted to be considered a victor in the battle against the pandemic and the country, which is capable and willing to assist …
Protect Afghanistan, World from Taliban
Trump apparently does not care that his newfound friends are going to once again imprison women in their homes, cut throats, and establish a Wahhabi code of law. President Donald Trump has overall been an effective leader of the US, despite unceasing pressure on him that concluded in the abortive bid to remove him …
COVID-19 Gives China Advantage over the US
WHO’s singular prescription, ‘Lock Down Now’, has ensured that Beijing’s principal rival is now in a much weakened state. It would be illogical to claim that the Chinese leadership intentionally released the COVID-19 virus into the global community. The damage caused to economies on which Chinese companies rely on for their profits and for …
COVID-19 and the Failure of International and Regional Organisations
The COVID-19 crisis has claimed unlikely victims in global politics. Apart from its catastrophic effects across the world, in the realm of interstate relations, COVID-19 has re-imposed the popular realist notion of states pursuing their own interests, leading to international cooperation taking the backseat. While a lot has been agreed on paper about cooperation in …
Suspense over Kim Jong Un may Soon End
During the just-concluded parliamentary elections in one of the world’s most dynamic economies, South Korea, the opposition parties sought to characterise the idealistic President Moon Jae-Inn as a puppet of the Supreme Commander of North Korea, Kim Jong Un. Their calculation was that South Korean voters would turn away from President Moon because of his …