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A potential escalation of the Iran-Israel conflict will affect energy supplies globally. Tempering the conflict will help the U.S. keep petrol prices down before its election, protect the oil and gas export traffic in the Persian Gulf, keep the surreptitious Iran-Malaysia-China oil sales going, and prevent a major headache for India, which imports over 80% of its oil.
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The past week has been eventful for India’s Neighbourhood First policy, with the External Affairs Minister’s visit to Sri Lanka and the state visit of the President of Maldives to India. Rajiv Bhatia, Distinguished Fellow, Foreign Policy Studies, Gateway House and Amit Bhandari, Senior Fellow, Energy, Investments and Connectivity, Gateway House, analyse India’s regional outreach and recent economic and political changes in the subcontinent.
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A decade after its launch, China’s Belt and Road Initiative has slowed down in South Asia, the result of poorly conceived projects, and irresponsible behavior from borrower and lender alike.
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Pakistan’s latest economic data tries to paint a cheerful picture, but the economy is still in deep trouble. The main culprit is the ‘managed’ float of the Pakistani rupee, which covers for a multitude of other sins.
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Bangladesh’s economy has been in distress for some time and is not doing as well as assumed. This could have been one of the factors that drove the protests and the subsequent coup.
Courtesy: Sputnik India
Pakistan’s peripheral regions have long been treated as colonies to benefit the Punjabi core. This neglect is facing a vigorous pushback, in the form of peaceful protests and violent resistance. The economic crisis has exacerbated tensions in Baluchistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan, which remain poor despite abundant natural resources.
Courtesy: Economy
The long-delayed Iran-Pakistan pipeline has put Pakistan in yet another bind of its own making. Abandoning the project will expose it to Iranian penalties, while completing it will violate the sanctions imposed by the U.S., its financial benefactor, and its other patron Saudi Arabia which competes with Iran for West Asian leadership.
Courtesy: The Hindu
Long treated by Pakistan as a colony, Balochistan has seen several high-profile attacks by locals against Chinese interests. The growing unrest in the region reflects Islamabad’s failure to address key development issues. With less than 10% of this year’s federal budget earmarked for development, it appears that the only means of quelling the violence is more repression.
Courtesy: GEP
As India begins membership talks with the International Energy Agency, Senior Fellow for Energy, Investment, and Connectivity at Gateway House, Amit Bhandari joins us to talk about how we got here, what’s in it for both parties, and how the agency will adapt to the increasing strategic autonomy of India and countries like it.
Courtesy: Gateway House
As Pakistan heads to the polls, debt restructuring and economic recovery are on the ballot. The winner of the contest will inherit a weak economy while wielding little authority to implement reform, and will eventually shoulder the blame for the inevitable crisis.
