e92550d47b6d4ed5ad131f474187f8a7_18 Courtesy: Al Jazeera
6 March 2017

The Trump challenge: unpredictability as norm

Forecasting uncertainty is a full-fledged task for security and foreign policy analysts, but when countries resort to being unpredictable then it is likely to backfire. Uncertainty about his next course of action seems to be Trump’s defining characteristic. How India will manage this to better relations will be critical

India's Foreign Secretary Subrahmanyam Jaishankar (L) and US Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson Courtesy: AFP
6 March 2017

India-U.S.: continued ‘solid’ footing

Foreign Secretary Jaishankar’s third visit to the United States since Donald Trump's election is an indication of India’s commitment to engage with all-quarters in Washington with its full diplomatic might. Despite the current situation of concern due to the H-1B visa and the recent shooting of an Indian in Kansas, initial soundings are reassuring and positive.

IORA photo Courtesy: Gateway House
2 March 2017

IORA summit: sharing commonalities

The two decade-old Indian Ocean Rim Association holds its first ever summit next week. Maritime safety and security in the region is a paramount concern as also enhanced trade, but will the Blue Economy be included as a priority? Another area of concern is devising modalities for cooperation with dialogue partners, such as the United States, China and Japan

silk road Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons
14 February 2017

Interweaving the old Cotton and Silk Routes

China’s resurrection of the ancient Silk Road is ambitious, sprawling, hegemonic. Its pre-European origins, though, lay in a criss-crossing of nameless caravan routes on which Indian cotton was traded as vigorously as Chinese silk, tangible proof of the interdependence of two ancient civilisations over two millennia

28912263963_0b75893744_h Courtesy: MEA/ Flickr
14 February 2017

Indo-Pacific: a scenario of possibilities

The Indo-Pacific region is home to some of the largest and most rapidly growing economies as also powerful military forces. Nuclear threats, international terrorism and climate change are some of the issues that define the region. Uncertainty dogs relations among the four nations in the top league—U.S., China, India and Japan—but what is emerging is a hawkish, policy stance from the U.S. as opposed to an isolationist outlook apprehended earlier

china-map-of-obor-1 Courtesy: The Wire
6 February 2017

OBOR: in search of private financing

China has launched the One Belt, One Road (OBOR) Initiative in an attempt to rebuild the ancient Silk Road with proposed land and sea routes to promote infrastructure, trade, and investment in the regions that it will thus connect. The challenge will be to attract private financing to support the official and multilateral ones

28455374735_17cf79553a_b Courtesy: Flickr
31 January 2017

Saudi prince: not quite a game changer?

Prince Salman’s accession to the throne after the death of Saudi King Abdullah on 23 January 2015 has been a game changer, both domestically and in West Asian politics. Within days, he sidelined rivals within the House of Saud, and took on Iran with a confrontational policy. But two years later, the results of his new strategy disappoint