Smoke rises after an U.S.-led air strike in the Syrian town of Kobani Ocotber 8, 2014.     REUTERS/Umit Bektas Courtesy: IB Times
22 December 2016

Syria: energy battles to regional alliances

Aleppo is back under the control of the Syrian government, the Russian ambassador to Ankara is assassinated for his country’s role in Syria, and U.S. President-elect Donald Trump wants to cooperate with Russia to fight ISIS in Syria. These momentous events in modern history compel an assessment of the geopolitics surrounding Syria.

gghhh Courtesy: Gateway House
21 December 2016

Security: intrinsic to foreign policy interests

Security studies provides the framework for anticipating and analysing threats. While foreign policy offers fitting strategies to respond to these threats and address potential issues. Both contribute fundamentally to the other, making it important for both fields to be developed and studied.

A stack of one thousand rupee notes. Courtesy: 123RF
9 November 2016

How ‘hawala’ impacts national security

On November 8, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced to India, the demonetisation of high-value currency notes, he specifically referred to the use of Hawala and fake Indian currency notes for terrorist financing. The hawala system to move funds globally for terrorist financing is huge, secretive, and layered—and a challenge for national security agencies.

BIMSTEC Courtesy: Google Earth
20 October 2016

BRICS/BIMSTEC’s maritime portents

The recent BRICS summit and BIMSTEC outreach highlighted some laudable maritime endeavours linking geographically distant, emerging economies within the grouping. The BIMSTEC platform is also crucial to India's efforts to create a peaceful Bay of Bengal community through economic and cultural linkages.

Barack-Obama-Nawaz-Sharif Courtesy: Wikipedia
10 October 2016

U.S.-Pakistan: still cosy after Uri

There has been a strengthening in the India-U.S. bilateral, which reached new heights with the signing of the LEMOA agreement in August, 2016. However, this strengthened bilateral has not resulted in a strong response to Pakistan by the U.S. Government.

gwadar cpec Courtesy: AP
6 October 2016

Balochistan: all sides may lose

India’s new focus on Balochistan has more to do with the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) than with Kashmir. China understands that CPEC may not be achievable. But there are real dangers in reviving Pakistani fears of secessionism and in broadening the field of Indo-Pakistani conflict beyond the confines of Kashmir.

russia pak military exercises Courtesy: Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation
29 September 2016

Russia’s zero sum games in Asia

Russia's decision to go ahead with joint military exercises with Pakistan is the latest move in Putin's flexible and pragmatic Asian foreign policy playbook. However, whether it will be worth having provoked Indian ire remains to be seen.