The importance of being neighbourly
India is subtly adding four new elements in the policy matrix
Courtesy: Twitter/@MaithripalaS
Courtesy: Twitter/@MaithripalaS
Courtesy: The Wall Street Journal
Suu Kyi, more politician than icon
The Aung San Suu Kyi-led National League for Democracy, which has been in power for three years, has shown a modest score card, winning more censure than praise. Suu Kyi’s civilian-military equation has been good, but not her reluctance on the Rohingya issue. What chances does her party have of winning in Myanmar’s elections in 2020?
Courtesy: CNBC TV18
PM Modi’s foreign policy 2.0
India's foreign policy under the second Modi government will take account of a turbulent world in which the old verities are disappearing and domestic political compulsions exert overwhelming influence on external postures
Courtesy: Dying Regime / Flickr
A power change in Maldives
Maldives’ new president, Ibrahim Solih, has had two election wins in a span of six months – his own in September 2018 and his Maldivian Democratic Party’s landslide victory in the Majlis elections about three weeks ago. An analysis of what this win says about democratic politics in Maldives, improved relations with India and the complex equation it shares with China
Courtesy: AFP Photo/AREF KARIMI
Afghanistan: Development against the odds
The people of Afghanistan, torn by war, ethnic strife and geoeconomic contestation for their country’s rich natural resources, have paid by forsaking the assurances of daily life. But President Ashraf Ghani has shown them that normalcy can return and it is possible to hold regular elections. The author, a guest of the President and First Lady, travelled through the country in October 2018 to record her impressions of a resilient people who have reason to hope for a different future
Courtesy: The Daily Star
Bangladesh’s India-China balancing strategy
Bangladesh faces several major challenges in its external relations. It showed humanitarianism in receiving the fleeing Rohingyas, but its diplomatic efforts to repatriate them have not succeeded. It must also maintain a balance between relations with India and China and show proactive leadership in garnering regional cooperation
Courtesy: thenews.com.pk
Gwadar 2.0: Pakistan’s Saudi vs. China play
Pakistan’s aspirations for oil and gas prospecting off its Makran coast, south-western Balochistan, are diverging from those of China, which has had a nearly two-decade long presence in Gwadar as an infrastructure provider. To turn Gwadar into the petrochemical hub it desires, Pakistan has sought out other benefactors, changing geopolitical equations in the region
Courtesy: Radio Farda
FATF: global terrorist financing watchdog
After the Pulwama attack of 14 February 2019, Pakistan has come under the international scanner for its support and financing of terrorist groups. At a meeting of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in Paris last week, it was pulled up for its inability to choke terrorist financing. This primer illustrates the role of the FATF in tackling terrorist financing and money-laundering, and studies its recent review of Pakistan
Courtesy: MEA Flickr
2019, the year of aligning decisively
The imperative for India to move away from its non-aligned posture is now, especially if it wants to be consequential in the global reordering underway. This will play out in the contention between the U.S. on one side, and China and Russia on the other.
Courtesy: MEA Flickr
Maldives’ new balance
Maldives president Mohamed Solih comes to India this week, fresh from his election win and with a host of good intentions. His aim is to recast the bilateral and restore balance in Maldives’ external relations after the previous president’s China-centric leanings. Such a reversal may not emerge instantly