Keeping maritime Asia on course

The Oceans Dialogue 2017, held last month in Thiruvananthapuram, devoted itself to aspects of ocean governance, such as security management, combating terrorism, depletion of marine resources and providing disaster relief, serving as a precursor to the UN General Assembly’s Ocean Conference in June



Filling two vacancies in Iran

Iran’s former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s disqualification from contesting the May 2017 presidential election has reduced the number of aspirants to six. The winner may well be a contender for the post of next Supreme Leader too


Will the French voter veer right?

Extreme right candidate, Marine Le Pen, and Emmanuel Macron, a centrist, will figure in the first round of presidential elections in France on April 23. In a country that has always voted either Republican or Socialist, a departure to the far right will have an impact the markets and many implications for Europe


T20 Mumbai: Perspectives on the emerging world economy

Gateway House hosted a T20 meeting in Mumbai on February 14, 2017 in collaboration with the Kiel Institute for the World Economy and the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, with support from GIZ and Siemens India. This was the third time Gateway House hosted a T20 meeting; previous editions were held in 2015 under the Turkish Presidency with the leading Turkish think tank TEPAV, and in 2016 under the Chinese Presidency with the leading Chinese think tanks — Institute for World Economics and Politics, Shanghai Institute for International Studies, and Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies.


Nuclear energy hurting balance sheets

Japanese technology giant Toshiba is sinking into a financial morass due to its near bankrupt nuclear power business, Westinghouse. India must recognise the new reality that nuclear energy is no longer financially viable


HK’s next CEO: uncertain outcomes

The 26 March 2017 election of the chief executive of Hong Kong is the first since the failure of the 2014 political reform package. It is partly unique because of who is not running, namely current chief executive CY Leung, who has incurred his share of unpopularity. Who will be the victor?


Bilateralism: a new Bretton Woods order?

Trump’s pronouncements about his intentions to challenge the direction and substance of America’s post World War II global ‘liberal’ order---terming institutions, like NATO, obsolete and pulling out of trade agreements, like TPP---reveal a preference for political-style deal making


Can Tillerson reset U.S.-Russia ties?

Rex Tillerson, Chairman and CEO of ExxonMobil and Donald Trump’s pick as U.S. Secretary of State, has had a long and fruitful working relationship with Russia. His experience could lubricate US-Russia relations, a development that can only benefit energy buyers like India


The passing of a ‘people’s king’

The seven decade-reign of King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand, who passed away last month, was rich with event. There were coups, but economic development too, with the skilful leader managing to hold the nation together