Following the 2008 mortgage crash, the U.S. Federal Reserve Board implemented a quantitative easing policy – to stabilise the banks, and rejuvenate the economic environment. Although this strategy has brought some respite, it has done so without creating many new jobs for Americans.

For long, deterrence has been the backbone of the U.S. national security strategy. It has applied deterrence to Russia, failed to apply it to Iraq and Iran, and is confused about applying it to China. Does the U.S. need to relearn the basics of deterrence?

Often, many vital inventions are left incomplete or do not reach the market as information is locked up by numerous patent holders. How does this hamper innovation, and why is it necessary to overcome the attitude of ‘anti-commons’ and foster cross-fertilization of knowledge?

The ‘Lady Hughes incident’, as a confrontation between British and Chinese authorities in 1784 came to be called, perhaps holds lessons for the ongoing dispute between India and Italy. Aniruddha Bose blogs

The hanging of Afzal Guru – convicted of the terror attacks on the Indian parliament complex in 2001 – has re-ignited the separatist fire in Kashmir. Can a sustained effort by the corporate sector reverse this pro-secession rhetoric in the Valley, where locals yearn for normalcy?

Earlier in April, representatives of the U.S., EU, China and Russia held discussions in Kazakhstan to break the deadlock over Iran’s nuclear program, but with little result. What are the complexities of the Iranian nuclear dispute, and what are the chances of progress in the negotiations?

Conventional political parties around the world seem to be on the decline, and there are common factors too – precarious economies and a leaching of ideology, for example. How can countries achieve grassroots empowerment in their village republics, and those of ordinary citizens the world over?

Political disputes and popular passions in North East Asia argue for discreet diplomacy and the provision of mutual assurances to prevent conflict and escalation.

The road to reconciliation between India and Pakistan is likely to be a long and treacherous one. But perhaps economic compulsions can overtake political ones. That is the hope in Karachi, whose business community has started to make its journey across the border to India.

The new provocations from Pyongyang heighten the risk of a military showdown with the U.S., South Korea and Japan. China, the only power with sway over the regime, is exercising limited options for peace on the peninsula.