Courtesy: US Embassy & Consulates in Italy
It is customary for every U.S. president to release a National Security Strategy (NSS) early in their tenure. President Trump published the NSS for his second term in November 2025. It’s a contrast from his 2017 NSS, which addressed broad threats. The 2025 version is narrower, emphasising trade over security, with the Western Hemisphere being the primary area of focus. Is the U.S.’s global role shrinking?
Courtesy: Koerber Stiftung
While the Bandung Conference’s vision remains unrealised, its spirit can be an inspiration to reform and innovate in the international system as well as to ensure the survival of multilateralism – not only for today’s multi-aligned descendants of the conference participants but also for countries in Europe and beyond.
Courtesy: Gateway House
Afghanistan’s Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi will visit India on October 10, marking the first high-level Taliban visit since the group took over Kabul in 2021. Nayanima Basu discusses the purpose of this visit and the importance of engagement with Afghanistan. She explains the roles of China, which seeks business; Pakistan, which pursues political interests; and the U.S., which has a renewed interest in Bagram Air Base and its return to the country it abandoned.
Courtesy: PIB
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s visit to India comes after three years, and the outcomes from it throw up interesting issues. Three read-outs issued from this visit. One from the Chinese side and two from the Indian side. The diverse nature of the India and Chinese read-outs is striking. Certainly the visit yielded benefits; the test lies in the deliverables.
Courtesy: Gateway House
A slowdown of the Chinese economy, and the shift, particularly by MNCs, from China to other more competitive locations has opened up business opportunities for latecomers to supply chains in the developing world. Evidence suggests that Southeast Asia and some South Asian countries like India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, could be beneficiaries of the supply chain shift, particularly in labour-intensive segments.
Courtesy: Defense News
Warfare is changing its character, and drones are playing a big role in it. Technology that was first extensively used in the Vietnam war is a current conflict staple. With the increasing use of artificial intelligence, drones are becoming more powerful and useful.
Courtesy: Gateway House
Geopolitics is increasingly intertwined with the economic destiny of South Asia. Even before the U.S. tariffs were rolled out, growing polycrises had hit the global economy, which has been struggling since the pandemic. South Asia seems a relatively bright spark of regional trade and growth. This paper analyses South Asia’s trade architecture in the backdrop of a sluggish world economy in the 2020s, and makes recommendations for closer regional economic integration.
Courtesy: Gateway House
Over two centuries, the U.S. has amassed vast economic powers across the globe during and after the two World Wars , and sanctions slowly became an effective tool it used to achieve its foreign policy goals, becoming the global emperor of sanctions.
Courtesy: President of Russia-Events website
Europe has reduced its reliance on Russian gas following the war in Ukraine, and its chief supplier Russia is mired in western sanctions. What does it mean for Russia? It has certainly changed the fortunes for American gas to be sold to Europe: as of 2023, the US had become the world’s top exporter of gas.
Courtesy: India Today
The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation's growing importance is seen in the numerous new applicants waiting in line for membership. The 23rd SCO Summit hosted by India on July 4 saw progress in areas like digital transformation and economic cooperation. However, timidity in acting on foundational issues like anti-terrorism reflects the internal contradictions and tensions within member states - a continuing challenge for SCO.