Projections, no matter how well-grounded in analytics, are a messy business. Three years ago, COVID-19 was unheard of and then-US President Donald Trump’s politics caused uncertainty in international relations, with democracy in retreat across the world. Despite the best-informed...
In Afghanistan, political pundits are putting pressure on the public instead of the government. Since 2014, when the highly suspect election process saw the formation of the Afghan National Unity Government (NUG), the media has become a battleground for the opposing political camps of President...
Central Asian states are turning away from Russia and toward China as a market for their natural resources. While Moscow’s attention is directed towards its western border, another geopolitical development is taking place in Central Asia, where a number of hydrocarbon-rich states are being...
On what should Narendra Modi base his foreign policy? Foreign policy seldom occupies an important position in political agendas during electoral campaigns, and 2014 in India is hardly any different. The Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) prime ministerial candidate has, however, evoked a little more...
An overly hasty exit from Afghanistan could embolden terrorist groups. In just over a decade, what started as the War on Terror instead morphed into a badly delayed and compromised exercise in nation-building in Afghanistan. This failure, based on an inadequate appreciation of ground...
The Great Game takes another twist in Central Asia. By Chris Devonshire-Ellis Chinese President Xi Jinping has recently been busy in Central Asia, on a trip that coincided with a meeting in Kyrgyzstan to attend the 13th summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). While many China...
Even as Asia has been booming, the Arab world awakened and Africa now rising, Russia's "near abroad" is now on the ropes. The expectations following Independence have been dashed. Here is an account by someone who lives and works that regional trauma. What happens if the current...
