The April four-day visit of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to China marked a kind of “reset” of relations between the People’s Republic of China and the Federal Republic of Brazil. The two countries are the two largest developing economies and their cooperation is mutually beneficial as it brings peace, stability and prosperity to both the Brazilians and […]

United States Counterinsurgency Operations (COIN) in Afghanistan and Iraq were significantly hampered by the haphazard manner in which the United States military deploys units to combat zones. Replacement in Place/Transfer of Authority (RIP/TOA) is the process of the outgoing military unit in a respective Area of Operations (AO) transferring the authority and responsibility of that AO to the incoming military […]

On April 18, China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) released the country’s economic data for the first quarter of 2023. Against the backdrop of global economic recovery efforts and ongoing geopolitical competition, whether China, as the world’s second-largest economy, can maintain stable growth has a significant impact on both its economy, as well as on the world. In terms of […]

On April 13, Samarkand hosted the fourth ministerial conference of Afghan neighbouring countries which included Russia, China, Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov took part in the event. The Neighbouring Countries of Afghanistan mechanism was established in 2021 on Pakistan’s initiative with a view to evolving a regional approach on situation in Afghanistan. Pakistan hosted […]

The Taliban’s relationship with Afghanistan’s neighbors received a lot of attention on the international stagein the past week. A high-level meeting between the foreign ministers of Russia, China, Pakistan, and Iran, along with their de facto Taliban counterpart, took place in the Uzbek city of Samarkand. A readout from the meeting highlighted concerns that several terrorist groups in Afghanistan “continue […]

China is America’s number one adversary due to Beijing’s willingness and capability to undermine US security, freedom, and prosperity. One pressing way China could strike a blow against US interests would be to violently force Taiwan to unify with mainland China. Doing so would immediately cause a global recession and rupture the US alliance architecture in the Pacific. It would […]

French President Emmanuel Macron’s recent visit to China was met with criticism in many corners of the West, with politicians and commentators panning his obsequiousness with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. In the past year, Macron has been heavily criticized for his overtures to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has repeatedly rebuffed the French leader’s efforts to encourage a ceasefire or […]