Why Outsiders Struggle to Understand Beijing’s Decision-Making Figuring out how policy decisions are made in authoritarian regimes has always been hard. Winston Churchill famously referred to Soviet policymaking as “a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma”—and he was not much wrong. Observers in the West could see the policy output of the Soviet Union, be it under Joseph […]

The history of the Islamization of indigenous non-Muslim populations of Kashmir is similar to that of the Middle East and North Africa: native non-Muslim peoples were first conquered by Islamic armies and then subjected to discrimination and persecution, which led to either death, conversion to Islam or departure/flight. Due to killings and forced conversions, there are no Hindus remaining in […]

May 8-9, 1945, a historical turning point towards ending WWII has been celebrated as the Victory Day commemorating the Soviet victory over Nazi forces. The choice of the anniversary has also been interpreted as a particular country’s pro-Western versus pro-USSR/Russian positioning. Within this context, Central Asia, stands out as one of the most interesting regions not only with its historical […]

While delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Astana International Forum, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev enthusiastically spoke of the achievements of his country’s economy. “Despite geopolitical upheavals Kazakhstan keeps serving as an economic engine in and for Central Asia. We continue to attract significant foreign investment and provide exceptional conditions to do business in Kazakhstan… Last year, Kazakhstan’s […]

The first consignment carrying Russian liquified petroleum gas (LPG) reached Pakistan on Tuesday, a day after the South Asian country received the first shipment of Russian crude oil, Pakistan media reported. A convoy of ten trucks carrying the Russian gas entered Pakistan via Torkham border, media reports stated. The first consignment went via rail to Uzbekistan and then into Afghanistan […]

Deputy prime minister Abdul Salam Hanafi met with Carl Skau, the Deputy Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer of the UN’s World Food Program in Kabul on Monday where the two discussed the current situation in Afghanistan, a spokesman for the Islamic Emirate said. According to the deputy spokesman, Bilal Karimi, Hanafi said that sanctions are not solutions and that […]

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday renewed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Afghan Evac Coalition to facilitate evacuation of Afghans who worked with the Americans during their military presence in Afghanistan. Blinken, speaking at the signing ceremony, said that the United States is determined to relocate and resettle its Afghan partners. “When President Biden brought an […]

NUCLEAR WEAPONS WERE KEPT IN CHECK BY US AND SOVIET LEADERS John Pomfret and Matt Pottinger’s recent article (“Xi Jinping Says He Is Preparing China for War”) has drawn the attention of both the developing and developed world as Xi Jinping’s utterances have to be taken seriously, inexperienced though he is in dealing with the superpower status that China has […]

Out of the blue on June 1 the news broke that secret talks had taken place in mid-May between the head of the Taliban and the prime minister of Qatar. A cloak of secrecy had been cast over this first known meeting of Haibatullah Akhunzada, leader of the Taliban in Afghanistan, with any foreign statesman. News of the talks was […]

After a series of renewed talks between the U.S. and China leading up to Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s expected visit to Beijing in coming weeks, experts said the two rivals need to come up with a plan to avoid conflict. The talks had been stalled since February over a suspected Chinese spy balloon flying across the U.S. The two […]