Last week Zelensky made the curious decision to open up the borders to Ukraine’s 18-22 year old males. The decision was met with both approval and disgust in different quarters of the country: The bigger question is why did Zelensky “liberate” such a vital age group at a time when manpower is at critical lows on the front? Astute observers […]

When regional authorities announced a sweeping list of book bans in Kashmir, the disputed territory at the heart of a recent military conflict between India and Pakistan, veteran journalist Anuradha Bhasin soon learned his book was among the newly prohibited titles. Published in 2022, A Dismantled State: The Untold Story of Kashmir After Article 370 examines growing repression in Kashmir […]

In Indian-administered Kashmir, the new Vande Bharat train glides into Srinagar railway station like a kept promise made visible. Its horn cuts clean through the morning air, scattering a few birds as a curious crowd edges closer — until a policeman in crisp khaki steps forward to remind them, gently but firmly, to stay behind the yellow line. A few […]

Chinese leader Xi Jinping welcomed Russian President Vladimir Putin as an “old friend” as the two held a series of meetings Tuesday at a time when their countries face both overlapping and differing challenges from the United States. Relations between China and Russia have deepened in recent years, particularly following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in early 2022. U.S. President […]

The recent Sino-Indo rapprochement, which was inadvertently brought about by the US, accounts for why this year’s Chinese host agreed to include this in the Tianjin Declaration unlike how it was conspicuously omitted from late June’s SCO Defense Ministers’ draft statement. The Tianjin Declaration that emerged from this year’s SCO Leaders’ Summit in that namesake Chinese city included condemnation of […]

Northeast: Narco-Terrorism Nexus On August 30, 2025, three persons – Neeraj Kumar (26), Jyoti Kumari (25) and Hashna Begum (26) – were arrested at the Agartala Railway Station in West Tripura District of Tripura after Police seized 29.140 kilograms of cannabis valued at around INR 400,000 from their possession. On August 29, 2025, Assam Rifles, in a joint operation with […]