In the months before Russia’s expanded invasion into Ukraine in 2022, six planners meeting in a nondescript room in the headquarters of U.S. Army Europe-Africa (USAREUR-AF) frantically developed various options for the employment and positioning of forces across NATO’s eastern flank to avert, or at least limit the harm resulting from, the impending calamity. The commanding general of USAREUR-AF wanted […]

The CSTO the drill, from October 11 to 14, included Russian, Kazakh and Kyrgyz forces and aimed to train them in fighting illegal armed groups planning to attack the region The Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) announced that the organization held military exercises at the Harb Maidon training center in Tajikistan, close to the Afghan border. According to a statement […]

The Islamic Emirate confirmed late Wednesday it has initiated an investigation into allegations that over 200 Afghan migrants were shot dead on the Iran-Afghanistan border by Iranian military forces on Sunday. Zabihullah Mujahid, the Islamic Emirate’s spokesman, said in a post on X that “various governmental bodies and diplomatic missions of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan have initiated comprehensive investigations […]

Since first assuming office in 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has aimed to increase the share of manufacturing in India’s GDP. In 2014, the government launched the Make-in-India campaign, which pushed for more manufacturing and invited foreign direct investment (FDI), even in sensitive sectors like defence and railways. Chinese companies like Oppo and ZTE were among those who sought […]

Ethnic conflicts have become a global problem with serious regional cross-border implications. Scholarly concern with ethnic groups and conflict have become increasingly salient since the second half of the twentieth century. An estimate shows that one-third of all countries experienced civil conflict and ethnic unrest. The term ‘ethnicity’ or ‘ethnic’ finds origin in the Greek term, ethnos meaning nation and […]

Sustaining the lives of over 65 million people, the Mekong River is a crucial lifeline for the six co-riparian Southeast Asian countries—China, Myanmar, Thailand, Lao PDR, Cambodia, and Vietnam. Given its rich biodiversity and fertile landscape, the Mekong impacts the food security and economic opportunities for tens of millions of people, in sectors such as agriculture, trade, connectivity, tourism and […]

Pakistan’s security forces conducted two successful intelligence-based operations (IBOs) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on October 9 and 10, 2024, resulting in the elimination of four Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) terrorists. These consecutive operations illustrate the country’s continuous efforts to eliminate terrorist networks that constitute a constant danger to peace and security. As security forces keep pressure on militant groups, the most recent […]

First some fantastic news this morning: Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James Robinson have won the Nobel memorial prize in economic science for their work on institutions. I hope to write more about those ideas when I have a chance, but for more that I’ve written already (lots more!) on the theory of power in Acemoglu and Johnson’s most recent […]

On the night of August 25-26, 2024, the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), a secessionist group fighting for the independence of Balochistan from Pakistan, launched Operation Herof (“Black Storm”), a series of coordinated terror attacks and suicide bombings on a Pakistani army camp, police stations, and other targets, killing dozens of Pakistani soldiers and police officers.[1] BLA executed the Operation Herof […]