Beijing’s High-Risk Approach to Its Economic Confrontation With Washington How did the world’s two largest economies stumble toward a trade war that neither truly seeks and which the rest of the world can’t afford? Following U.S. President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” ceremony on April 2, during which he unveiled tariffs of varying levels on all of Washington’s trade partners, the […]

In 2018, when former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter were found unconscious in Salisbury after being poisoned in an assassination attempt attributed to Moscow, the UK government reacted with swift and decisive action. It expelled Russian diplomats, froze certain Russian state assets, and imposed other diplomatic sanctions. Similarly, there has been official recognition of Chinese government-sponsored threats against […]

Pakistan’s defense minister warned Monday that a military attack by neighboring India could be imminent following last week’s deadly militant attack on tourists in Kashmir, escalating tensions between the two nuclear-armed rivals. Context Last week’s attack in Kashmir, which left 26 people dead, sparked outrage in Hindu-majority India and fueled calls for action against Muslim-majority Pakistan. India has long accused […]

Harita Group’s Indonesian nickel mines feed the supply chains of some of the world’s biggest electric vehicle makers. But the conglomerate’s own internal monitoring showed the operation was polluting local waters for years with the toxic “Erin Brockovich” chemical, chromium-6. Nurhayati Jumadi, a villager on the Indonesian island of Obi, still remembers the cashew grove her grandfather kept by a […]

Future problems cannot be ruled out, but for the first time since the Soviet collapse, none of the five Central Asian governments have any political grievances against each other. The Ferghana Valley, divided on the political map between Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, has resembled a battlefield ever since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Hundreds of people have been killed […]

This weekend edit revisits the tragic 1990 exodus of Kashmiri Pandits, the political missteps that enabled it, and why, decades later, the community’s wounds remain unhealed. With a fresh terror attack in Pahalgam reopening old scars, it raises a pressing question: can Kashmir truly move forward without justice for those who were forced to flee their homeland? “Agar firdaus bar […]

Late last week, the Russian Supreme Court lifted the ban on the Taliban’s activities in Russia and annulled the group’s terrorist designation, which had been in place since 2003. The Kremlin’s special envoy for Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov, affirmed that the court decision eliminates legal barriers to establishing formal relations between Moscow and the Taliban. In response, the Taliban, which has […]

Bottom Line Up Front In March, unconfirmed reports emerged that the People’s Republic of China (PRC) had permanently deployed personnel from Chinese private security contractors (PSCs) in Pakistan to protect PRC nationals working on China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects in the country. While Chinese PSCs have historically been active in Pakistan, they have primarily employed Pakistani nationals and operated under […]

The members of an al-Qaeda affiliate who went abroad must not be allowed to revive the group at home. The leaders of Jemaah Islamiyah disbanded their al-Qaeda-affiliated jihadist group last June—but the schools that serve as the group’s ideological factories remain active. The Indonesian government must take action to prevent JI members who traveled to fight in Syria from using […]