Kazakhstan’s push to renegotiate opaque, decades-old oil contracts at Kashagan, where 98% of revenues go to foreign companies, is straining relations with the EU and exposing deeper tensions over transparency, sovereignty and resource control. The statistic can appear humiliating for Kazakhstan, a Central Asian republic that owes an important part of its wealth to the millions of tons of oil […]

India and Pakistan appear once again to be inching towards the precipice of a perilous confrontation in the wake of a terrorist attack in Pahalgam in the heavily militarized region of Kashmir. The assault left 26 Indian tourists dead. Without waiting for even the semblance of an investigation, India rushed to accuse Pakistan within minutes after the incident. Subsequently, New […]

The terrorist attack in Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), killing and severely injuring many civilian tourists, serves as the most recent reminder of the perpetual threat posed by India’s ‘natural enemy’. This threat is compounded by local support that Pakistan-backed terrorism has managed to garner across the border. Among the Pahalgam attackers, two of the six men are allegedly […]

The resolution of border disputes in Central Asia over the last two months has led to a sea change in Japan’s approach to the region (see EDM, March 12, April 16). This shift, however, may bring Japan into conflict with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the Russian Federation, the two outside powers that have attempted to dominate the […]

Russia implemented a momentous policy change in geopolitical terms by promoting the Afghan Taliban government to ambassador stature. After the Russian Supreme Court lifted the terrorist tag on the Taliban the country made a significant diplomatic adjustment which they present as a pragmatic approach to current conditions. The diplomatic action by Russia to improve its relations with the Taliban displays […]

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 […]