After more than two years since the signing the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) in November 2020, the Philippine Senate has finally ratified the deal on 21 February 2023. Though the Philippines was the last country to have ratified RCEP, it was still very timely in the light of the country’s approval of the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) 2023-2028 under […]

General Michael Kurilla, head of United States Central Command (CENTCOM), has suggested that at its current trajectory, Islamic State Khorasan (ISK) would be able to conduct external operations within approximately six months. Since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021, counterterrorism analysts have warned about the growing threat of ISK, especially in light of the U.S. troop withdrawal and […]

The Ministry of Interior says the special forces from the ministry and the 209th Army Corps of Al-Fatah carried out an operation and rescued a businessman who was kidnapped a month ago in Balkh, Mazar-e-Sharif city. The ministry said on Twitter the trader was abducted in the first district of Mazar-e-Sharif city by kidnappers and a ransom of $300,000 was […]

The Islamic Emirate’s spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid says Daesh has been destroyed by the security forces in the country and is not as big a threat as it was a year ago. In a recent interview with Voice of America, Pashto, Mujahid said that the Afghan security forces “since August 2021, have arrested and imprisoned around 1,600 to 1,700 Daesh militants […]

The BJP is threatening to abolish reservations in jobs and educational institutions for Muslims if voted to power in the 2023-24 elections. With elections due for State Assemblies and parliament in 2023-2024, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has put into operation its time-tested tactic of sharpening the communal divide to reap electoral rewards. The idea is to further marginalize the […]

It’s high-wire diplomacy. Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen kicked off a consequential foreign trip in New York on Thursday, to be followed by visits to Guatemala and Belize, then a final stop in Los Angeles for a highly anticipated potential meeting with US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. The visit comes as tensions between the United States and China are nearing a […]

As the dust settles on three years of economic disasters, China’s leaders are grappling with a deep loss of public confidence that is affecting companies and consumers and casting a shadow over the country’s future growth trajectory. Even as Beijing claims a larger diplomatic and economic role on the world stage, Chinese businesses and foreign investors are becoming increasingly wary […]

Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s whirlwind diplomatic offensive has returned to national soil. After putting Russia’s new status as a vassal state on display during his trip to Moscow, Xi gathered experts and representatives from around the world at the “Second International Forum on Democracy: Shared Human Values” in Beijing—a spurious imitation of US President Joe Biden’s Summit for Democracy—the China […]

Emboldened by the victory of its ideological counterparts in Afghanistan, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has resurged in a deadly fashion. In January, the banned group carried out its deadliest attack on a mosque in Peshawar since the Army Public School (APS) attack in 2014. TTP, an ally of the Afghan Taliban, takes its inspiration of imposing Sharia Law in Pakistan’s tribal […]

Speaking at a hearing of the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee Tuesday, the US Navy’s operations chief said the United States Navy is currently building 56 new warships and has contracted the building of 76 more, as part of a massive military buildup in preparation for conflict with China. “We have 56 ships under construction and another 76 that are under […]