The foreign ministers of Iran and India called for the expansion of relations between the two countries in various fields.  In a telephone conversation on Monday, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and his Indian counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar talked about a range of regional and international issues and subjects relating to cooperation between the two nations. The two senior diplomats emphasized the […]

Saudi Arabia’s decision in October to spearhead a two million barrel per day cut in OPEC+ production quotas, and the harsh US response to it, is only the most recent example of the drift in Saudi–US relations. The dispute risks opening up space for China to expand its political influence in the region to the detriment of the United States and its […]

In 2006, deadly riots in the capital of Tonga, Nuku’alofa devastated the government and business districts in the small-island nation. The cause of the riots that lasted almost a month was the delay by the government in initiating democratic reforms. As tensions between the pro-royalists and pro-democracy factions rose, King Tupou VI, attributed this delay to differing opinions which were “not irreconcilable and can […]

It is said that in politics there are no permanent friends or enemies, there are only permanent interests. Therefore, politicians, particularly the rulers of a country, assess long-term implications of the policies that they pursue and take decisions accordingly. The latest rise in terror attacks in Pakistan indicate that the government and the security institutions in the country have failed […]

The Case for Collective Resilience It took just seven words for the National Basketball Association to get canceled by Beijing. As pro-democracy protesters swarmed the streets of Hong Kong in October 2019, Daryl Morey, then the general manager of the Houston Rockets, one of the NBA’s 30 teams, posted a simple message to his Twitter account: “Fight for freedom, stand […]

On December 12, 2022, the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISIS-K) announced that its operatives in Afghanistan carried out a suicide attack on the Kabul Longan Hotel.[1] ISIS-K Claims Responsibility A few hours after the attack, ISIS-K claimed responsibility for the attack. In a short statement, the group claimed that two inghmasi, or commando-type fighters who carry out attacks behind enemy […]

Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, leader of Hizb-e-Islami, said on Friday that last week’s attack near his office involved Tajik nationals who carried the Daesh flag but said he was waiting for the investigation to wrap up before laying the blame on any one group. An explosion happened outside the office of Hizb-e-Islami in Kabul last week, killing one of Hekmatyar’s guards and […]

China and Saudi Arabia stressed in a joint statement the importance of supporting efforts being made to achieve security and stability in Afghanistan, and ensuring the country does not become a haven for terrorist and extremist groups. On Thursday, China and Saudi Arabia signed a comprehensive strategic partnership agreement during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Riyadh. They also struck […]

The landslide victory of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the provincial elections in Gujarat, the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has set new records. The BJP broke the opposition Congress’ record of winning 149 seats in 1985 with its tally of 156 in the 182-member state assembly, cornering 52.50 percent of the total votes polled. It […]

In October 2022, the Biden administration introduced export controls on China, prohibiting the sale of cutting-edge semiconductor chips, the advanced equipment needed to manufacture them and semiconductor expertise from the United States. The controls are the Biden administration’s most serious attempt to undermine China’s military modernisation and the most damaging measures US President Joe Biden has taken against China. Advanced semiconductors underpin everything from […]