India’s ties with Russia have been attracting a lot of global attention ever since the war in Ukraine commenced earlier this year. First, there was a lot of grumbling in the western capitals about New Delhi’s reluctance to openly condemn Russia’s invasion and questioning of India’s reliability as a potential partner. Gradually, after India’s pushback there emerged a better comprehension […]

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) has welcomed the reopening of the office of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Afghanistan and says it’s a political success for the IEA. At a meeting with the OIC delegation in Kabul on Saturday, Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi said with the reopening of the office, it is hoped that the political, […]

While presenting the Budget for 2022-2023, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman declared that India’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), will issue a digital rupee, or a central bank digital currency (CBDC), in early 2023. The CBDC has finally come to India with the start of the pilot phase of the digital rupee rollout from 1 November 2022. The […]

President Xi Jinping will go down in history as one the most powerful men to rule modern China. His unprecedented third term portends policy continuity, including that of his signature Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Beyond merely sustaining this nine-year-old global connectivity program, Xi has signaled China’s willingness to offer more solutions and public goods to the world, not only […]

The Taiwan issue figured prominently in the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC). Chinese President Xi Jinping while speaking at the opening session of the Congress highlighted that China will continue to strive for peaceful reunification, but will never promise to renounce the use of force, particularly directed at interference by outside forces and the separatists seeking ‘Taiwan […]

When China’s infamous list of 14 grievances with Australia was leaked in 2018, commentators noted that certain complaints — including ‘unfriendly’ media coverage of China in Australia — were issues that are viewed in liberal democracies as rightfully outside the control of the government of the day. While perhaps unlikely to succeed in Australia’s case, this tactic of putting pressure […]

On November 4, 2022, State Director General of Police (DGP), Sunil Kumar Bansal, on the sidelines of the inauguration of the District Intelligence and Operation Centre in Nuapada District, disclosed that a joint task force to combat Left Wing Extremism (LWE) would be formed in view of the vulnerabilities of the district to Naxalites (Left Wing Extremist) activities in neighbouring Chhattisgarh. The […]

Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan: The Poorest Countries in Central Asia (FPRI) — Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are probably the most dependent on Russia of all the Central Asian states. Some 1.1 million migrant laborers from Kyrgyzstan and 1.6 million from Tajikistan worked abroad in 2021, most in Russia. According to the World Bank, remittances sent to Kyrgyzstan in 2021 accounted for 33 percent of GDP and in […]

A major border crossing between Afghanistan and Pakistan has closed for trade and transit after a clash between security force personnel from both sides, a local Pakistani official said on Monday. Abdul Hameed Zehri, the Deputy Commissioner of the town of Chahman, which borders the Afghan district of Spin Boldak, said the closure came after prolonged firing between security forces […]

A Pakistani court convicted and sentenced to death two Islamic militants for killing 13 people in a suicide attack last year in the country’s northwest, police said Monday. Senior police officer Zeeshan Asghar told reporters in the garrison city of Abbottabad that Judge Sajjad Ahmed Jan announced the verdict in the high security prison on Friday, after months of trial. […]