Several recent public opinion surveys send a mixed message to autocratic reformers in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar, which hosts this year’s World Cup in less than two months. The surveys reveal contradictory attitudes among Arab youth towards religion as well as widespread rejection of notions of a moderate Islam and formal diplomatic ti...
Economics has a crucial role in the development of a nation. What happens if an economy is checkmated or partially controlled by extraneous, ideological issues that can impact its wholesome functioning? In recent decades, what has come to be dubbed as the “Halal Economy” has been rapidly invading the Indian manufacturing sector, impacting especially the expo...
No political leader wants a war on his territory. When they do, it is usually out of fear. Each side fears the other, rightly or wrongly. Of course, there are always a few elements that push for a cataclysm, but they are fanatical and in the minority. This is exactly the situation in which we find ourselves. Russia is convinced, rightly or wrongly, that the...
2023 is the Year of India. 2023 is also the year of Narendra Modi. India is chairman of G-20 and president of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). World leaders will visit India twice in 2023, to attend these summits. Hectic diplomatic exercises have begun to welcome the US President, Russian President, Chinese President, and Heads of Government of Unite...
Fading hopes for a revival of the 2015 international agreement that curbed Iran’s nuclear program potentially puts one more nail in the coffin of a regional security architecture that would include rather than target the Islamic republic. The potential demise of the nuclear agreement, coupled with America redefining its commitment to Middle Eastern security ...
Amidst serious tremors in the world of geopolitics, it is so fitting that this year’s Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) heads of state summit should have taken place in Samarkand – the ultimate Silk Road crossroads for 2,500 years. When in 329 BC Alexander the Great reached the then Sogdian city of Marakanda, part of the Achaemenid empire, he was stunn...
Poor and mountainous Afghanistan is at the centre of the Eurasian Heartland. Around it, in clockwise order, lie Russia with Russian Central Asia, China, the Indian Subcontinent and Iran. As a result of its geographical position and despite its inhospitable terrain and the poverty of its natural resources, Afghanistan has been at the centre of wars ever since...
The irreversible fundamental changes that have recently emerged in world politics and economics make the growing role of the new centers of power increasingly clear. They interact with each other based on the universally recognized principles of the primacy of international law and the Charter of the UN, to ensure equal and indivisible security, respect for ...
Wars are not won by psyops. Ask Nazi Germany. Still, it’s been a howler to watch NATOstan media on Kharkov, gloating in unison about “the hammer blow that knocks out Putin”, “the Russians are in trouble”, and assorted inanities. Facts: Russian forces withdrew from the territory of Kharkov to the left bank of the Oskol river, where they are now entrenched. ...
Afghans are not the people of a lesser God. Each human being came to this world with an identical biological process and each mother has suffered similar pains. The human being is the most precious thing in this universe. Everything else in this universe is meant to serve human beings, whether it is animals, plants, minerals, Sun, Mountains, Water, Oxygen, e...
For many, the death of Elizabeth II formally marked the end of the existence of Great Britain as an imperial power. Geopolitically speaking, Britain has long ceased to be an imperial power. However, Elizabeth II was a symbol of the power of Britain with her behavior and decisions. But, certain centers of power in Britain still do not want to accept the harsh...
In order to accelerate the development of the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC), in particular its railway segment through the Western Chord, a Declaration was signed in Baku by Russia, Azerbaijan and Iran confirming the readiness of these countries to intensify cooperation in the assessment and analysis of infrastructure and transport cap...
The international Paris-based watchdog the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) just concluded its on-site visit to Pakistan which went on from August 29th to September 3rd, 2022. The FATF team visited the country to verify the claims made by Pakistan on addressing the action points given by the FATF related to “Terror Financing and Money Laundering”. At the ...
Today the United States, because of the growing global criticism of White House policies, is desperately seeking to maintain its leadership through destructive actions against not only its adversaries, but also allies in all directions. This is evidenced both by the numerous armed conflicts and aggressions around the world instigated by the United States and...
According to the charity Oxfam, which fights against poverty throughout the world, the ten wealthiest people in the world have seen their combined assets double in the last two years, from $700 billion to $1.5 trillion. In its briefing on inequality, Oxfam points out that “central banks pumped trillions of dollars into financial markets to save the economy, ...
When Green fanatic Robert Habeck, posing as Germany’s Economy Minister, said earlier this week “we should expect the worst” in terms of energy security, he conveniently forgot to spell out how the whole farce is a Made in Germany cum Made in Brussels crisis. Flickers of intelligence at least still glow in rare Western latitudes, as indispensable strategic an...
In the last few years, the trend of online payment has increased tremendously and it is increasing unabated. Names like UPI, BHIM, PhonePe, Paytm etc. are being heard in every household today. It is true that the trend of online, i.e., digital payments has increased all over the world but it has increased the most in India. Digital transactions worth 20,000 ...
Recently, there have been increasing reports in the American and Western media about the legalization of marijuana in various countries. Although using marijuana is illegal in many countries, in the US the process has been very active in recent years, giving a major boost to an entire industry. The process of drug legalization in violation of international ...
The total powerlessness of the current US authorities (visible even on the face of their president) striving for a unipolar world, against the background of the ongoing removal of the United States from the “global throne,” is forcing mentally exhausted US strategists to jump into more and more failing adventures. By unleashing a Russophobic sanctions po...
Why are South Indian regional parties’ leaders suddenly zeroing in on North India, a novel twist in Indian Politics? What is the real reason for this development? From whichever side one views it, from whatever angle, there is a complete north-south divide in existence. Exactly, 15 months ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, many leaders are preparing strateg...
Turkey’s reconciliation with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Israel is doing little to return the country to its “zero problems with our neighbours” policy declared more than a decade ago. To be sure, albeit fragile, Turkey has smoothed feathers with the Gulf states ruffled when President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan effectively abandoned the policy by ...
The vile assassination of Darya Dugina, or terror at the gates of Moscow, is not really solved – as much as the FSB seems to have cracked the case in a little over 24 hours. It’s now established that the main perpetrator, Azov battalion asset Natalia Vovk, did not act alone but had an Ukrainian sidekick, one Bogdan Tsyganenko, who provided false license plat...
The abuse of executive powers has become so commonplace as to be accepted as the norm. We experience it in organizations public and private – ranging from the Oval Office to elite universities to charitable NGOs and foundations, and of course across the business world where the MBA mindset and CEO hubris reign. In this era of impunity, autocratic behaviour i...
For years, quite a few observers, including my humble self, have been warning of an imminent and multidimensional catastrophe in the making and the events of the last three years have only sharpened the contours of this rising social-political and environmental-economic tsunami. Many of the ominous rumours and reports that were kept in the drawer of sensati...
Despite the steps taken by Washington in recent years to isolate Iran from the outside world, and despite the imposition of crippling sanctions, Iran continues to lead an active foreign policy. And those policies are not confined to opposing the USA’s attempts to isolate it. Tehran is also concerned to counter the policies of certain other countries whose ac...
For the past seven years, it has been the responsibility of the guarantor powers of the Minsk II Agreement (Germany, France, Ukraine and Russia) to enforce it. They had been endorsed and legalized by the United Nations Security Council on February 17, 2015. But none of these states have done so, despite the rhetoric about the need to protect citizens threate...
President Ranil Wickremesinghe took tentative steps to bring a semblance of orderly governance during the month. He ended the month presenting an interim budget to stabilize economic growth with the aim to create a surplus by 2025. After the exit of the Rajapaksas, their hopes of Wickremesinghe restoring democratic governance were belied when the government ...
On August 22 the exchange-traded market price for natural gas in the German THE (Trading Hub Europe) gas hub was trading more than 1000% higher than a year ago. Most citizens are told by the Scholz regime that the reason is Putin and Russia’s war in Ukraine. The truth is quite otherwise. EU politicians and major financial interests are using Russia to cover ...
A potential revival of the Iran nuclear accord is likely to test the sustainability of Middle Eastern efforts to dial down tensions and manage differences by improving diplomatic relations and fostering economic cooperation. In the latest fence mending, two Gulf states, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates announced their ambassadors’ return to Tehran. The t...
Six months after the start of the Special Military Operation (SMO) by Russia in Ukraine, the geopolitical tectonic plates of the 21st century have been dislocated at astonishing speed and depth – with immense historical repercussions already at hand. To paraphrase T.S. Eliot, this is the way the (new) world begins, not with a whimper but a bang. The vile as...