Iraq heading for civil war; US must not take advantage

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Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr was one of the big winners in the Iraq election. Photo: AFP/Haidar Hamdani

Ten months after Iraq’s pro-Iran bloc was soundly defeated in parliamentary elections, and less than a week after Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr announced his retirement from political life, a stalemate between Shiites who oppose Tehran and those who support it seems to be leading the country toward civil war. Yet this is only half the story. […]

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China spiking Indonesia’s offshore oil and gas risk

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JAKARTA – After unilaterally extending its territorial claims into Indonesia’s Economic Exclusion Zone (EEZ), China has yet to respond to plans by British oil company Harbour Energy PLC to pipe newly-discovered natural gas from its Tuna block across the maritime border into Vietnam’s offshore network. Harbour discovered the Tuna field in 2014 and was in […]

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India needs Mandal 2.0 to become a global power

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A young Indian demonstrator holds a placard at a rally in New Delhi, in protest over a spate of assaults against Muslims and low-caste Dalits by Hindu vigilantes in India. Photo: AFP

“Every man who repeats the dogma of [John Stuart] Mill that one country is not fit to rule another country must admit that one class is not fit to rule another class.” These were the words of the father of the Indian constitution, B R Ambedkar. Social justice in India is a vast and ancient topic. In […]

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What Wolf Warrior II tells us about China & Africa

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The 2017 Chinese film Wolf Warrior II has been a runaway success – even though it contains controversial expressions of Chinese nationalism and racist stereotypes of Africans. It is one of the most commercially successful Chinese movies, having grossed over US$800 million at the Chinese box office. Only Star Wars: The Force Awakens has performed […]

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Bangladeshi PM’s India visit to provide a positive spin for S Asia

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World leaders have begun to hold what are now called “offline” meetings to return to the “normal” ways of conducting diplomatic relations where personal chemistry remains the key to success. So after the whirlwind six-hour visit by President Vladimir Putin on December 6, New Delhi will be hosting next week (September 5-8) a four-day visit […]

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Russia’s challenge to US dominance in the world’s seas

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The Main Naval Parade commemorating the 326th anniversary of the Russian Navy took place on July 31 in St Petersburg and Kronstadt. It was part of the country’s Navy Day, and other parades took place in Russian naval bases in Vladivostok, Baltiysk, Severomorsk, and Kaspiysk. The main parade was attended by the supreme commander-in-chief, Defense Minister […]

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Is Russian weaponry mainly junk?

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The Ukraine war has revealed many serious weaknesses in Russian warfighting equipment.  The staggering loss of tanks and armor, the failure of the Russian air force to enforce air superiority over a comparatively tiny Ukrainian adversary and the sinking of the Moskva flagship of the Russian Black Sea fleet illustrate the Russian military’s many war […]

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US-China in a heated tit-for-tat moon race

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China is planning to send astronauts to the moon by 2030 with its self-developed rocket that uses post-Soviet technologies it acquired from Ukraine. On the heels of the ambitious target set by the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to send astronauts back to the moon by 2025 – following up the last NASA […]

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Why China can’t let go of Taiwan

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The Taiwan issue is extraordinarily complex and sensitive for China (the People’s Republic of China, PRC), as it goes to the very root of the country’s extremely fragile modern identity. That identity arises at the intersection of imperial legacies, Western territorial ambitions and conceptions, and unarticulated practical considerations about the country’s security. From Beijing’s perspective, […]

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Can Marcos Jr rein in Duterte’s killer cops?

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During the regime of former Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte, the Philippine National Police (PNP) played an instrumental role as “chief executioner” in the war on drugs. By securitizing the drug problem and elevating order over the rule of law, Duterte gave the PNP and vigilantes carte blanche to kill suspected users and traders –exacerbating violence and injustice throughout the Philippines. Government data shows […]

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