South East Asia

China and the United States are in a different game than the rising power/established power conflicts of the past. Most analyses of such rivalries are based on pre–World War II history and fail to notice that the game changed radically after World War II. Sometimes when alterations are made in …

On July 28, the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, who was on a two-day visit to India, emphasised that the Quad is not a military alliance, but an arrangement to spearhead regional cooperation and security while maintaining international rules and values. In a similar vein, the Indian External Affairs …

The city of Zaranj in Afghanistan’s Nimroz province has reportedly fallen to the Taliban, making it the first provincial capital the insurgents have captured as they step up offensives. “I can confirm… the city of Zaranj, provincial capital of Nimroz, has fallen to the Taliban,” Roh Gul Khairzad, the deputy …

China and North Korea have accumulated a significant arsenal of ballistic missiles. China is estimated to possess as many as 1500 short-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs) and 450 medium-range ballistic missiles. These missiles could target the United States and allied military bases in a Taiwan Strait confrontation. North Korea has close …

The corporate media was forced to admit the obvious by early July. Even before U.S. troops left Afghanistan, the reactionary Islamist Taliban that their invasion overthrew had retaken huge swaths of the country. After 20 years and over $2 trillion spent, Washington faced a massive failure with nothing to show …

Whichever way one views China’s massive silo construction this year, it spells trouble. Recent discoveries of missile silo construction in China in 2021 have turned the international spotlight on Beijing’s nuclear ambitions. The findings (three so far) are all drawn from open-source commercial satellite imagery. They include 16 silos in …

Despite good intentions, the UK’s campaign in Afghanistan has ended in failure. Military deficiencies, a lack of a clear purpose and mission creep all had adverse effects on the British mission. There is anxiety in Whitehall about an Afghanistan inquiry. But this inquiry will not be like the 12-volume Chilcot …

The deployment of global green finance needs to be rapidly accelerated to close the massive infrastructure investment gap and to allow a transition to green forms of energy, transport, industry, urbanisation and agriculture. Yet so far, green finance lacks harmonised definitions on types of projects, disclosure requirements, impact thresholds and …

Germany, the U.K. and France deploy warships as Europe increasingly recognizes the security challenges posed by China’s rise. A German frigate that left the country yesterday for the Indo-Pacific region will be Berlin’s first warship to cross the South China Sea in almost 20 years. This follows the United Kingdom’s …

On July 28, 2021, in the Chinese city of Tianjin, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with a visiting delegation from Afghanistan. The leader of the delegation was Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the co-founder of the Taliban and head of its political commission. The Taliban has been making significant territorial …