South East Asia

In one of the more damning examples of his indecisive leadership, Biden has seemed to be more concerned about upsetting Russian President Vladimir Putin than confronting the Kremlin’s unprovoked act of aggression against its Ukrainian neighbour. It could even be argued that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine would not have happened …

According to multiple reports, Russia is recruiting Afghan security personnel, who were previously trained by the United States, for its war effort against Ukraine. The former Afghan elite commandos and soldiers are reportedly joining the Russian private military company known as the Wagner Group, a private mercenary force playing a …

China is seeking to undermine the longstanding pre-eminence of the U.S. dollar as a global reserve currency and the primary vehicle for conducting world energy transactions. The prominence of the U.S. dollar in global transactions provides Washington with substantial leverage to use economic sanctions to try to change the behavior …

Saudi Arabia is now not only one of China’s most important suppliers of energy, but the kingdom is also an important link in China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) — a gigantic global development project to enhance China’s global influence from East Asia to Europe by making countries worldwide increasingly …

The dependency theory of development was first come up with a Latin American economist Raul Prebisch, and was centered around the development of third world or underdeveloped countries. It was proposed in the 1950’s and 1960’s, when the underdeveloped state of the global south started being given attention to. This …

Concerns have been looming large on the sanctions on Russian oil, which is heading for another major oil shock in the world. Russia is the second biggest exporter of oil in the world, and the EU is the biggest importer of oil from Russia. The EU has prohibited maritime exports of Russian oil and levied price …

Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s visit to Saudi Arabia on 7 December 2022 has marked a turning point in Beijing’s foreign policy towards the Persian Gulf states. This three-day trip included three summits: One with President Xi and the Saudi Crown Prince on behalf of King Salman; a second between China and the …

Following the withdrawal of US and NATO forces from Afghanistan in August last year, the Taliban-led schismatic government in Kabul appears to have reached a diplomatic impasse. It seems like its neighbors, who had previously been eager to restore normalcy to the turbulent region, have given up on the Islamic …

Tehran takes a hard stand as Xi Jinping discovers the Persian Gulf can be a diplomatic minefield. Speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the first Chinese Consulate-General in Iran’s southern port city of Bandar Abbas on 21 December, Ambassador Chang Hua affirmed China’s support for Iran’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent shock waves round the world. As our look ahead to 2023 shows, several other crises loom as well. Will he or won’t he? This time last year, that was the question. Russian President Vladimir Putin had massed almost two hundred thousand troops on Ukraine’s borders. …