By recognising Pakistan’s role in the Iran crisis, Brussels is signalling that influence in today's international system is increasingly distributed across multiple actors, not concentrated solely in Washington, Beijing, or Moscow. This fits with the EU’s broader effort to develop a more autonomous and flexible foreign policy in a more multipolar world.
China is a major defence exporter for Myanmar, but it has been arming both the Tatmadaw and the rebel forces. China’s aim is to secure its strategic highway through Myanmar to the Bay of Bengal and counter American and Indian influence in the region, including Myanmar and Bangladesh.
On all these fronts, the Quad is more consequential, based on geography, capability, necessity and the absence of any better alternative. AUKUS’ scope is seen as too narrow, while Camp David is too regional, and the Squad is too limited. Bilateral alliances are too fragmented, while the Quad is seen to have the scale, reach and flexibility to connect the Indian Ocean and Pacific theatres into one strategic framework
History offers a different lesson now: had India’s proposal been accepted, the war might have ended with far fewer casualties. Instead, the LTTE’s miscalculation culminated in Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination—driven by fears that his return to power would bring back the Indian Peace Keeping Force. The belief that opposing India could achieve a separate Tamil state proved catastrophic.
In recent years India has been prioritising regional integration among South Asian countries, excepting Pakistan. As per the joint vision statement between Nepal and India in April last year, the two countries agreed to expand sub-regional cooperation in the power sector among Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal (BBIN)
Climate crisis is a lesser word to describe the transformative shifts that are taking place in weather conditions across the Global South affecting mostly countries like Pakistan in South Asia. Attitudes of society need to change towards women. Societal attitudes, traditional norms and cultural practices create entrenched gender disparities that hinder women’s participation in development plans and in survival strategies devised to save them in the post-disaster period.
From Modi's standpoint, the visit unfolded precisely as he desired. The exceptional reception he received from the leader of the free world, less than a year before facing the billion-strong Indian electorate, serves as a significant boost for him.
It is high time the Nepalese government strengthens its diplomatic muscle and stands up strongly for the legal rights of its citizens working overseas.
Manipur is burning and the government knows not what to do next. This is a sensitive state in a sensitive region with not very friendly neighbours. The collapse of State machinery here should be a cause for alarm.
The June 10 deployment of two carriers by IN has received favourable notice internationally and this has added salience on the eve of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s state visit to the USA (June 21) in relation to India’s naval capabilities.
The centerpiece of Modi’s state visit to the US is expected to be a jet engine agreement that can propel Indo-US relations to a new sphere altogether. The application by General Electric to co-produce GE-F414 jet engines in India, along with technology transfer, has already received approval of the Biden administration.
Such is the disparity that at a time when Aida Girma-Melaku, Unicef's representative, reported that Pakistan confronts a triple burden of malnutrition affecting young children, adolescents, and pregnant and lactating women, with 40 per cent of children under the age of five being stunted, Pakistan spent $1.2 billion on imports of luxury cars and electric vehicles for its rich and powerful in the last half of 2022.
For KMMTTP to be a success, locals from both India and Myanmar must be involved as project stakeholders. And India, while economically supporting the project, should also politically back Myanmar's return to democracy.
The worst part of the disaster was not only loss of resources like property but the sexual violence the women in Sri Lanka faced. Apart from lack of proper nutrition, hygiene and clean water and health care, what was impossible to handle was sexual violence along with high cases of rape and domestic abuse.
Although not immediate neighbours in the South Asian region, Nepal and Pakistan face similar social issues and have always helped each other in times of need. And yet there are no direct flights between the two countries.
Unfortunately, the repatriation of the Rohingya refugees might not be a feasible option, given the current circumstances. They have already been in the camps since 2017 with little done. The need of the hour is to devise a long-term solution for their integration into the host society, and assimilation seems to be a more sustainable answer than repatriation
In order to provide small company owners and women traders access to the market, South Asian countries should also adopt regional concepts like the border "haat" (informal markets) used at the India-Bangladesh and India-Myanmar border points.
An alternate strategy for overcoming the North-South divide and altering power dynamics is South-South collaboration. South-South collaboration disproves the idea that knowledge and progress only travel from North to South, giving developing nations the chance to establish their autonomy and create their own narratives.
According to a UN report, three months after the quake in Nepal at least 245 children had been preyed upon by traffickers and that was just the “tip of a growing iceberg”
