Mongla matters because it represents more than a port. It reflects the erosion of inherited strategic privilege in South Asia. India can no longer assume automatic influence in Bangladesh, while Bangladesh cannot expect infrastructure agreements with China to be interpreted as purely economic.
The Xiang Yang Hong 33 incident exemplifies a broader challenge in the South China Sea. For China, the mission is characterized as routine environmental research conducted in the waters. The Philippines does not view Chinese marine scientific surveys as isolated environmental initiatives
The Pannun case in the US, the preceding Nijjar row in Canada, the unyielding diplomatic stances of their respective governments, and the coordinated, adversarial statements issued by the Five Eyes alliance, collectively triggered a quiet but intense counter-intelligence pivot by New Delhi.
One of the most durable strengths of India-US relations lies outside the government. The five million strong Indian diaspora has become an extraordinary bridge between the two societies. Indian Americans occupy influential positions in technology, academia, medicine, business and public administration. This human connectivity provides resilience that many bilateral relationships lack.
If Myanmar acquires a nuclear capability, it would be a disaster for South and Southeast Asia. A nuclear Myanmar is not in India, China, or other neighbouring countries' interests. Recent border tensions between Myanmar and Bangladesh are the best example to understand the gravity of the situation.
Since Dawood moved to Karachi, the D Company syndicate has expanded incredulously. He is said to have invested over USD $28 billion in assets in Karachi alone and has diversified his businesses in several countries such as India, Morocco, the UK, UAE, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Italy and France.
The demonstrable success of BBIN cooperation may draw Sri Lanka and Maldives also into its ambit in the near future. India's government and corporate sectors must work together to make BBIN cooperation a success to mutual advantage.
The question also arises – is Delhi losing focus and getting diverted from the AEP by QUAD, Chinese influence on RCEP, and so on. If so then Delhi must decentralise the AEP to make it effective
This doesn’t erase the irrefutable fact that a community that used to align with Kashmiri parties until now was shifting its preferences, the impact of which is bound to be felt in the electoral battle in the forthcoming assembly polls. If the BJP succeeds in reaping the electoral benefits in Jammu & Kashmir, it will have much more to tell the nation ahead of the 2024 polls in the country.
Activities of militant organizations have developed around the Rohingya camps in Cox's Bazar. A web of militancy is spreading in the camps with the money coming from six countries including the Middle East and Pakistan.
The Chinese presence in Pakistan, with or outside of the CPEC, and the TTP's defiance, although not directly related, do pose growing security challenges to Pakistan and China, especially when the two want to combine forces to extend the CPEC to Afghanistan.
Today the international image of India, courtesy the RSS-BJP, is a Hindu supremacist one where minorities are insecure, where identity issues are getting precedence over the issues of livelihood. RSS is the fountainhead of this politics; it needs introspection if it is serious about the process of dialogue and reconciliation.
India could reset its approach by engaging with Sri Lanka as a country in the Indo-Pacific region and not just as a neighbour.
For India, global governance reform starts with Security Council reforms and here New Delhi got support across blocs at the General Assembly meeting from both the US and Russia, as well as other countries. It is the only country to get the backing of both Washington and Moscow.
In a broadcast on Wednesday, Bangladesh Army Chief General S M Shafiuddin Ahmed stated that his troops were prepared to respond against Myanmarese provocations if necessary.
Building a reservoir on the Teesta will help Bangladesh create a climate-resilient infrastructure which will be useful in better managing the common river water.
Functioning trade unions, decreasing number of child labourers and the introduction of labour courts and foundations are demonstrations of the extraordinary achievements of Bangladesh in ensuring labour rights.
Today, several other countries are gaining greater respect and acceptability in the comity of nations. India, certainly, is one of them. What is perhaps likely to happen is that global leadership would be a shared responsibility.
For a country that embraces the principle of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (“The World is One Family”), and is often referred to by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as Vishwaguru (“Teacher of the World”), the discriminatory and hostile treatment meted out to the Rohingya is not only against its ethos but also makes for bad optics on the world stage.
