According to media reports, Saudi Arabia told the Yemeni Houthis in behind-the-scenes, high-level talks that it would sign a UN proposal for a nationwide ceasefire if the group, which has ties to Iran, agrees to a buffer zone set up along the kingdom’s borders. If this deal is struck, it would mark the biggest breakthrough…
The next US administration is taking shape with President-elect Joe Biden naming his picks to top cabinet posts and national security. It heralds a return to “normal” US imperialism and militarism. That is something to dread not celebrate, as American and European media would have us believe. The incoming Democrat president, who is due to…
Around the world there is movement to improve levels of trade and to ease formalities in order to make multilateral commerce simpler, less costly and beneficial to all participants. Naturally, individual countries want to protect their particular specialities while continuing to profit from their attraction (think French wine and Scotch whisky, for example), but negotiations…
This is a very unfriendly move which hints that the President pays credence to Sangay’s claims of leading a so-called “government in exile”. In effect, it amounts to tacit support for his political agenda and hints that the US no longer abides by its One China policy. The White House hosted Lobsang Sangay, the head…
Political ties between Iran and Pakistan are warm, but their relationship has grossly underperformed in the economic and security domains. Shortly after Joe Biden’s win in the U.S. presidential election, Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif traveled to Islamabad for two days of talks. Political ties between Iran and Pakistan are warm, but their relationship has…
The recent Issue Brief by the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission entitled The Shanghai Cooperation Organization: A Testbed for Chinese Power Projection takes a close look at the Chinese security footprint in Central Asia and its political dimensions. A perception has grown over the most recent years amongst great game watchers generally, especially the…
