Ask anyone on the streets of Kabul about the revolutions that in recent years transformed huge parts of Latin America, and the chances are you’ll encounter a blank stare. Perhaps mentioning Cuba could evoke at least some recognition, but definitely not Venezuela, Ecuador or Bolivia. I know because I tried on several occasions, and I…
Russia, China, Pakistan and Iran are all in favor of direct talks with Taliban leadership while India is reluctant to support such a move fearing it may legitimize the insurgents. The Kremlin’s appointment of Zamir Kabulov as presidential envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan and head of the Russian foreign ministry’s Asia and Middle East department…
From their dismal swamps, US academic and financial journal editorialists, the mass media and contemporary ‘Asia experts’, Western progressive and conservative politicians croak in unison about China’s environmental and impending collapse. They have variably proclaimed (1) China’s economy is in decline; (2) the debt is overwhelming; a Chinese real estate bubble is ready to burst;…
By now most people are completely desensitized to stories involving North Korea. One can only hear about so many blustering threats, missile launches, and state sanctioned executions, before those incidents are no longer surprising. Over the years we’ve seen it all, and most folks don’t really pay much attention to what’s going on in the…
What is the Trump Administration’s policy as regards China? The People’s Republic is the United States’ largest trade partner, but there is a curious ambivalence in Washington as to how this vastly important country should be handled. Although the recent visit to Beijing by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was undoubtedly successful, there have been signals…
If you were travelling via motorway from Islamabad to Lahore during November or December 2016, you might have felt like your head was in the clouds. That’s thanks to the smog that engulfed large parts of Pakistan’s Punjab and Sindh provinces in that period. This was clearly “not a natural phenomenon”, as the Pakistani newspaper…
