India’s Playing Hard to Get with America by Letting the AIIB Fund CPEC

India’s Playing Hard to Get with America by Letting the AIIB Fund CPEC

India’s maximalist position towards the Kashmir Conflict and its resultantly unflinching resistance to CPEC haven’t changed despite New Delhi saying that it has no problem with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank funding that project, as this is nothing more than India playing “hard to get” with America and improving its position before the forthcoming 2+2…

Pakistan’s “Greylisting” as a Terror Sponsor Should be a Catalyst for Intensified Relations with China, Russia and Iran

Pakistan’s “Greylisting” as a Terror Sponsor Should be a Catalyst for Intensified Relations with China, Russia and Iran

Pakistan’s war on terrorism: A misunderstood history  At an international level, Pakistan’s role in fighting terrorism continues to be not only misunderstood but totally misrepresented. As a perennial victim of both terrorist spillover from the instability of neighbouring Afghanistan and provocations on its soil orchestrated by foreign intelligence agencies including India’s RAW, Pakistan has been…

US Sanctions May Force India Out of Iran’s Chabahar Port with China More Than Able to Fill This Gap

US Sanctions May Force India Out of Iran’s Chabahar Port with China More Than Able to Fill This Gap

Iran’s Chabahar Port on the Gulf of Oman represents the crowning achievement of Indo-Iranian cooperation in recent decades. The port itself represents the centre of the wider North-South Transport Corridor (NSTC) which will link India to Russia and the wider north-western Eurasian space via Iran and Azerbaijan. While under Premier Narendra Modi, India has sought to…

America Denying Daesh in Central Asia will Only Strengthen the Golden Ring

America Denying Daesh in Central Asia will Only Strengthen the Golden Ring

The US rejected Russia’s warnings that Daesh is assembling in northern Afghanistan and getting ready to pose a threat to Central Asia. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Oleg Syromolotov drew attention to this threat during a speech in the Tajik capital of Dushanbe earlier this month at the “Countering Terrorism and Preventing Violent Extremism” two-day conference,…

Iran Signs Free Trade Agreement With Eurasian Economic Union in Move That is Healthy for Iran, Russia and Pakistan

Iran Signs Free Trade Agreement With Eurasian Economic Union in Move That is Healthy for Iran, Russia and Pakistan

Iran has just signed an agreement to enter a three year provisional free trade agreement with the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). According to EAEU official Tigran Sargsyan, “The temporary agreement stipulates an effective dispute settlement mechanism, including arbitration… It also creates a joint committee of high-ranking officials and establishes a business dialogue”. The EAEU’s current members…

From “Bandwagoning” Against Eurasia to “Circling the Wagons” in the Center of It

From “Bandwagoning” Against Eurasia to “Circling the Wagons” in the Center of It

The International Relations theories about the Balance of Power and Regional Security Complexes don’t sufficiently explain the simultaneous emergence of three distinct but interconnected power blocs in Eurasia, which is why the new concept of “Circling the Wagons” is being proposed to account for it. The end of the Cold War radically changed International Relations…