China’s Growing Ties with Laos

China’s Growing Ties with Laos

The landlocked Southeast Asian nation of Laos, officially the Lao People’s Democratic Republic and home to a little over 7 million people, has over the past decade built important ties with neighbouring China particularly in the fields of tourism, trade, investment and infrastructure. For a nation that has suffered tremendously amid and in the aftermath…

“Israel’s” “Secret War” on Syria Is a Lot Like the US’ “Secret War” on Laos

“Israel’s” “Secret War” on Syria Is a Lot Like the US’ “Secret War” on Laos

Observers have been struggling to find an historical comparison for the War on Syria since it first broke out over 8 years ago, and while the conflict is veritably a unique one in its own right, the best comparison that can be made to its current phase over the past couple of years is Laos…

Turkey’s Financial Crisis Raises Questions About China’s Debt-Driven Development Model

Turkey’s Financial Crisis Raises Questions About China’s Debt-Driven Development Model

Financial injections by Qatar and possibly China may resolve Turkey’s immediate economic crisis, aggravated by a politics-driven trade war with the United States, but are unlikely to resolve the country’s structural problems, fuelled by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s counterintuitive interest rate theories. The latest crisis in Turkey’s boom-bust economy raises questions about a development model…

India is Holding Back the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and BRICS

India is Holding Back the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and BRICS

Yesterday, Chinese President Xi Jinping addressed the 13th meeting of Security Council Secretaries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Beijing. During the meeting, President Xi stressed the importance of enhanced cooperation between SCO members in the fight against the “three evil forces” of extremism, separatism and terrorism. As one of the international security bodies…