A nation must think before it acts.
Asia
Modi has Consolidated India’s Relationships in West Asia
Despite enjoying a clear-cut majority in parliament, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party government has been able to make only limited progress with its domestic political agenda. The reasons for its failures are fairly straightforward. The Congress, the...
Read more »Will China decide to reduce tension in the South China Sea?
On May 19, The Straits Times published an article written by Xu Bu, China’s Ambassador to Asean, that criticises US involvement in the South China Sea ( “US ‘rebalancing’ is fishing in S. China Sea’s troubled waters”). Ambassador Xu...
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Bangladesh’s Accommodation of Extremism Spells Danger for the Region
BLOOMINGTON: A specter is haunting Bangladesh – the specter of unbridled, violent religious extremism with attacks on intellectuals, journalists, bloggers and religious minorities. The Islamic State and other forms of fundamentalism are on the rise in the country of...
Read more »Forecasting the South China Sea Arbitration Merits Award
Prediction is difficult—especially about the future. Niels Bohr’s words ring true when it comes to the case brought by the Philippines against the People’s Republic of China over their differences in the South China Sea. It is with caution,...
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Connecting the Dots: Will Xi Stay the Course?
Distinguishing trend lines from temporary phenomena in Chinese policies has never been easy, but recent events have made it even harder to connect the dots. Simply put, the public face that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership has heretofore...
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Surviving Taiwan’s Lame Duck Period
The interval between the election and inauguration of Taiwan’s new president has yielded both worrying developments and encouraging signs. Ambiguous signals, competing agendas, mixed messages and complex incentives make it hard to interpret these events, and the high stakes/low...
Read more »Beijing’s March West: Opportunities and Challenges for China’s Eurasian Pivot
Abstract China’s Eurasian frontiers have emerged as a major factor in Beijing’s foreign policy through President Xi Jinping’s “One Belt, One Road” strategy. The article argues that this strategy has been given impetus by the shifting geopolitical landscape in...
Read more »Could Four Simmering Global Crises Boil Over?
Abstract More than once, I have heated milk on a gas stove only to have it boil over disastrously. The U.S. and its allies face at least four major and converging challenges that may also boil over like overheated...
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Donald Trump Folds the Nuclear Umbrella: Is American Extended Deterrence Passé?
It might be said that among foreign policy and national security watchers, Donald Trump is a gift that keeps giving....
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China’s Military Reorganization – and America’s Window of Opportunity
In September 2015, as part of the festivities marking the 70th anniversary of victory in World War II, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced that the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) would cut 300,000 troops. ...
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