In The News

South Asia and Trump: Times of India

Nayan Chanda August 25, 2019
Donald Trump, intent on winning reelection as US president and avoiding corruption investigations, is doubling down on “America first” policies and transactional foreign policies. “America’s foreign partners will now more than ever be evaluated on whether they help or hurt his election outlook,” explains Nayan Chanda in his column for the Times of India. Chanda is the founding editor of...

North Korea Fires Two Projectiles: Korea Times

Jung Da-min August 17, 2019
North Korea fired two projectiles into the East Sea, making that six tests conducted within the last month. Analysts report the characteristics suggest short-range ballistic missiles. The central news agency in North Korea also dismissed calls for dialogue by South Korea President Moon Jae-in’s calls for dialogue. South Korea’s National Security Council convened, and a joint military drill...

Ban for Omar-Tlaib and Democracy: Times of Israel

August 16, 2019
Polarization and fear of criticism erode democracy. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu banned two American Democratic congresswomen from visiting the Israeli-occupied West Bank soon after US President Donald Trump suggested as much. The ban on the two representatives reveals the extent of Israel’s control over Palestinian territories. Ilhan Omar, once a Somali refugee who was elected to...

Jammu and Kashmir, India and China: Diplomat

Samanvya Hooda August 16, 2019
India's change in status for Jammu and Kashmir, a lockdown and dividing the state into two union territories suggest a strategy toward China, argues Samanvya Hooda for the Diplomat. “Undivided Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) consists of the erstwhile Indian state of J&K, Pakistan-administered Kashmir, and Aksai Chin, controlled by China,” he explains. “China also controls the Shaksgam Tract...

Crumbling Global Order: Wall Street Journal

Greg Ip August 14, 2019
Major shifts in world systems can result in global downturns, argues Greg Ip for the Wall Street Journal. This was the case for the end of the era of cheap oil but not the advent of the internet. Increasing resistance to globalization and open markets fueled by nationalism and populism – and a general decline in diplomacy with Brexit, the US-China and South Korea-Japan trade wars, divisions in...

India’s Move on Kashmir Will Fuel Resentment: BBC

Andrew Whitehead August 5, 2019
The special status assigned to Jammu and Kashmir reflects an agreement between India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Kashmir's political leaders. “India's BJP-led government has now unilaterally torn up that special dispensation,” reports Andrew Whitehead for BBC News. “It's the biggest change in Kashmir's constitutional status since the 1950s.” The government...

Imran in Washington: Times of India

Nayan Chanda July 31, 2019
President Donald Trump, long opposed to US involvement in lengthy military campaigns, counts on Pakistan to help “extricate” his country from the war in Afghanistan. Nayan Chanda identifies a pattern in Trump’s approach on foreign challenges like North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. “Following the ‘threaten then flatter’ playbook Trump suspended $1.3 billion of annual aid to Pakistan before...