In The News

The Times of India: Trump on Afghanistan

Nayan Chanda August 29, 2017
US President Donald Trump committed the United States to indefinite continuation of the 16-year-old war in Afghanistan, emphasizing “winning” and killing terrorists rather than nation building. Trump offered few specifics, but troop numbers of troops discussed are much smaller than the 100,000 deployed in 2010. In line with his transactional approach to foreign policy, Trump outlined expectations...

South China Morning Post: China-India Row as Catalyst?

Sarah Zheng August 28, 2017
India and China agreed to disengaging troops in the Doklam area of Bhutan after a two-month standoff. The announcement came just before the BRICS summit, starting September 3, for representatives of China and India as well as Brazil, Russia and South Africa. BRICS could be the ideal setting to develop an ongoing process for handling such disputes, suggest economists and researchers interviewed by...

The Seattle Times: Live With a Nuclear North Korea and Help It Feel Less Cornered

Walter Hatch August 23, 2017
The United States should not over-react to news that North Korea is a nuclear power. “While Kim [Jong Un] is clearly cruel, he is not crazy,” writes Walter Hatch for the Seattle Times. “What we often forget is that North Korea is also a cornered state, one without any real allies in the world. This is largely a function of juche, the complex policy of ‘self-reliance.’” The regime’s goal is...

International Business Times: Trump Reveals Afghanistan Plan

Ishani Roy August 22, 2017
The United States has been at war with extremists in Afghanistan since 2001, and President Donald Trump will send more troops to the country. In a speech, he expressed recognition that the long-running war is a divisive issue for Americans, many impatient with costs and progress, that rapid exit would leave a power vacuum. He declined to offer specifics, but said goals include “winning,” putting...

Asia Sentinel: India-China Rivalry Deepens Over Border Clash

Salman Rafi Sheikh August 21, 2017
Rivalry between India and China over the Doklam region of Bhutan continued through the summer despite otherwise strong bilateral trade relations among neighbors. Bhutan is in the middle as India is determined to counter China’s hegemony. China insists in documents that the issue concerns only itself and Bhutan, describing India as a third-party intruder. “While Bhutan has maintained a critical ‘...

Project Syndicate: Weathering the Violence of Climate

Gulrez Shah Azhar August 17, 2017
Severe weather threatens livelihoods and increases despair. A study from University of California, Berkeley, connects rising temperatures with suicides among Indian farmers. Other studies demonstrate that aggression increases with hot temperatures. “As global temperatures rise and droughts become more common, political agitation, social unrest, and even violence will likely follow,” explains...

Bloomberg: Moon Asserts Right to Veto US War

Hooyeon Kim, David Tweed, and Narae Kim August 16, 2017
South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in is adamant: His country would be most impacted by any military action against North Korea and he has a right to veto any such action. Moon “vowed to prevent war at any cost – a statement that drew a sharp contrast with President Donald Trump, who has warned of ‘fire and fury’ if North Korea continues to threaten the US,” report a team of reporters for Bloomberg...