Showing 21 - 30 of 32
Water woes taking an increasingly hard toll on Asia
News, Brahma Chellaney, Published on 28/04/2016
» Asia's water woes are worsening. Already the world's driest continent in per capita terms, Asia now faces a severe drought that has parched a vast region extending from southern Vietnam to central India. This has exacerbated political tensions, because it has highlighted the impact of China's dam-building policy on the environment and on water flows to the dozen countries located downstream.
Capitalism not always route to democracy
News, Brahma Chellaney, Published on 12/03/2016
» As US President Barack Obama prepares to embark on a historic visit to Cuba this month, the future of the communist-ruled island is the subject of widespread speculation. Some observers are hoping that the ongoing shift toward capitalism, which has been occurring very gradually for five years under Raul Castro’s direction, will naturally lead Cuba toward democracy. Experience suggests otherwise.
Order of influence in the balance
News, Brahma Chellaney, Published on 25/01/2016
» China's ambition to reshape the Asian order is no secret. From the "one belt, one road" scheme to the Beijing-based Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, major Chinese initiatives are gradually but steadily advancing China's strategic objective of fashioning a Sino-centric Asia. As China's neighbours well know, the country's quest for regional dominance could be damaging -- and even dangerous. Yet other regional powers have done little to develop a coordinated strategy to thwart China's hegemonic plans.
Saudi Arabia's phoney war on terror
News, Brahma Chellaney, Published on 23/12/2015
» Containing the scourge of Islamist terror will be impossible without containing the ideology that drives it: Wahhabism, a messianic, jihad-extolling form of Sunni fundamentalism whose international expansion has been bankrolled by oil-rich sheikhdoms, especially Saudi Arabia. That is why the newly announced Saudi-led anti-terror coalition, the Islamic Military Alliance to Fight Terrorism, should be viewed with profound scepticism.
Tokyo must rearm but focus on defence
News, Brahma Chellaney, Published on 22/10/2015
» Japan's political resurgence is one of this century's most consequential developments in Asia. But it has received relatively little attention, because observers have preferred to focus on the country's prolonged economic woes.
Sri Lanka heads for 'Chinese election'
News, Brahma Chellaney, Published on 15/08/2015
» Sri Lanka’s parliamentary election on Monday promises to shape not only the country’s political future, but also geopolitics in the wider Indian Ocean region, a global centre of trade and energy flows that accounts for half of the world’s container traffic and 70% of its petroleum shipments.
Modi spin can't hide harsh realities of Sino-India ties
News, Brahma Chellaney, Published on 20/05/2015
» China and India have a fraught relationship, characterised by festering disputes, deep mistrust, and a shared ambivalence about political cooperation. Booming bilateral trade, far from helping to turn the page on old rifts, has been accompanied by increasing border incidents, military tensions, and geopolitical rivalry, as well as disagreements on riparian and maritime issues.
Qatar's role in exporting jihadists
News, Brahma Chellaney, Published on 16/10/2014
» Qatar may be tiny, but it is having a major impact across the Arab world. By propping up violent jihadists in the Middle East, North Africa, and beyond, while supporting the United States in its fight against them, this gas-rich speck of a country— the world's wealthiest in per capita terms — has transformed itself from a regional gadfly into an international rogue elephant.
Afghans must be ready post-US
News, Brahma Chellaney, Published on 31/03/2014
» As it braces for its upcoming presidential election, Afghanistan finds itself at another critical juncture, with its unity and territorial integrity at stake after 35 years of relentless war. Can Afghanistan finally escape the cycle of militancy and foreign intervention that has plagued it for more than three decades?
Friendless China mourns loss of North Korea
News, Brahma Chellaney, Published on 16/02/2014
» At a time when China's territorial assertiveness has strained its ties with many countries in the region, and its once-tight hold on Myanmar has weakened, its deteriorating relationship with North Korea, once its vassal, renders it a power with no real allies. The question now is whether the US and other powers can use this development to create a diplomatic opening to North Korea that could help transform northeast Asia's fraught geopolitics.