Showing 1 - 7 of 7
Europe's Russia sanctions are a shot in the foot
News, Brahma Chellaney, Published on 19/12/2022
» It seems obvious that sanctions -- an increasingly important tool of Western foreign policy -- should inflict significant pain on the target without exacting unsustainably high costs from the country imposing them. But the European Union's sanctions on Russia -- intended to punish the country for its brutal war of aggression against Ukraine -- do not meet this condition.
The dramatic fall of the House of Rajapaksa
News, Brahma Chellaney, Published on 14/07/2022
» For much of nearly two decades, the four Rajapaksa brothers and their sons have run Sri Lanka like a family business -- and a disorderly one, at that. With their grand construction projects and spendthrift ways, they saddled Sri Lanka with unsustainable debts, driving the country into its worst economic crisis since independence. Now, the dynasty has fallen.
A new front in Asia's water war
News, Brahma Chellaney, Published on 13/10/2017
» China has long regarded freshwater as a strategic weapon -- one that the country's leaders have no compunction about wielding to advance their foreign-policy goals. After years of using its chokehold on almost every major transnational river system in Asia to manipulate water flows themselves, China is now withholding data on upstream flows to put pressure on downstream countries, particularly India.
China heads for imperial overreach
News, Brahma Chellaney, Published on 29/05/2017
» Chinese President Xi Jinping's tenure has been marked by high ambition. His vision -- the "Chinese dream" -- is to make China the world's leading power by 2049, the centenary of communist rule. But Mr Xi may be biting off more than he can chew.
A water war in Asia?
Asia focus, Brahma Chellaney, Published on 05/12/2016
» Tensions over water are rising in Asia -- and not only because of conflicting maritime claims. While territorial disputes, such as in the South China Sea, attract the most attention -- after all, they threaten safety and freedom of navigation, which affects outside powers as well -- the strategic ramifications of competition over transnationally shared freshwater resources are just as ominous.
America rushes into yet another war
News, Brahma Chellaney, Published on 25/09/2014
» It is official: US President and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Barack Obama is at war again. After toppling Libyan ruler Moammar Gadhafi and bombing targets in Somalia and Yemen, Mr Obama has initiated airstrikes in northern Iraq, effectively declaring war on the Islamic State — a decision that will involve infringing on the sovereign, if disintegrating, state of Syria. In his zeal to intervene, Mr Obama is again disregarding US and international law by seeking approval from neither the US Congress nor the United Nations Security Council.
Brics needs to be more than a name
News, Brahma Chellaney, Published on 27/03/2012
» As it prepares to hold its latest annual summit in New Delhi tomorrow and on Thursday, the Brics grouping _ Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa _ remains a concept in search of a common identity and institutionalised cooperation.