About Uighur issue The Xinjiang province in China’s far west has had a long history of discord between the authorities and the indigenous ethnic Uighur population. Most Uighurs are Muslim, their language is related to Turkish, and they regard themselves …
What’s in the news? French President Emmanuel Macron has acknowledged his country’s “overwhelming responsibility” in the 1994 Rwandan genocide in which about 800,000 people, mostly ethnic Tutsis, were killed. Mr. Macron said France chose “silence over examination of the truth” …
What’s in the news? Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that Israel’s response would be “very powerful” if Hamas violated the truce that ended conflict with the Gaza militants. Recently, Israel and Hamas (the militant Islamist group that rules the Gaza …
Belt and Road Initiative China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) aims to strengthen Beijing’s economic leadership through a vast program of infrastructure building throughout China’s neighbouring regions. Launched in 2013 by President Xi Jinping, the vast collection of development and …
NEWS Russia and the other players in the Ukrainian crisis need to be prudent enough to resolve chronic tensions. BACKGROUND Increased tensions between Ukraine and Russia can be viewed as a continuation of the unresolved conflict of 2014, when Russia …
CONTEXT Major West Asian nations have recently embarked on new diplomatic engagements with erstwhile rivals. This could in time overturn existing regional alignments and possibly end ongoing conflicts that have wreaked havoc in several states. CHANGING REGIONAL ALIGNMENTS Qatar and …
About BTIA India and the European Union (EU) have been negotiating a free trade agreement (FTA), officially called a Broad-based Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA) since 2007 but have not been able to conclude it because of differences in some …
NEWS A direct consequence of the pandemic is that New Delhi’s claim to regional primacy and leadership could take a hit. CONTEXT The second wave of COVID-19 and its distressing consequences has prompted the country to accept foreign aid after …
Israel-Palestine Conflict Israel’s Arab minority comprises just over 20% of its population of 9.3 million, while at least 2.5 million Palestinians live in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, and 3,50,000 in Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem. About 1.9 million Palestinians live in the …
CONTEXT It has been ten years since the outbreak of the crisis in Syria took place and at present, the regime of President Bashar al-Assad seems to have won the civil war. BACKGROUND In 2015, before the Russian intervention, Syrian …