Background
In recent years, Russia may have increased its influence in Africa more than any other external power. However, Russia has a long history of interaction with Africa. These two continents were extremely close during the Cold War as the...
Economic
Over 50 countries close to debt default – UN
The UN Development Programme (UNDP) has issued an alarm about the plight of developing countries as a key meeting of G20 ministers in India stalls on the subject of debt relief. This follows a...
The NATO Summit held in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, 11-12 July 2023, was momentous in many respects. It took place against the background of the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine whose active phase of hostilities is now well past...
Prime Minister Narendra Modi hosted the 23rd summit of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) on 4th July 2023 in a virtual format. This concluded India’s first-ever presidency of the SCO. The baton was passed...
Almost a year and a half into the conflict, African leaders joined the crowded group of peacemakers attempting to mediate the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.[1] On June 16 and 17, a high-level African delegation of seven people, including four...
The Drone Threat
Unmanned vehicles, referred to as drones in this paper for ease, are unquestionably useful, but the problem is that this is true even for bad guys. The million-dollar question in the billion-dollar unmanned industry is how to stop...
(The following is the transcript of presentation made during an International Webinar on “Road to Peace: Prospects for the Political Settlement of the Ukraine Crisis” organised by China Institute of International Studies, Beijing on 26 May 2023)...
Afghanistan
US watchdog ‘cannot assure’ Afghanistan aid not going to Taliban - Aljazeera
The head of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) has decried a lack of transparency from United States agencies that he said has...
In the past few years, the international system has increasingly displayed tendencies of being subordinate to narrow national interests. The COVID pandemic revealed the limits of cooperation when countries turned inwards to cope with the deadly...
Xi Jinping’s three-day visit to Moscow, 20-23March, his first abroad in his third term as China’s President, evoked considerable interest. Two joint statements and a dozen bilateral cooperation documents were signed. Xi’s personal equation with...