COMMENTARIES
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Whither Tunisia?
KP Fabian · 23 Jan, 2018 · #5425 · Commentary
When Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali - who had been Tunisia's president for 23 years - fell from power in January 2011, it appeared that Tunisia would embark on a journey towards democracy for the first time since its independence from France in 195...
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Special Commentary
President Trump's Year in Office: A Foreign Policy Review
Vivek Mishra · 22 Jan, 2018 · #5424 · Commentary
The ‘many firsts’ that President Donald Trump's year-old tenure has chalked up offer an overwhelming indication of his administration’s desire to differentiate itself from and efface the previous administration’s poli...
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A Perspective from Tehran
Iran Protests: Drivers and Consequences
Majid Izadpanahi · 22 Jan, 2018 · #5423 · Commentary
While much of the world was busy celebrating the new year, Iran was enveloped in protests. Spread across 70 cities, these protests began in the Shiite holy city of Mashhad in reaction to endemic inflation that has plagued the Iranian economy.
T...
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Nuke Street
A Global Nuclear Order in Crisis
Sheel kant Sharma · 22 Jan, 2018 · #5422 · Commentary · Column
The year 2017 saw the iconic clock of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists slide to two-and-a-half minutes to midnight. It is set closer than ever to the brink except in 1952 when US-Soviet hydrogen bomb tests within six months of each other had push...
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The Yuan: China’s New Strategic Tool in Pakistan
Prashant Dikshit · 19 Jan, 2018 · #5421 · Commentary
In 2009, China launched a pilot project to use the Yuan (China's official currency and economic symbol) for cross-border settlements. Since then, there have been purposeful campaigns in this direction. The scheme was then developed into a fu...
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Can India Complement and Gain from China's Belt And Road Initiative?
Sreejith S Nair · 12 Jan, 2018 · #5420 · Commentary
China will eventually embark on its vision of building roads, railways and pipelines across Eurasia, irrespective of India's endorsement of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). This attempt to lay foundations of a Sino-centric Asia provides India...
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Ushering Normalcy in Kashmir
Ayan Tewari · 11 Jan, 2018 · #5419 · Commentary
In 2017, Indian security forces (SFs) initiated a more focused approach to dealing with militants in Kashmir, resulting in the killing of 218 terrorists so far. Although these operations were hailed as a success, the high civilian deaths (218 mi...
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A Human Security Approach to Nuclear Disarmament
Shivani Singh · 09 Jan, 2018 · #5418 · Commentary
Despite the best intentions of nuclear disarmament groups, failure to adopt norms surrounding human security in disarmament has proved to be a major impediment in achieving concrete progress. Why is the human security approach needed in nuclear ...
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Maritime Matters
Maritime Digital Trends in 2018
Vijay Sakhuja · 08 Jan, 2018 · #5417 · Commentary · Column
At the beginning of the year, industries announce trends in their respective domains. Manufacturers publicise major products that will be available in the market; car-makers showcase new models that will be launched during the year; manufacturer...
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Indian Foreign Policy and the Hafiz Saeed Problem
Abhijit Iyer Mitra · 05 Jan, 2018 · #5416 · Commentary
On Friday, 29 December 2017, the Government of India faced a major public embarrassment, one that provides some insights into the failure of intelligence. What it shows is one of three things: a failure of gathering, collation and transmission o...