Iran’s Regional Diplomatic Push: Is a Breakthrough with Riyadh Possible? Iran’s readiness for restoring diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia after six years since Riyadh cut ties in January 2016 is part of broader revival of diplomacy in the region after a decade of intense geopolitical competition and proxy wars involving Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies and Turkey & Iran. Deepika Saraswat | January 10, 2022 | IDSA Comments
Defending Japan: National Security Agenda 2022 Japan is manifesting refreshing confidence drawing from its resolve to push the envelope of positive pacifism while determining the strategic balance in the Indo-Pacific. Titli Basu | January 06, 2022 | IDSA Comments
Looming Spectre of Conflict in Eastern Europe? Kremlin’s increasingly assertive stance on the troop build-up along the Russia–Ukraine border can be viewed as not just prompted by Ukraine’s potential NATO membership but also as Russia underscoring its place as a stakeholder in shaping European security architecture. Rajorshi Roy | January 03, 2022 | IDSA Comments
Indo-Bangladesh Talks on Sharing of the Ganga Waters A major irritant in Indo-Bangladesh relations has been the question of sharing Ganga waters between the two countries. Though negotiations for the settlement of the problem have been going on for the last five-and-a-half years, a final agreement is still elusive. At times, it appeared that the two countries would not reach any agreement and the issue would affect their relations. Fortunately, the deadlock, which persisted for some time, was broken in April last. Now it appears that India and Bangladesh have been negotiating satisfactorily and a final agreement would be signed soon. O.N. Mehrotra | January 2022 | Strategic Analysis
What Can EAEU-India FTA Bring to Indian Industrial Development? At the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in 2017, the Minister for Trade of the Eurasian Economic Commission, Veronika Nikishina and India’s Minister of State of Commerce and Industry, Nirmala Sitharaman met to sign a joint statement on the start of negotiations on a free trade agreement between the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and India. Ekaterina Arapova | January 2022 | Strategic Analysis
Bangla Desh and Our Policy Options It is necessary to have a detached and realistic assessment of the military situation in Bangla Desh. During the last one week, our press reports were over-optimistic and these reports need careful reassessment now. K. Subrahmanyam | January 2022 | Strategic Analysis
State-Level Concept and Scope of Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement for Verification of Undeclared Nuclear Material and Activities The safeguards verification measures of comprehensive safeguards agreement (CSA) of non-nuclear-weapon states (NNWS) with the international atomic energy agency (IAEA) for verifying presence or absence of undeclared nuclear material and undeclared facilities and activities using the provisions of Additional Protocol (AP) is well recognized. Recently, the IAEA has proposed State-Level Concept (SLC) for verifying the presence or absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities in the state within the provisions of the CSA. K. L. Ramakumar | January 2022 | Strategic Analysis
India Versus China: Why They Are Not Friends ‘We have no eternal allies and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and those interests it is our duty to follow’, thus spoke Lord Palmerston in 1848, then still the foreign minister of the United Kingdom.1 ‘Nations neither have enemies nor friends but only interests, the national interest’ is an aphorism which has been subsequently attributed from Winston Churchill to Henry Kissinger. Masih Ullah Khan | January 2022 | Strategic Analysis
Taiwan’s Quest for World Health Assembly Participation Taiwan’s striving for institutional recognition has made its campaign to obtain observer status at the World Health Assembly (WHA) a distinct case in international relations (IR). The first section briefly introduces framing as an analytical approach governing the arrangement of this research. The second section articulates how Taiwan’s utilization of framing has shaped public opinion and helped advance its interests. The third section adopts ‘a scorecard approach’ to evaluate Taiwan’s efforts to engage with the WHA comprehensively. Sáng Hu?nh Tâm | January 2022 | Strategic Analysis
Conundrum of an Island: Sri Lanka’s Geopolitical Challenges Sri Lanka, one of the most strategic islands in the Indian Ocean, is mired in several domestic political, security and strategic challenges since the end of the armed ethnic conflict in May 2009. However, with the defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), and the post-war economic boom, it was largely believed that no one would shed tears anymore in the teardrop island. Such hopes and expectations were belied when the country witnessed multiple terror attacks in different locations in Colombo on 21 April 2019. Gulbin Sultana | January 2022 | Strategic Analysis
