BRICS: New Power Bloc

As many as 30 nations, including Venezuela, Thailand, Senegal, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Bahrain, Pakistan, Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria, Yemen, Vietnam and Azerbaijan are keen to join BRICS. As Russia presides over the BRICS summit at Kazan from 22-24 October 2024, President Vladimir Putin has pledged to “strengthening multilateralism for equitable global … Read More

Taliban to face ICJ for gender discrimination

The action before the ICJ is expected to deter nations that are signatories to the ICJ from establishing diplomatic ties with the Taliban regime. Striking a blow for gender rights, Canada, Australia, Germany, and the Netherlands decided on September 25, 2024, to take the Taliban group controlling Afghanistan to the … Read More

Gender Apartheid in Afghanistan

Under the Taliban regime, Afghan women have been facing the most brutal discrimination due to gender apartheid.  Regressing from its previous strides towards gender egality as the first Muslim country to sign (August 14, 1980) and ratify (March 05, 2003) the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of … Read More

Bangladesh’s Colour Revolution

Sheikh Hasina’s ouster is a strategic setback for India as she was a friendly leader who stood up against Islamic radicalism and crushed anti-India insurgency on Bangladesh soil. The situation in Bangladesh after the exile of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed is crystallizing with the appointment of Nobel laureate Mohammad … Read More

Rahul Gandhi’s asymmetric challenge to Modi

Narendra Modi became Prime Minister for the third time, but it is undeniable that Rahul Gandhi has risen in the political firmament. After a somnolent start, the 26-party Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (launched on July 18, 2023) redeemed itself by winning 232 seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The Congress … Read More

Raisi and Fico: Victims and Symbols of a new world order?

The mysterious death of Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, and other high officials on May 19, 2024, occurs at a defining moment in the first quarter of the twenty-first century. The mysterious death (and suspected assassination) of Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and other … Read More

Putin’s futuristic cabinet

The cabinet reshuffle is marked by the promotion of a new generation of loyalists who have been given charge of the world’s largest natural resources producer as President Putin prepares for a long war. President Vladimir Putin’s decision to replace Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu with top economist and former First … Read More

Iran vs Israel

The Lebanese Al-Akhbar, affiliated with Hezbollah, has reported that Iran told Washington that it would refrain from retaliation if there is a ceasefire in Gaza and Israel does not attack the southern Gaza city of Rafah Iranian diplomacy is a fine balance between audacity and caution, which is how Tehran … Read More

Atheism in Nepal

A series of weak and short-lived central governments in Kathmandu have enfeebled the Constitution. Evangelism deserves greater recognition as a foreign policy agenda of the US-led West in the post-colonial, post-World War II era. After the massacre of the Nepal royal family (June 1, 2001), Pope Benedict XVI elevated the … Read More