9 February 2024

China extends full diplomatic recognition to Taliban in blow to US

The diplomatic recognition of the Taliban government in Afghanistan on January 31, 2024 by China must be bracketed with two other far-reaching regional policy moves by Beijing in the post-cold war era the Shanghai Five in 1996 later renamed as Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in 2001 and the Belt and Road Initiative announced by President Xi Jinping in 2013.

19 January 2023

Russia consolidates in East Mediterranean

The curtain is coming down on the brutal 11-year old Syrian conflict, which former US President and Nobel Laureate Barack Obama initiated, as the Arab Spring swept through West Asia two decades ago. The United States has suffered yet another big setback in West Asia as the year 2022 draws to a close. The unfolding Turkish-Syrian reconciliation process under Russian mediation is to be seen as a saga of betrayal and vengeance.