Context Politact has consistently maintained that the longer the Afghan imbroglio continues it is bound to intersect with the other regional and global flash-points and the larger balance of power tussles. Not that it had not been in the past, but to a lesser degree. Since 9/11, and the subsequent war against extremism, the global…
Biden And The Future of Us-Pakistan relations Context As the Biden administration formulates its Pakistan policy and reviews the Afghan peace deal reached in February last year a debate is raging in both US and Pakistan based think tanks on the future of US-Pakistan relations. It is like a new season of an exciting Netflix…
PoliTact periodically invites leading regional and global experts to understand the changing geopolitical situations and significant emerging themes. One such theme is the budding China-Iran economic and security partnership. China and Iran are entering a $400 billion 25 year economic and security deal that would lead to enhanced military and trade relations. The agreement ensures…
Context India has formally invited Australia to join the large-scale naval exercises to be conducted in the Bay of Bengal (3-6 November) and the Arabian Sea (17-20 November), involving in addition to the navies of India and Australia, naval assets of the US and Japan. This is a very significant development if not militarily, certainly…
Context With the normalization of ties between UAE, Bahrain and Israel, the so-called ‘Outside-In Approach’ to the Middle East Peace Process is now in full swing. Most GCC and Arab nations are on the way to normalizing their ties with Israel. This was predicted as the regional situation dramatically shifted during the war against extremism,…
Context After numerous promising starts and hard stops, the Afghan peace process is once again making progress. The initiation of intra-Afghan peace process is now almost certain despite the hick-ups related to the release of last tranche of Taliban prisoners held by the Ashraf Ghani’s government. While many challenges have been overcome, several intricate obstacles…
Context Never before have there been so many conflicts been brewing at the same time, in particular in the regions of Middle East – and the adjoining areas of South Asia and North Africa. There is a tendency to view these conflicts as separate with their individual dynamics. However, they intertwined and there is a…
Context In the COVID-19 environment, the Asia Pacific region is increasingly an active theater. A number of inquiries are being contemplated on the role and policy of China as the world grapples on how to deal with the pandemic. Then there is the angle of how China was able to tackle the virus quickly while…
Context The Core versus Peripheral Islamic world theory is one of the key themes Politact has been following for over a decade. One of the premises of this construct is that the Core of the Islamic world represented mainly by the Arab Gulf states, including Iraq, Syria, and Jordan have been gradually losing influence. On…
Context According to the World Health Organization, the Corona Virus linked pandemic was first reported from the Wuhan city of China around the end of December 2019. Now it has pretty much engulfed the whole world. At the time this article was written, CNN reported global cases totaling around 823,479 with deaths standing at 40,636….
