Russia’s Return to the World Stage: The Primakov Doctrine

Canberra, 6 November 2019 International power balance is primarily based on claiming ascendancy on the world stage, which in turn is driven by political imperatives, the prime mover in all initiatives towards claiming power. After the break-up of the Soviet Union, Russia assumed the mantle of Soviet power, but struggled to prove itself as a […]

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Indian History Part 51: The Origins of Arab-Muslim Conquest

  Canberra, 12 June 2016 The armies that burst out of the Arabian Peninsula with the message of the Prophet Muhammad and the initial teachings of a fledgling religion were numerically small, seldom more than 20,000 soldiers and often much smaller. However, they were a homogeneous group, fully comprised of Arabs who had embraced the […]

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SAUDI ARABIA AND IRAN: DRAWING THE BATTLE LINES

Canberra, 20 January 2016 Ever since King Salman came to power in early 2015 and brought about sweeping changes in the hierarchy within the monarchy, the administration has been pursuing a more vigorous foreign policy than the one followed by the previous regime of King Abdullah. The focused objective has been to limit to the […]

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The Middle-East: An Open Pandora’s Box

  Singapore, 12 December 2015 Even before the discovery of the vast oil reserves in the region, the Middle-East had been the stomping ground of the global powers of the time. The past century has seen the region embroiled in convoluted conflicts that have simmered and altered shape, but have never really been brought to […]

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RUSSIA IN THE MIDDLE-EAST: ALTERING THE GEO-STRATEGIC ENVIRONMENT

Canberra, 22 October 2015 In the second half of September, Russia moved military forces predominated by air assets, into Bassel al-Assad international airport in the Latakia province of Syria. This deployment made it impossible for the anti-Assad forces to capture the province and also provided a logistics lifeline to the military forces of the Syrian […]

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PAKISTAN: STUCK IN A CUL-DE-SAC

Canberra, 22 June 2014 Pakistan, a state created in the name of Islam, is today divided along linguistic, ethnic, tribal and sectarian lines. It also claims to be the ‘heart of Asia’, making any observer want to ask, ‘a wounded, bleeding heart?’ While it is beset with domestic issues that directly threaten the well-being of […]

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TURKEY ON THE BRINK PART II: THE FIGHT AGAINST THE ISLAMIC STATE

Singapore, 9 October 2014 [This is Part II of a two-part series analysing the precarious situation that Turkey has created for itself in the most recent conflict raging in the Middle-East against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.] Turkey’s decision to join the coalition fighting against the Islamic State (IS) along with other […]

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IS IT THE END GAME IN SYRIA?

Canberra,  12 August 2012 The Events So Far The Syrian Civil War started on 15 March 2011 as public demonstrations against the Assad regime and was generally considered to be an extension of the ‘Arab Spring’. The sporadic demonstrations soon escalated into a nationwide uprising and subsequently into a civil war with the opposition demanding […]

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THE ARAB SPRING – WHAT OF IT?

Canberra, 3 August 2012   In January 2011, the people of Tunisia overthrew the regime of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali who had ruled for 23 years with little care for the development of the state and even lesser care for the betterment of the population. By all accounts this was long overdue. The Tunisian […]

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Why the Obama administration will change the US foreign policy

Singapore, 16 January 2009In four days time, Mr Barak Obama will be sworn in as the 44th President of the United States of America. There is more hype regarding this event than in any other in recent history, for a number of really important reasons, none of which should be sidelined. However, there is also […]

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