A bill introduced in Malaysia’s parliament earlier this year to expand the powers of the muftis – Muslim legal experts – in the federal territories (FT) of Kuala Lumpur, Labuan and Putrajaya is expected to be tabled for debate and possible passage within a month.
In “How China Escaped the Poverty Trap”, Yuen Yuen Ang provides a compelling analysis of China’s rapid economic transformation over recent decades. Rather than focusing on specific policies or economic theories, Ang emphasizes China’s unique approach to development. She argues that China’s success in escaping poverty and achieving significant economic growth was not simply a result of adopting Western-style economic reforms, but of implementing a distinctly Chinese strategy that allowed local innovation within the bounds of central control.
Africa has emerged as a pivotal partner in China’s Maritime Silk Road Initiative (MSRI), the maritime dimension of Beijing’s flagship Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). One of the key footholds for Chinese inroads has been the Mombasa Port, located on Kenya’s south-eastern coast.
Mombasa—the largest and busiest port in East Africa—serves as a gateway for landlocked countries in Africa and is central to regional trade. Thus, it is imperative to examine how the port serves as a crucial node in China’s engagement with Africa and reflect on China’s broader geopolitical ambitions in the Western Indian Ocean.
S’interroger sur les rapports entre le marxisme et le parti communiste chinois, c’est s’engager dans un dédale vertigineux. Non seulement les questions jaillissent de toutes parts, mais on se heurte assez vite à un problème de méthode : faut-il évaluer le «socialisme chinois de la nouvelle ère» au regard du «socialisme de Marx» ? Qui plus est, ce problème de méthode – qu’il faudra traiter comme tel – recouvre un véritable problème de fond : le socialisme étant selon Marx une phase transitoire (le «premier stade du communisme») entre la société capitaliste et la société communiste, à partir de quel moment peut-on dire que l’élément communiste l’emporte sur l’élément capitaliste ? Et comment peut-on déterminer ce point de bascule – à supposer qu’il soit possible et légitime de le faire – dans la trajectoire passée, présente et future (à titre d’hypothèse) du socialisme chinois ? Autrement dit, le socialisme au stade primaire dont se prévaut aujourd’hui le parti communiste chinois a-t-il quelque chose à voir avec le socialisme tel que Marx le concevait ? Que laisse-t-il augurer quant à la poursuite de la transition socialiste en Chine ? Ce qui revient aussi à demander : puisque le PCC se réclame du marxisme, dans quelle mesure la théorie et la pratique des communistes chinois (de Mao à nos jours) sont-elles marxistes ?
Making the Case for Trump’s Foreign Policy
Si vis pacem, para bellum is a Latin phrase that emerged in the fourth century that means “If you want peace, prepare for war.” The concept’s origin dates back even further, to the second-century Roman emperor Hadrian, to whom is attributed the axiom, “Peace through strength—or, failing that, peace through threat.”
Summary
With the addition of new members in BRICS+, the group of emerging powers will be more globally representative—but also face more internal divisions.
This month, Russian President Vladimir Putin will host the first-ever summit of BRICS+ from October 22 to 24 in the Tatarstan city of Kazan. There, the founding members of BRICS—Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa—will formally welcome into their fold five new members: Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Putin has also invited more than two dozen other countries that have applied for or are considering membership in the expanding club. The gathering is meant to send an unmistakable signal: Despite the West’s best efforts to isolate it, Russia has many friends around the world.
Ignoring the decades-old political roots of the Baloch Conflict, their new economic dimension over the past decade since CPEC, and the latest Taliban connections via its TTP partners leads to inaccurate assessments about its latest manifestations and impedes work on a sustainable solution.
An army with a state
In her seminal piece titled “Pakistan-from hybrid-democracy to hybrid-martial law” published in the 2019 Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Ayesha Siddiqa, a Pakistan born and UK based leading expert on the Pakistan armed forces made some very pertinent and precise observations of how the all-powerful Pakistan army was continuing its subtle subversion of the country’s constitution with renewed vigour. One of her prognostications was – “The military is keen to generate a new national discourse in which the army’s position is considered synonymous to the state.” [Emphasis added].
In the latest issue of its Urdu-language magazine “Taliban,” Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) eulogizes slain fighters, argues that it is ahead of the Pakistani military in building narratives in the eyes of Pakistani audiences, frames Pakistani military leaders as those who monopolize resources and obstruct the establishment of Islam, and says that the TTP should not be viewed as a terrorist group but as an Islamic jihadi group striving for an Islamic welfare system.