Recently, the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) made headlines with a propaganda video that seems aimed at discrediting Pakistan and its law enforcement agencies (LEAs). The video suggests that Pakistan and its LEAs are unable to eliminate TTP hideouts, bases, and strongholds.
Introduction
In the fluid global order, initiatives to articulate cooperation to its best mutual outcome, as for exchange of resources and synergies are relevant more than ever. The mighty Asian triangular format of RIC (Russia – India – China) is relatively well known although underreported in scholarly and popular writings.
En dépit de ses quatre-vingts ans, de ses trébuchements continus et de ses gaffes à répétition, l’État profond a décidé de maintenir la candidature du président américain Joe Biden aux élections présidentielles de 2024. Ce qui amène tout observateur ou analyste politique à se poser la question fondamentale : quelles sont les raisons qui poussent les décideurs aux États-Unis à le choisir pour continuer à occuper une position aussi importante, sensible et dangereuse, alors qu’il risque de provoquer une guerre nucléaire mondiale pouvant conduire à l’anéantissement de l’humanité ?
With Western powers distracted by the war in Ukraine, China appears to be making cautious moves to cement its position in the wider Black Sea region.
The strategic partnership agreement released by Beijing and Tbilisi on July 31 surprised many in Georgia and in the West. While this diplomatic advance comes amid traditionally warm relations between China and Georgia, which signed a free trade agreement back in 2017, the reasons for and timing of the strategic cooperation document’s release highlight the fluid geopolitical situation in the South Caucasus; China’s attempts to advance its position in the unstable region; and, more importantly, Georgia’s efforts to maneuver between the collective West and the East, especially ahead of the crucial decision by the EU on whether to grant Tbilisi its long-coveted candidate status.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and intensified United States (US)–China competition have had two important geostrategic consequences. They have blown new life into the European Union (EU) and North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and accelerated expansion of the Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa (BRICS) bloc’s role and membership, as confirmed at this week’s Johannesburg summit.
Putin is nothing if not an opportunist, and the images of American forces and their British allies struggling to contain the surging crowds at Kabul airport who were desperately trying to flee the country will have confirmed the Russian leader’s view that, so long as Biden remained in power, he had nothing to fear from the US.
In light of the second anniversary of the Taliban’s seizure of Afghanistan on August 15th, the global focus has transitioned towards the evolving terrorism scenario in the area. The post-Kabul era has prompted apprehensions regarding the regional security and stability implications.
In a historic South Africa BRICS summit move, BRICS – the association of five major emerging economies, has extended invitations to six more nations: Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, the UAE, and Argentina. While some laud this expansion as a step towards creating a multipolar world, others are concerned that it might merely perpetuate the old structures of power and dominance, albeit with new actors.
On July 6, law enforcement in Germany and the Netherlands arrested nine Central Asians on terrorism-related charges. In Germany, five Tajik nationals, one Kyrgyz citizen, and one Turkmenistani citizen were arrested in the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia for allegedly creating and participating in a local terrorist organization and supporting Islamic State (IS). In the Netherlands, a married couple—a Tajik husband and Kyrgyz wife—were also arrested in Eindhoven and Breda. Both are suspected of plotting terrorist attacks, with the husband also suspected of IS membership (Kaktus Media, July 6).
Joshua Keating, a foreign policy analyst, staff writer, and author of the World blog at Slate, and a former writer and editor at Foreign Policy magazine in an article updated on January 2022 wrote that “war over Taiwan would likely involve the largest and most complex amphibious invasion ever mounted. Were the conflict to drag on, it might well evolve into a building-to-building, mountaintop-to-mountaintop ground war in one of the most densely populated and economically advanced countries on Earth. And that’s just in Taiwan itself”.