South East Asia

The latest issue of “Voice of Khurasan,” an English-language monthly magazine published by Al-Azaim Foundation, the media arm of the Islamic State’s Khurasan Province (ISIS-K), eulogizes the slain Indian jihadi fighter Abu Khalid al-Hindi, condemns Egyptian Islamic scholar Yusuf Al-Qaradawi for digressing from shari’a and for supporting the regimes in Qatar and Turkey, and is sharply critical of Hamas, the Afghan Taliban, and the Muslim Brotherhood, all of whom, the magazine declares, are working for Iran and the U.S.

Pakistan is struggling to strike a balance in its relations with the US and China, as rivalry and competition between the two superpowers are set to spark geopolitical turmoil in South Asia. The growing tension in the region has made Islamabad noticeably ambivalent about its foreign policy postures.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine seems to have captured worldwide attention; yet under the Taliban, Afghanistan continues to exist in a state of ‘durable disorder,’ limping along without either fully collapsing or stabilizing.

The immediate future in Afghanistan looks bleak, with little confidence that the Taliban will be able to fix a country that seems fundamentally broken following four decades of conflict, war, and political instability.

The Taliban’s supreme leader has ordered judges in Afghanistan to impose Sharia law punishments, which could include public executions, amputations and flogging.

Transhumanism is a vision of the future of humanity in which applied technologies are supposed to enhance and upgrade human existence. According to the transhumanist story, evolution has brought us very far indeed—to the moon and back, so far. Yet as an intelligent species, humanity is still very primitive and thus stands in need of upgrading. Given the rise of new technologies, transhumanists argue that we can—nay, should!—overcome our current evolutionary limitations in terms of physiology, emotion, cognition, and (at least sometimes) morality.

The meeting, as crucial as everyone believes it will be, should not occur. It is long past time for America to stop talking with the Chinese regime and start imposing costs for dangerous and other unacceptable behavior.

Talking sounds as if it should work but in fact has produced horrible results, for more than three decades. In short, dialogue enables China to buy time and often run out the clock.

Joe Biden shook hands with Xi Jinping that day in 2011 and the two vice presidents walked up a red carpet to the strains of their countries’ national anthems, until Biden paused unexpectedly before a Chinese official with a full head of hair. “If I had hair like yours, I’d be president,” he cracked, breaking the atmosphere of stately diplomacy.

President Joe Biden promised Saturday that the United States would work with a strategically vital coalition of southeast Asian nations, telling leaders that “we’re going to build a better future that we all want to see” in the region where U.S. rival China is also working to expand its influence.