When Timor-Leste gained independence, it made the surprising choice to adopt the minority language of its colonial past – a strategy that has since been central in shaping the modern nation.
Archive | Asia
Why Timor-Leste’s Choice of Portuguese Might be Right
Posted on March 8, 2026.
Posted in Asia, Education, Political Security, World
Explaining the China-Russia Partnership in Syria
Posted on September 4, 2020.
‘War is the continuation of politics by other means’. This well-known quote from 19th century Prussian military strategist Carl von Clausewitz epitomises the Russian and Chinese role in the Syrian conflict, which is now in its tenth year. The conflict began in March 2011 after pro-democracy protests in Syria were brutally crushed by the Syrian […]
Posted in China, Conflict, Middle East, Russia, Syria, UN, World
COVID-19 has Revealed a World of Strong States and Global Enmity
Posted on April 20, 2020.
“Viruses know no borders and they don’t care about your ethnicity, the colour of your skin or how much money you have in the bank.” The words of WHO official Dr Mike Ryan about Coronavirus (COVID-19) would seem to many of us common sense. What appears ‘common sense’ does not, however, always manifest in the […]
Posted in Australia, China, Europe, European Union, Germany, Refugees, Security Issues, UN, US, World
Reflections on Ethnic Nationalism in China and the West
Posted on September 8, 2019.
I moved to London when I was 16, having spent my entire childhood living in Beijing. My parents met there studying Chinese and my father later got a job with the Spanish embassy. When I arrived in the UK in 2014 British national culture seemed like a breath of fresh air compared to the parochial […]
Deterrence and Inclusivity in the South China Sea
Posted on April 28, 2019.
Rapid economic growth and the modernization of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has allowed China to expand its regional influence. Within the South China Sea, China’s expansion has materialized in the form of a coercive maritime strategy. Aside from straddling the key sea lanes of communication used for trade, the South China Sea also contains […]
Posted in Asia, Australia, China, Conflict, India, Security Issues, US, World
Troubled Waters: The Indus River Crisis
Posted on March 24, 2019.
Climate change has the capacity to radically transform the international order. This is particularly true in South Asia, where fresh water resources from the Himalayas are dwindling rapidly. As tensions rise between India and Pakistan, it is vital to focus on the environmental and political factors at play, and to consider the potential implications of […]
Posted in Asia, Food Security, India, Security Issues, Terrorism, World
Understanding the Ripple Effects of a US-China Trade War
Posted on July 9, 2018.
The United States has recently taken an aggressive approach to evening-out what US President Donald Trump sees as a major trade imbalance. At the risk of a possible trade war, the President has implemented tariffs against the EU and China on major goods such as steel and automobiles. But retaliatory tariffs are planned in response. […]
Posted in Asia, China, Economics, Global Economy, Global Politics Videos, US
China is Winning the Propaganda War on Taiwan
Posted on June 22, 2018.
Last month, two more countries broke away from the fast dwindling assortment of diplomatic allies that officially recognise Taiwan as a sovereign state. The political volte-face in May by the Dominican Republic and Burkina Faso in favour of closer ties with Beijing follows a long trend of diplomatic shifts that leave Taiwan increasingly isolated on the […]
Posted in Asia, China, Conflict, Political Security, Security Issues, World
China’s One Belt, One Road: Influence Through Infrastructure
Posted on March 27, 2018.
In the autumn of 2013, China’s president, Xi Jinping, first introduced plans for what has become known as the ‘One Belt, One Road’ initiative, the largest integrated international infrastructure project the country has yet undertaken. The plan consists of a land-based economic belt and a string of ports constituting a ‘maritime silk road’, stretching from […]
Posted in Asia, China, Economic Security, Economics, Global Economy, Political Security, Security Issues
What South Africa’s ANC Can Learn from the Demise of India’s Congress Party
Posted on June 5, 2017.
Feeble economic growth, allegations of kleptocracy, and the controversial sacking of not one, but two Finance Ministers, headline South Africa President Jacob Zuma’s second term. In its most recent forecast, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicts the country’s economy to grow at 0.8 percent this year. While the IMF’s report expects poor growth across the […]
Posted in Africa, corruption, Economics, Global Economy, India, World
A Lesson in Impunity
Posted on October 1, 2016.
Hun Sen’s increasingly despotic grip on Cambodia, and his family’s oligopoly of the country’s economy, should invite stronger condemnation and countermeasures from the West. In July of this year, the NGO Global Witness published an excoriating exposé of Hun Sen, prime minister of Cambodia. The thrust of their criticism was directed at […]
China’s Foreign Investments: the Dilemmas of Myanmar’s Myitsone Project
Posted on August 10, 2016.
Here in Britain, the ongoing sagas of the EU referendum result and the planned Hinkley Point nuclear development have cast some light on a typically opaque area of public policy; the negotiation of international economic cooperation and investment. Over five thousand miles away, Myanmar is grappling with similar issues. How does a country balance the […]
Out of Sight, Out of Mind: On the History and Legality of Detention Centres
Posted on May 7, 2016.
It’s official: Australia’s “Stop the Boats” campaign is a success. Or so the government claims. Back in 2013, former Prime Minister Tony Abbott ascended to his post in part because of his pledge to “stop the boats,” or, in less catchy rhetoric, to prevent asylum seekers – mostly arriving by sea from the Middle East […]
Posted in Africa, Asia, Australia, Conflict, Europe, Iran, Political Security, Refugees, Syria, UN, World
Aid or Trade? Problems with the UN’s Human Development Figures
Posted on May 3, 2016.
By Amanda Beal and Maria Sofia This past September, many of the world’s leaders gathered in New York to sign the United Nations (UN) new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Numerous man-hours and unspeakable amounts of money have been used to promote this transition and enhance the global partnership for development. However, no one yet […]
Posted in Africa, Asia, Economics, Global Economy, Humanitarian Intervention, Latin America, UN, World
Could Taiwan be Asia-Pacific’s Ukraine?
Posted on March 30, 2016.
Xi Jinping’s recent pledge to “resolutely contain the ‘Taiwan independence’ secessionist activities in any form” has commentators and politicians worried that tensions may be rising. Indeed, given that this comes only two months after Taiwan’s presidential election – where Beijing’s preferred KMT candidate, Eric Chu, was convincingly beaten by pro-independent candidate Tsai Ing-Wen – cross-strait […]
Posted in Asia, Ukraine Conflict, World
Htin Kyaw, Herald of a Bright Future?
Posted on March 20, 2016.
Image by United Nations Photo Urging caution in light of Myanmar’s new president. His selection leaves many questions unanswered. Following on from Monday’s vote in parliament, Htin Kyaw has become president of Myanmar. Does he represent a new dawn for a nation which has languished in the shadows of poverty and authoritarianism? He is a […]
‘Killer Robots’ and the Third Revolution in Warfare
Posted on March 4, 2016.
War will never again be the same. Autonomous weapons have nearly arrived, and so far nothing has been able to stop them. At the 2015 International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence, an open letter—signed by over three thousand of the world’s most relevant robotics experts, and endorsed by luminaries including Stephen Hawking, Nobel Laureate […]
Sino-U.S. Competition and India Policy
Posted on February 16, 2016.
Introduction At the time of India’s independence in 1947 the world had just witnessed the end of the Second World War and was slowly being engulfed in a new power struggle with the Cold War. The brewing trend of the time was that of alliance forming with either of the blocs led by the United States (US) […]
Posted in China, Conflict, India, Political Security, Security Issues, US, World
Poll: Most Bangladeshis See Country Pointed in Right Direction
Posted on February 9, 2016.
Recent attacks by extremists have not dampened enthusiasm for future. By Mohammad Ziauddin, Ambassador of Bangladesh to the United States Bangladesh is headed in the right direction. That’s the conclusion of a new survey conducted by the respected International Republican Institute. IRI, an independent, non-partisan U.S. based organization that assists political parties to achieve good […]
Posted in Asia, Bangladesh, Economic Security, Economics, Global Economy, Security Issues, Terrorism, World
Genocide in Myanmar
Posted on November 6, 2015.
Millions of Myanmar’s citizens will go to the polls on 8 November to cast their votes in the first relatively democratic elections in 25 years. At stake is control of the country’s bicameral legislature – the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, which is currently dominated by President Thein Sein’s ruling Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP). As stipulated […]
Posted in Asia, Humanitarian Intervention, Islam, Refugees, Religion, UN, World
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Why Timor-Leste’s Choice of Portuguese Might be Right
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“Today’s Morocco is Not That of the Past”
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When Putsch Comes to Shove: A Historical Take on Trump’s Attack at the Capitol
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The Significance of the Morocco-Israel-US Deal for Regional Peace
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Undoing the GOP Manipulation of the Courts. What the US Can Learn From Germany
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