COMMENT 122 – Pakistan’s tribal areas are brought in from the cold
An important domestic development occurred in Pakistan last month which went largely unnoticed externally: the merger of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), the tribal region along the border with Afghanistan, with the neighbouring province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KPK). This merger is a crucial moment for the almost...
COMMENT 121 – Strategic Alternatives to Life-Threatening Salts
This paper sums up a communication which will be presented at the Regional Science Association International’s World Congress taking place from 28 May to 1 June in Goa, India.
1. The destruction of life through salinization
The issue I am highlighting today, salinization, is hardly a novelty; it has been around...
COMMENT 120 – The Boao-Forum for Asia and China’s reforming of global governance: Why...
In the shadow of the growing US-China trade tension and the North Korean imbroglio, China is preparing for the 2018 annual meeting at the ‘Boao-Forum for Asia’. Not silently, but hardly noticed by the international media, especially the once in the West and some Asian regions, like South Asia....
COMMENT 119 – The Tashkent Forum: a new hope for Afghanistan’s future
‘The Tashkent Forum’ was first presented in a joint initiative by Uzbekistan and Afghanistan during the UN Security Council session in New York on January 19, 2018. The Tashkent International Conference named “Peace Process, Security Cooperation and Regional Connectivity” will be held in Tashkent on the 26 and 27...
COMMENT 118 – Pakistan’s increasing focus on tactical nuclear weapons and its consequences
Last year, Pakistan’s Strategic Plans Division (SPD) tested an improved version of the Hatf-IX Nasr nuclear capable short-range ballistic missile, a system that could be described as a tactical nuclear weapon (TNW), or a nonstrategic/battlefield nuclear weapon. The recent tests of the Nasr have brought back into focus Pakistan’s...
COMMENT 117 – Globalisation: A view from India
The concept of global village coined by Marshall Mcluhan in the 1960s is materialising in the current phase of globalisation. The concept of global village entails several meanings - an ideal, a destination to be reached and a conceptualisation of the ongoing transformation in the community. The world in...