The soft power of the European Union (EU) has been the first to be impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, as recent developments have compromised the free movement of citizens by disrupting the Schengen area for more than a year and a half already. This comes at a critical time for the Union, as other events have lately undermined the unity of the…

COVID-19 pandemic continues to have an impact on the entire spectrum of life. India and Pakistan are both affected by the coronavirus but will recover eventually. When the pandemic subdues, the strategic issues of contention between India and Pakistan are unlikely to be altered. The contemporary strategic environment in South Asia will not inspire…

Indian Prime Minister Modi will soon be traveling to the United States where he’ll meet with U.S. President Joe Biden as well as his fellow Quad leaders from Australia and Japan during their first-ever in-person summit. He will then address the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). His trip takes place against the background of the ever more…

This article is based upon a paper given on 27 August 2021 at the NIICE International Studies Convention, hosted in Katmandu by the Nepal Institute for International Cooperation and Engagement (NIICE). This paper briefly discusses Russian Orthodoxy and its contemporary use as a tool of soft power. The Russian state appears to position itself as a…

Political pressure and anxiety over a fourth wave of the Coronavirus is now replacing clinical data and science. President Joe Biden’s overused talking point in stating ‘science will dictate the vaccines’ seems to be going by the wayside with the White House pressuring the Food and Drug Administration following a pre-emptive announcement to…

The volatile geopolitics of the Middle East and North Africa and its unstable balance of power in the aftermath of the 2011 uprisings in the Arab world and the 2015 Iran Nuclear Deal have correspondingly influenced the political relations between Israel and the Arab states around the Persian Gulf to become strategically stronger and diplomatically…

The Taliban have declared a general amnesty and announced that no one will be arrested or punished. They have announced to be protecting everyone, including all Afghan nationals, irrespective of their affiliation, race, ethnicity, faction, religion, ideology, etc. Similarly, they have guaranteed the safety of all embassies, UN missions, diplomats…

After the United States withdrawal from Afghanistan, Arab countries are wondering whether Syria – which has hundreds of American soldiers – will be the next country to witness a U.S. withdrawal. This was already stated in an analytical article in Foreign Policy magazine.Source: Reuters The piece says that given current U.S. President Joe Biden’s…

Krieg ist das Ergebnis einer falschen Politik und sein Erbe Not und Elend.1 (From Gestrüpp meines Lebens, a diary kept by my grandfather, Helmuth Banik)


Source: Wikipedia

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Cultural diversity or universal uniformity? Peaceful co-existence of nation-states or institutional…

With the reform process in Ukraine slowing down and no end to the conflict in the Donbass in sight, how successful has EU policy been in Ukraine?Source: 061.uaUkraine is deep in the integration process with the EU and although there are certainly many prominent voices in Ukraine which are judgemental of the country’s European turn, the people, the…

The Taliban’s lightning-fast takeover of Afghanistan was a “black-swan” event that completely changed the geostrategic situation in Central and South Asia. It also resulted in Russia’s pragmatic ties with the Taliban coming to the forefront of global attention after its officials’ generally positive assessments of the group, which their…

It was only a matter of time before vaccine mandates and passports entered the mainstream dialogue. It started with floating out the narrative in gaining public support of the vaccinated and claiming the virus as a pandemic of the unvaccinated. The us and them divide has been created. National levels of government then took the lead in requiring…