Global Outlook

Now that Russia is a much-diminished power―an impoverished, geographically and demographically shrunken shell of its superpower glory―NATO’s purpose might be changing once again to kick the Russians while down, help the Americans out, and box the Chinese in.

The US government has decided to supply cluster munitions to Ukraine after lengthy internal controversial debates. With this measure, the next step on the escalation ladder in this murderous war will be climbed

Taliban apologism is an ongoing and growing public relations campaign to justify their draconian order, paving the way for an international recognition of this terrorist group as Afghanistan’s true potentates and normalising the Taliban internationally as the legitimate rulers of Afghanistan.

A new set of Orientalist narratives are deliberately romanticising the Taliban as the natural rulers of Afghanistan. This is a dangerous and flawed strategy emerging in at least five false narratives about the Afghan society and the Taliban.

The end of June brought monsoon rains to North India as it always does. The rains were a welcome respite from the scorching heat the region reeled under since March. The heat waves that swept through North India in 2023 attest to the fact that India is witnessing and enduring the impacts of climate change.

The Ukraine war is not between Russia and Ukraine but between Russia and NATO led by the US. Russia’s declared objective of its “special military operation” is preventing the future expansion of NATO closer to its borders. If this proposition is correct, then one cannot avoid the conclusion that Russia has so far not gained any of its objectives in this war.