Syria, Turkey and military intervention
The changing nature of the clashes indicates Syria is drifting into a civil war. Long-lasting fights mean more pain for Syrian people. However, without foreign intervention, regime change and a solution seem difficult. READ MORE
Why Russia Matters to China
As the regime of Vladimir Putin faces the most serious challenge of its 12 years in power, Chinese leaders will be watching apprehensively. Instability in Russia, which shares a 2,600 mile-long border with China, would be a major strategic problem for China. The obvious resemblance to the Arab Spring is still more threatening for a ruling party that lives in fear of repeating the fate of the Soviet Union. If uprisings in Egypt and Libya created a strategic headache for China, Russia has the potential to be a migraine. READ MORE
The United States and China: friends under compulsion
The United States and China could be considered the two super powers, but one is dealing with the financial crisis and seeks to keep its dominant position in global politics, and the other pursues economic growth and expands its military power. This impression occurred during the summer discussions in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate, when budget deficit problems were solved by raising the U.S. debt ceiling by several trillions dollars, and when the ratings agency Standard & Poor‘s downgraded the U.S. credit rating to AA+ from its top rank AAA. China criticized the economic policy pursued by the White House. READ MORE
Europe, the International System and a Generational Shift
Change in the international system comes in large and small doses, but fundamental patterns generally stay consistent. From 1500 to 1991, for example, European global hegemony constituted the world’s operating principle. Within this overarching framework, however, the international system regularly reshuffles the deck in demoting and promoting powers, fragmenting some and empowering others, and so on. Sometimes this happens because of war, and sometimes because of economic and political forces. While the basic structure of the world stays intact, the precise way it works changes. READ MORE
Tajikistan’s Transportation Challenge: Ending Dependency On Uzbek Transit Routes
As relations between Dushanbe and Tashkent have become increasingly strained due to multiple factors, including water resources and energy supplies, Tajikistan is trying to end its reliance on Uzbekistan’s highways and railroads. Tashkent has closed most of the Soviet-era highways linking the countries, and Tajikistan’s cargo transit through Uzbek railroads has suffered frequent interruptions since 2009 (www.news.kob.tj August 10, 2010; Ruzgor.tj March 19, 2010). READ MORE
A jump of the Asian “tiger” to Eastern Europe
For China is not enough to conquer all of the Far East and Asia’s neighbors. According to the Russian journal Vlast, China seeks to consolidate its influence in the countries which are considered by Moscow as the zones of its influence: Ukraine and Belarus. Beijing started investing to the economies of the above post-soviet countries. READ MORE
EU-China relations in times of crisis
The European Union does not take its relations with Beijing seriously enough, as evidenced by the unilateral postponement of the 14th EU-China summit and the failure to grant China Market Economy Status, argues Sebastian Bersick. READ MORE
China and India at War: Study Contemplates Conflict Between Asian Giants
There are plenty of reasons why China and India won't go to war. The two Asian giants hope to reach $100 billion in annual bilateral trade by 2015. Peace and stability are watchwords for both nations' rise on the world stage. Yet tensions between the neighbors seem inescapable: they face each other across a heavily militarized nearly 4,000km-long border and are increasingly competing against each other in a scramble for natural resources around the world. Indian fears over Chinese projects along the Indian Ocean rim were matched recently by Beijing's ire over growing Indian interests in the South China Sea, a body of water China controversially claims as its exclusive territorial sphere of influence. Despite the sense of optimism and ambition that drives these two states, which comprise between them nearly a third of humanity, the legacy of the brief 1962 Sino-Indian war (a humiliating blow for India) still smolders nearly five decades later. READ MORE
China, India, Iran and Pakistan Crowd Russia in Today’s Great Game in Central Asia
When I was in Dushanbe, India’s defense minister just happened to be in the neighborhood, and popped in for a visit. READ MORE
Putin trip to Beijing signals troubled partnership
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s recent visit to Beijing followed disclosure of a crackdown on Chinese spying and produced signs that Russia is now becoming the junior partner in its relationship with China, with fewer areas of agreement or cooperation, according to analysts in Moscow and Beijing. READ MORE
