In a video message released in advance of the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought, marked on Monday, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned that the world loses 24 billion tons of fertile land every year, and that the degradation in land quality is responsible for a reduction in the national domestic product of up to eight per cent every year.
Photo: Safalta
The IS narrative in India appears to have gained a new meaning and importance after the Sri Lanka bombings which revealed complex networks through which the Islamic State tends to radicalize people and facilitates terror plots. Self-financed attacks carried out by a close-knit group of educated and computer savvy individuals without any criminal background are emerging as the newest set of perpetrators.
Photo: Agencies
Indian Muslims in general and especially those in conflict theatres of Kashmir have not made common cause with the alleged sufferings of their fellow Muslims elsewhere in the world;, the prospect of living in a caliphate has also not held out much of an attraction for them.
Photo: Quartz
One fundamental change in India’s policy under Modi has been to avoid directly countering China’s expanding commercial footprint inside India’s neighbouring nations. China has created an added challenge for India in that the southern country’s work with its neighbours appears diminished, even disinterested, in comparison to the high speed delivery of China’s mega projects.
It is dubious that the Belt and Road Initiative is healthy for Kenya’s long-term development. People should pay close attention to the debt relation between China and Kenya, and above all should prioritize the treatment and welfare of Kenyan workers who are most directly affected by the two countries’ growing relationship.
Photo:PSCU
The US- China strategic brinkmanship presents India with a host of opportunities. India can emerge as a major manufacturing hub and a trading partner of choice for the US; broaden and deepen strategic relations bilaterally with the US as well as under a multi-lateral framework nudge China on the border issue and utilize China’s distraction to build capacity to bridge the power asymmetry
Photo: The Geopolitics
The tenets of the US Air – Sea Battle concept against China’s military adventure in the IPR is premised on the capacity of a militarily empowered ally to limit the initial ingress and set the stage for the US intervention forces to join the fray.
ISIS’s reclusive leader has taken a rare risk at an unusual moment: in 2019 the “Caliphate” is gone and Baghdadi has to move around clandestinely in a hostile environment patrolled by the most powerful military in the world. It remains to be seen if the frequency of Baghdadi’s media appearances will change significantly in the future.
Photo: AP
The meeting comes against the backdrop of increasing Chinese influence in the region
Photo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of REpublic of Tajikistan
Afghans know that peace and counter-terrorism mission in Afghanistan is inextricably entwined with international politics as also with Pakistan’s game of terror sponsorship.
Photo: RFE/RL