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Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi meet on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Tianjin, China, on Monday. The meeting exposed a central tension in New Delhi’s foreign policy: a desire not to be tied down.
COMMENTARY
Sep 3, 2025

India’s diplomatic dance: Cosmetic rapprochement and an enduring rivalry

India’s moves at the SCO were neither a tilt toward Beijing nor a retreat from the West.
China’s parade marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, attended by dictatorial leaders like Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un, highlights Beijing’s attempts to rewrite history and promote an alternative authoritarian order.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 3, 2025

The disturbing message behind China’s ‘grand parade’

This international gathering in the Chinese capital's Tiananmen Square illuminated what might be termed the “Beijing Consensus” in its starkest form.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba meets with his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, in Tokyo on Friday.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 3, 2025

Can India and Japan deliver on their energy agenda?

As geopolitics in the Indo-Pacific shifts, energy has become central to how India and Japan define their partnership.
Many Bangladeshis hoped that the overthrow of long-time leader Sheikh Hasina last year would revitalize the country’s democracy after an authoritarian lurch under the “iron lady.” Instead it has led to proliferating human-rights abuses, intensifying repression and widespread Islamist violence.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 3, 2025

Bangladesh is a South Asian time bomb

Many had hoped that Hasina’s ouster would open the way for Bangladesh to transition to democracy following an authoritarian lurch under the “iron lady.”

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past