Opinion

By Jamal Ibrahim Haidar & Adeel Malik For decades, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries have exported oil and recycled petrodollars through Western markets and received military protection from the United States. This arrangement has often been described as a strategic alliance. The US-Israeli war...

By Avilash Roul To begin with, managing freshwater, the elixir of life, has once again been put at the top of the unresolved scheme of the world. Several conferences, workshops and hybrid consultations are being organised to set the agenda for the Third UN Water...

By Nikunja Bihari Sahu Water, water everywhere, not a drop to drink, writes Samuel Coleridge in his ‘Rime of the Ancient Mariners’ as the ship of the ancient mariner sailed from the land of mist and snow and treaded into the calm, uncharted waters of...

The recent elections in Nepal saw the Rashtriya Swatantra Party and its leader Balendra Shah win a decisive victory, ending the uncertainty after last September’s revolution and an interim government. The defeat of the current elite is indisputable and gives the new government a strong...

Predictions and projections may not turn out to be accurate. While promises of politicians mostly are found to falter, this may not be the same in the case of professional economists who predict something based on scientific calculations. In this connection, the West Asian crisis...

It is astonishing that, in the 21st century, influential individuals still act as though they were immune to legal consequences. But even more worrying is that they can indeed expect to be shielded from scrutiny over extremely serious crimes. The Jeffrey Epstein scandal is a...

Since the start of the US-Israeli campaign against Iran, only a handful of the 100 vessels that once transited the Strait of Hormuz each day have managed to pass through. Now, with Iran reportedly laying sea mines in the narrow waterway, the possibility of its...

The Iran and US-Israel war reached the red carpet of the 98th Academy Awards as host Conan O’Brien cautioned in his opening monologue at the Oscars on 15 March. “I warn you, tonight could get political,” O’Brien said. “If that makes you uncomfortable, there’s an...

In 2012, facing a shrinking labour force and economic stagnation, then-Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo bet on women. To encourage more women to work, his government rolled out a series of reforms, including expanded childcare, enhanced parental leave, and tax incentives for firms that promoted...

The US-Israeli war with Iran is a striking illustration of an all-too common phenomenon: feasibility bias. The tendency to favour actions primarily because they are technically or operationally possible, rather than because they are strategically optimal, can lead to decidedly suboptimal outcomes. Consider the warring...