Unraavelling Geopolitics
Recent posts
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Farcical peace talks continue in Abu Dhabi as Ukraine shivers under Russia’s winter onslaught
By Stefan Wolff, University of Birmingham, Originally published on The Conversation on February 5, 2026 11:42am EST Russia, Ukraine and the US have met for a second time for trilateral talks to discuss a possible cessation of hostilities. The meeting got off to the same depressing start as the first one had the week before. On February 3, the night before the three sides gathered in Abu Dhabi, a m…
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Is The United States Looking To Make A Quite Comeback In Afghanistan To Reassert Its Primacy In Asia’s Strategic Heartland?
In his latest trip, Khalilzad met with the Taliban government’s Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi in Kabul. After the meeting, the Islamic Emirate’s Foreign Ministry said that “following the withdrawal of foreign forces and the end of the war, engagement between the Taliban and the United States has effectively entered a new phase.” Muttaqi also noted that there are opportunities available across…
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The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) Legitimacy Crisis and Implications for Taiwan
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is facing considerable challenges to its legitimacy, which has historically been based on two foundational pillars: the promise of prosperity and the concept of ‘national rejuvenation’ (民族復興), which includes reunification of Taiwan with the Chinese mainland as a vital aspect. The first pillar is evidently faltering amid slowing economic growth and rising disconten…
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Will China Move To Occupy Taiwan’s Offshore Islands?
China’s belligerence against Taiwan has undergone a massive shift from occasional military exercises triggered by political developments in Taipei, to a sustained military presence around the island nation in a manner that impinges on Taiwan’s sovereignty but remains or appears far below the threshold of a conflict. At the beginning of this year, the Author published an article titled, ‘Taiwan in …
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Understanding Trump’s Seemingly Evolving Stance On Russia-Ukraine War
In what appears to be a dramatic shift in the US President Donald Trump’s position on the Russia-Ukraine war, he recently declared that with proper support Ukraine could retake all of its territory from the Russian military occupation and has agreed to provide the Ukrainian military with targeting intelligence for long-range strikes against Russia’s energy infrastructure. After having met with the…
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India, the US, and The Pendulous Arc: A Quarter-Century of Swinging Partnership
On July 30 th, Trump announced a 25% tariff on Indian exports to the US, which took effect on August 1st. Among the reasons cited for this tariff were high Indian tariffs on US goods and non-tariff trade barriers, together with India’s continued purchase of Russian oil and arms, which was very unusual. Thereafter, on August 6 th, Trump signed another executive order imposing an additional 25% tari…
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Surging Geopolitical Risks In Indian Sub-continent
In a previous article, published on June 20 th, the Author had commended India’s Operation Sindoor as the country’smost meaningful action against Pakistan-sponsored terrorism till date, particularly because of two specific reasons. The first reason was that India continues to maintain that Operation Sindoor is still ongoing, which, as the Author had explained in extensive detail in his previous ar…
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Ukraine Conflict Update: Shifting Battlefield Dynamics and Prospects For Peace Talks
With Russia having intensified its military operations in east Ukraine in recent months, and the Ukrainian forces struggling to maintain a resilient front against the numerically superior Russian military, the battlefield dynamics are increasingly shifting against Ukraine with the prospects for a negotiated settlement to the Ukraine crisis also becoming bleak. Russia has stepped up its military op…
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Operation Sindoor Heralds A New Era Of Indian Deterrence Against Pakistan
India’s Operation Sindoor is probably the most meaningful action the country has taken to combat Pakistan-sponsored terrorism, as it appears to be aimed not just at reinstating deterrence against Pakistan but also maintaining it for the future. On the intervening night of May 6 th and 7 th, India launched its most extensive cross-border strikes inside Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu & Kashmir…
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Trump, Putin, and Ukraine: A Geopolitical Turning Point?
A mere days after the US President Donald Trump’s personal diplomacy with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, Russia has asked Ukraine for the second round of peace talks aimed at exchanging written proposals for a ceasefire and ending the war. This provides a glimpse into what Putin’s vision of a new global order is, which he has been working to establish through his concerted efforts since …
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Geopolitical Insights: Pahalgam Terror Attack and China-Pakistan Nexus
The mainstream media is abuzz with reports of how tensions between India and Pakistan have been intensifying following the recent Pakistan-sponsored terror attack in the Indian town of Pahalgam. What seems to be getting less traction, though, is the major role played by China in the flare up of these tensions, which is important to understand for anyone who wants to gauge the strategic fallout of …
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Transforming Eurasian Trade: The Middle Corridor’s Role Post-2022
For several years, the Middle Corridor was only making gradual progress, however, with the onset of Russia-Ukraine conflict in 2022 and the ensuing intensification of sanctions on Russia as well as Ukraine’s concerted attacks on Russian critical infrastructure linked to international transit routes, it has become a key alternative for trade between Europe and Asia, particularly China with other co…
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Ukraine’s Drone Strikes Against Russia Could Accelerate Central Asia’s Rise As An Alternative Transit Hub For Asia-Europe Trade
Earlier this month, Russia claimed to have repelled a Ukrainian drone attack on a compressor station that is part of the TurkStream pipeline system taking Russian gas to Europe. “In repelling the attack, Russian air defences downed three Ukrainian drones at a safe distance from the compressor station,” the Russian Defence Ministry reportedly said in statement issued on March 1 st, referring to the…
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Taiwan in an Unfolding Crisis: Are We Witnessing a Boiling Frog Scenario?
Earlier this month, a Chinese-owned freighter allegedly severed a critical undersea telecom cable off Taiwan’s northern coast. Taiwan’s Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said that it sent a patrol vessel to investigate a report on January 3rd from telecoms provider, Chunghwa Telecom that a subsea communications cable near Keelung had been damaged. Per the account of events given by the CGA, upon ar…
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Sino-Russian Educational Ties Could Boost China’s Military Edge
Earlier this month, images and videos of two previously unknown Chinese combat aircraft emerged, taking airpower observers across countries by surprise. Going by the media reports and commentaries by aviation experts these aircraft appear to be sixth-generation fighter prototypes undergoing flight tests. While this is definitely a major milestone for China’s aviation sector, it is also an alarming…
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A White Supremacist Tried To Blow Up A Power Station In The US Using A Bomb-laden Drone
The foiled attempt by a White Supremacist in the United States (US) to attack an energy facility with a bomb-laden drone should serve as a wakeup call for the governments across the world that advances in drone warfare in conflict areas abroad like Ukraine, could have potential internal security implications. A man from the State of Tennessee in the US was recently arrested and charged with attemp…
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India Wins The First Round Of Ongoing Border Stand-off With China! Two More To Go
In what is being reported as a major diplomatic breakthrough, India and China have completed the disengagement process at the border. While this is certainly a significant achievement toward realising normalisation between the two countries, experts still suggest that India must exercise caution as it engages further with China for complete resolution of tensions that began in 2020. India’s Foreig…
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What Is Behind China’s Unreasonable Demands At The LAC?
The Tribune, an Indian English-language daily newspaper, published a report on September 28, citing unnamed sources in the Indian government, which said that the Chinese are demanding that their troops be allowed to patrol two spots in Arunachal Pradesh. These two spots, one of which is in the Yangtse area north-east of Tawang, where Indian and Chinese troops had clashed in December 2022, and the …
