Across a Broken Frontier, China and Nepal Unite in Relief
China and Nepal are working across their shattered Himalayan frontier as rescuers search for the missing, monitor unstable lakes and begin the immense task of rebuilding.
South Asia
A Second Flood Threatens Nepal as a New Himalayan Lake Builds Behind the Wreckage
The glacier collapse that unleashed a devastating flood through Tibet and Nepal has created a new danger. Debris has dammed the upper river again, and millions of cubic metres of water are accumulating above communities still recovering from the first disaster.
Britain’s Migration Reversal Is Changing How Indian Students See the UK
Britain’s falling net migration figures are reshaping how Indian students and families judge the value of a UK degree.
The Exit Ramp: How Countries Are Reducing Their Dependence on the Dollar
The dollar still dominates global finance, but states are no longer willing to rely on a single set of payment pathways. From instant domestic systems to new cross-border settlement platforms, a parallel financial infrastructure is taking shape — less about replacing the dollar than about reducing dependence on it.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) / India
India’s AI Reckoning: When Intelligence Becomes Cheaper Than Labour
India’s economic rise was built on exporting educated, English speaking labour at scale. Artificial intelligence is now collapsing the price of intelligence itself. As cognitive work becomes cheaper than human labour, India’s outsourcing and IT services model faces a structural shock arriving far sooner than policymakers admit. This analysis examines why reskilling narratives are failing and what is now at stake.
Economics / Culture / India / South Asia
The Magnificent Indian People: Resilient, Ingenious and Let Down by a Bureaucracy Built to Control
India’s ordinary people street vendors, small traders, farmers, and informal entrepreneurs are among the most resilient and hardworking on earth. They survive through courage and ingenuity, not because of the state, but in spite of it. The real failure lies not with markets or people, but with a bureaucracy designed to control entry, manufacture monopoly, and suppress competition.
India / Culture / South Asia
Mundeshwari: Inside a Great Hindu Temple and a Civilisation That Endures
High on the Kaimur plateau, Mundeshwari Temple is not a relic or a monument but a living expression of a great Hindu civilisation. Unrestored, uninterrupted, and unexplanatory, it reveals how endurance, repetition, and ritual allowed a civilisation to survive while others vanished.
World / China / Economics / Geopolitics / India / Japan / South Asia / South East Asia
The Economic Tripwires Shaping Asia-Pacific Security in 2026
Asia Pacific is entering a new phase where security policy and economic policy have fused into a single bargaining system. Defence budgets, trade law, sanctions, logistics, and digital standards are now instruments of leverage. As 2026 approaches, the next global shock is more likely to arrive through prices, compliance, and supply chains than through open war.
Law / China / Diplomacy / India / Nepal
When Borders Move on Paper Before They Move on the Ground
Border conflict rarely begins with soldiers. It begins with passports, currency, maps, and iconography that harden claims before diplomacy can unwind them. From a woman stopped in Shanghai over her passport to Nepali Banknote with disputed borders, South Asia shows how nationalism now advances through paperwork long before blood is shed.
World / Diplomacy / Geopolitics / India
India’s Multi Axis Diplomacy Is Becoming Infrastructure
India’s December tour of Jordan, Ethiopia, and Oman was not a photo circuit. It was systems diplomacy: trade pacts, corridor access, digital state capacity, and security coordination designed to survive shocks, sanctions, and fragmentation.
Nepal at a Crossroads: Youth Uprising, Rumors of Outside Influence, and a New Judge Who Promises Change
Here is the Chinese Ambassador to Nepal, Hou Yanqi, singing with her colleagues the Nepali folk song Resham Firiri as a Dashain greeting to the people of Nepal. Hou Yanqi served as ambassador from 2018 to 2022 and became known for her cultural diplomacy during a period when Nepal’s ties with China grew markedly closer. […]
India is in the middle of a strategic balancing act between Washington and Moscow
NEW DELHI — The four-day war began before breakfast. On a pale May morning, Indian Air Force fighters rose from bases in Punjab and Jammu; across the line, Pakistani pilots climbed to meet them. By nightfall, both capitals were tallying victories and denying losses. It was not a battle of aerobatics so much as a […]
Nepal’s Fragile Interregnum: From Street Fires to a Caretaker Cabinet
Nepal’s streets have forced a reckoning. In the space of a week, the country has gone from a government certain of its control to a caretaker administration scrambling to contain anger and restore a sense of direction. Youth-led protests—known in shorthand as the “Gen Z” movement—broke out after the state imposed a sudden social media […]
Nepal’s Colour Revolution: Student Protests and the Fight Against Corruption
It began, oddly enough, with a visit most Nepalis barely registered: Victoria Nuland, then U.S. Under Secretary of State, touched down in Kathmandu in 2024 after a swing through Wellington. On paper, it was a routine regional stop — democracy, civil society, and the familiar rhetoric of “partnership.” In hindsight, it reads like reconnaissance. Within […]
Indian Media Sees Britain’s Immigration Upheaval Through Students, Diaspora, and Asylum Abuse
NEW DELHI/LONDON — As Britain’s asylum system creaks under record numbers and Labour’s government pursues reforms, Indian newspapers are watching closely. Their coverage reflects both practical concerns — warnings to Indian students, exposure of fraud — and cultural unease, with diaspora voices comparing Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s rhetoric to Enoch Powell’s. Warnings to Students This […]
Israel’s New Common Language: We Are All Post-Traumatic
Take the case of a young reservist — let’s call him Daniel R. — who fought in Operation Defensive Shield more than two decades ago. In recent months, he has begun to speak publicly about the psychic pain that has shadowed him ever since. His story is not unique, yet it resonates far beyond his […]
Trump drives India into the arms of China
By Jaffa Levy Tianjin, August 31, 2025 — Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged on Sunday to improve relations during their first face-to-face meeting in seven years, held on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Tianjin. The talks come just days after President Donald Trump imposed […]
Modi in China: India at the Crossroads of a Shifting World Order
By Jaffa Levy Prime Minister Narendra Modi has arrived in China for his first visit in seven years, a trip that underscores India’s pivotal role in the changing global order. Modi will attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Tianjin from 31 August to 1 September 2025, where he is expected to meet President […]