West Asia

Syria: Is Assad the solution?
As Syria stumbles into its third year of conflict, President Assad continues to bank on his belief that the longer he remains in power, the more likely that the opposition will be…
Australia-Indonesia relations: How bad is it?
At the beginning of last week it appeared that the row with Indonesia over intelligence issues had quietened down. Prime Minister Abbott had sent what was doubtless a carefully…
The Tejas: Not quite a coming-of-age for India's indigenous defence industry
On 20 December the Indian Air Force (IAF) will induct the country's first indigenous fighter jet, the Tejas Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), in Bangalore. The Tejas has been many…
Indian state elections: BJP and AAP rise, but signs are bad for Congress Party in 2014
Over the past two weeks, five of India's states have gone to the polls. Held less than six months ahead of general elections, due by the end of May next year, this round of…
India: Domestic influences handicap foreign policy
As in nearly any democratic country, India’s domestic politics has long been understood to play an important role in influencing foreign policy. This has been an especially…
India's civil-military dysfunction
Various Indian newspapers have reported that Indian Defence Miniser AK Anthony has written to all the country's political parties requesting their opinions on the creation of a…
Indian media's cautious optimism on General Sharif
The last time Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif successfully appointed a new chief of army, that chief — General Pervez Musharraf — started the Kargil war against India less…
India's stake in the Iran nuclear deal
India has been a helpless, hapless bystander to the Iranian nuclear dispute for the past ten years. Unlike, say, Turkey, India has played no part in the various rounds of…
Riyadh's annus horribilis
As 2013 comes to a close, Saudi Arabia should be concerned that it is increasingly being seen as an observer of events that threaten to re-shape the region in ways that will…
More than a nuclear deal: How the US and Iran can reshape regional security
Whether the interim agreement between Iran and its Western interlocutors lasts the full six months, and what might follow when that period ends, will depend less on the evidence…