Category International Relations and Strategic Studies

Navigating the Escalatory Landscape: Crafting Strategies Amid Israel-Iran Tensions

From Iran's perspective, Israel breached a critical threshold by attacking its diplomatic mission, which Tehran deemed its sovereign territory.

The latest escalation between Israel and Iran marks a significant change in the adversarial relationship between the two antagonists. Not since the first Persian Gulf War of 1990-91, when the Iraqi military under Saddam Hussein struck Israel with SCUD missiles, have the Israelis been subjected to a missile attack on the scale the Iranians executed. Tehran’s most recent salvo involved a combination of drones and missiles. The missile barrage consisted of a mixture of cruise and ballistic missiles. Israel’s missile defences intercepted an estimated 331 missiles launched by the Iranians.

Navigating the Complex Dynamics of West Asian Geopolitics: Preventing Escalation

What will the complex calculus of the new Middle East crisis resolve into, and what will be the impact on India?

ISRAEL has succeeded in diverting world attention from Gaza and Hamas to Iran. This is similar to how Hamas, in October 2023, successfully short-circuited US efforts at normalising relations between the Arab states and Israel under the Abrahams Accord.

These moves and countermoves are ratcheting up the intensity of conflict in West Asia with serious global implications, including for India. The Indian approach seems to be similar to that in the case of the conflict in Ukraine— to play both sides.

Navigating the Rough Seas: China’s Impact on the Indo-Pacific

China continues to warn regional players of negative consequences of their actions. Yet, it is Beijing’s own behaviour that is reshaping the Indo-Pacific landscape.

Escalating Tensions: Philippines Confronts China's Aggression in the South China Sea

The waters of the South China Sea are roiling again; this time, it is the Philippines that is at the heart of the turbulence. Although Manila and Beijing have been at loggerheads over submerged shoals in the South China Sea for decades, China has upped the ante in recent months with Chinese ships firing water cannons and ramming into Philippine ships. Beijing’s grey zone tactics have been evident to the wider world, with Manila hoping that perhaps this negative publicity would force China to back off. But that has not been the case so far.

Navigating Indo-Pacific Dynamics: Assessing AUKUS, QUAD, and the Evolving Security Landscape

Even though there are some views that India would be left out if AUKUS expands as its QUAD partners will all be integrated into this security arrangement, QUAD plus will still have the requisite capacity to jointly confront the challenges in the Indo-Pacific and elsewhere as the convergences and interoperability become increasingly more salient and sustaining, observes former diplomat Amb. Anil Trigunayat.

Ukraine’s Diplomatic Endeavors: Strengthening Ties with India and Exploring New Alliances

The Russia-Ukraine war shows no signs of ending any time soon. The death and destruction is all-pervasive, but both sides continue to insist that they will fight on. For Ukraine, it's a matter of survival, and for Russia, it's a matter of national pride. Russian attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure now extend well behind the frontlines even as its missile strikes and shelling have escalated in an attempt to turn the war decisively in Moscow's favour. Last week, Russia fired around 100 missiles and drones on Ukraine, leaving several regions experiencing partial blackouts, a set of tactics that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called “missile terror”. Ukraine, meanwhile, is scouring for support from across the world as it tries to shore up defence production at home and build an integrated electronic warfare control system.

Tensions Escalate Between Iran and Israel as Global Concerns Mount

Defiance of international laws has become a norm even by smaller and middle powers which has further emboldened the non-state actors in the bargain

As Iran celebrated its 45th anniversary of the establishment of the Islamic Republic two things have not abated one is the spate of Western sanctions on Iran and the second is the mutually assured destruction syndrome with Israel. Low-intensity, clandestine attacks on strategic assets and grey zone warfare have continued apace by both sides. But rhetoric is no longer being expressed in words alone. The threat of increasing wider conflagration in the region is becoming real.

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