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In 1971, Bangladesh emerged as an independent nation, scarred by Pakistan’s brutal military crackdown—a conflict that claimed millions of lives. Over five decades later, Pakistan’s attempts to influence South Asia remain persistent, with its recent overtures towards Dhaka raising eyebrows. However, Islamabad’s legacy of unstable alliances, opportunistic partnerships, and internal mismanagement offers a stark warning for Bangladesh. Pakistan’s troubled relationships with Afghanistan, China, and the United States serve as cautionary tales, revealing why a closer partnership with Islamabad could imperil Dhaka’s progress.

United States President Donald J. Trump is in that stage of his life where he must be asking himself, “If not me, who? If not now, when?” And Trump has a powerful platform to get things he wants done, make good the promises he made, which catapulted him to power, for a second time after a gap of four years and much maligning coming his way during those four years on a Florida golf course.

It seems as if finally, the three years old Russia-Ukraine might end after the US President Donald Trump’s pompous intervention. The Russian President Vladimir Putin has assumed a noticeably favourable tone, downplaying Trump’s economic threats, while Trump blames Ukrainian President Zelensky squarely as the one who started the war.

NEW YORK: “The reckless approval of an agreement with the Hamas terror organization . . . represents a disgraceful surrender. This deal forfeits the IDF’s (Israel Defense Forces) hard-won achievements in the war, involves withdrawing forces from Gaza, and halts the fighting in a manner that capitulates to Hamas,” read the statement by Itamar Ben-Gvir, the leader of the Jewish Power party, as he resigned from the post of minister of national security earlier this week.

Just six days have passed since the inauguration of Donald Trump as the second term President of the United States of America and his policy announcements on the first day in office. The impact varies from country to country but nowhere it is more panicky than in the European Union countries, especially Germany and France. The process further intensified on Thursday when Trump elaborated on his policies through his interaction with the World Economic Forum at Davos.

The Trump administration's exploration of creating a national Strategic Bitcoin Reserve (SBR) may usher in a new era of global financial strategy, one defined by digital assets rather than traditional monetary instruments. This concept marks a potential seismic shift in how nations perceive and secure wealth, akin to the historical role of gold reserves in fortifying national economies. By anchoring such a reserve in Bitcoin, the United States is not only signalling its readiness to embrace the decentralized financial revolution but also positioning itself at the forefront of a burgeoning ‘crypto arms race’.

Ever since the inauguration on January 20 of Donald Trump as the U.S. President for the second term, the series of announcements made by the far right American President targeted its neighbouring countries Mexico and Canada as a part Trump’s expansionist agenda, Trump renamed the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America and imposed 25 per cent tariff on Mexico and Canada on their exports to the U.S. with effect from February 1 this year.

In Bangladesh, a bunch of unelected interim 'rulers' led by economist Mohammad Yunus is desperately anxious to cosy up to Pakistan, from which their country had seceded violently only five decades ago. In a strange reversal of their own (instant?) history, Bangladeshis have shown an apparent inability to exist and function as an independent, sovereign country in South Asia — only, the irony of the present situation has been lost among Dhaka-based authorities for the moment.

Debt is a crucial source of financing for development. However, when debt becomes burdensome, it can threaten the very sovereignty of a nation. This is the situation that many African states are facing today. I have learned about Africa’s rich mineral wealth from my students from various African States who come to study in India. While Africa is abundant in mineral resources, its people remain very poor.

More than six weeks have passed since the visit of Indian foreign secretary Vikram Misri to Dhaka on December 9 and his wide ranging talks with his Bangladeshi counterpart to improve the worsening bilateral relations between the two neighbouring countries. Latest indications, however, suggest that the interim government headed by Dr. Mohammad Yunus is courting Pakistan in a big way through collaboration in the area of defence sector which poses a security threat to India.