Is China’s ‘reverse Great Firewall’ quietly blocking global access to official data?

By Meredith Chen For overseas researchers, policymakers, businesses and casual users alike, access to China’s public information is quietly shrinking as a growing number of official websites go dark outside the country, a new study has found. The contraction is far from marginal. A number of Chinese government websites were inaccessible from outside the country, […]

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US and Iran slide towards conflict as military buildup eclipses nuclear talks

Iran and the United States are sliding rapidly towards military conflict as hopes fade for a diplomatic solution to their standoff over Tehran’s nuclear program, officials on both sides and diplomats across the Gulf and Europe say. Iran’s Gulf neighbors and its enemy Israel now consider a conflict to be more likely than a settlement, […]

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After the Visit of JD Vance, the South Caucasus is Being Rewired

U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance’s February 9-11 visit to Armenia and Azerbaijan marked a structural turning point in the South Caucasus. Unlike previous high-level engagements of the United States that generated rhetorical alignment but limited follow-through, this visit embedded the region into long-term American economic, technological, and strategic frameworks. Taking place on the heels of […]

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Bangladesh referendum: The big post-election flashpoint?

By Sarah Shamim Alongside last week’s parliamentary election in Bangladesh, voters also cast their ballots in a national referendum on important constitutional reforms proposed for the country following the July 2024 uprising and ousting of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. The July National Charter, which most political parties signed last year, was approved by 60.26 […]

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How China plans to dominate global trade long after Trump

China sees an opening to turn President Donald Trump’s tariffs to its advantage by reshaping global trade in ways that would insulate its $19 trillion economy from US pressure far into the future. Beijing is exploiting the uncertainty created by Trump to try to stitch China’s vast manufacturing base into the world’s biggest economic blocs, […]

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South Korea’s Yoon awaits verdict as insurrection rulings mount: ‘the game is over’

By Park Chan-kyong Two recent convictions tied to Yoon Suk-yeol’s short-lived 2024 martial law decree have effectively sealed his fate, some legal observers say, as judges prepare to rule on the insurrection charge against the former South Korean president. On Thursday, a three-judge panel at the Seoul Central District Court’s Criminal Division 25 is set […]

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Trump’s claim of Chinese and Russian ships near Greenland ‘not supported by facts’

By Seong Hyeon Choi and Fan Chen A former president of Iceland has rejected US President Donald Trump’s claim that nearby Greenland was surrounded by Chinese and Russian vessels, saying it was “not supported by facts”. In an interview on the sidelines of last weekend’s Munich Security Conference, Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, who was Iceland’s president […]

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What lies beyond Modi’s phone call, letter diplomacy with Tarique

In less than two months, two “personal” letters from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Bangladesh Nationalist Party leader Tarique Rahman, who took oath as PM, may well have done the spadework for New Delhi’s policy direction in dealing with the new government in Dhaka. The first letter was handed over by Indian External Affairs […]

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