The Taliban don’t know what to do — Afghanistan’s challenges

Written by Tim Foxley

A collapse back into civil war is not inevitable, but the Taliban are clearly struggling to move from an insurgency to a government.

What lies beneath the iceberg, delving deeper into #GotaGoHome

Written by Nathasha Fernando

Wickremesinghe is therefore in a clear dilemma as he is not only expected to negotiate with the International Monetary Fund for a sovereign debt bailout, debt restructuring, and economic recovery plan but to also appease Sri Lanka’s minorities and their broader calls for accountability.

Navigating Australia’s defence challenges

Written by Melissa Conley Tyler and Tom Barber

With a potential submarine capability gap, troubled procurement projects, and overall, a limited funding envelope in a deteriorating strategic environment, few would envy the Defence Minister’s job.

Pernicious anti-politics — illiberal “Unity” and the future of dissent in the Philippines

Written by Anthony Lawrence Borja

We must remember that Marcos Jr.’s pernicious anti-politics, veiled by both his rhetoric of unity and silence on controversial political issues, has resonated with many Filipinos.

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Press freedoms in Pakistan — as polarisation deepens, journalism pays the price

Written by Furqan Khan

Targeting and punishing dissenting voices threatens to define Pakistan’s political culture. However, repressing dissenting voices is a self-inflicted wound.

South Asia9DLSeptember 13, 20229DashLine, Press freedoms in Pakistan — as polarization deepens, journalism pays the price, Furqan Khan, Pakistan, press freedom, Free Press, journalism, journalists, media, media freedom, Imran Khan, anti-terrorism act, torture, police, Shehbaz Gill, military, polarisation, Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM), Pashtun Tahafuz Movement, PTM, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, PML-N, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, PTI, opposition, democracy, blackout, violence, Pakistan’s National Assembly, Prevention of Electronic Crimes Bill (2015), internet, censorship, Hamid Mir, Cyril Almeida, Dawn Leaks, Dawn, Pakistan Media Development Authority (PMDA), Pakistan Media Development Authority, PMDA, Twitter, treason, Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Reporters Without Borders, RSF, World Press Freedom Index, Shehbaz Sharif, Imran Riaz Khan, Ayaz Mir, ARY News, Salman Iqbal, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Pakistan People’s Party, PPP, Farhat Ullah Babar, military establishment, Daniel Bastard, elite, Jang Group’s Geo TV, Jang Group, Geo TV, Maryam Nawaz Sharif, freedom of expression, repression

US interest in the Pacific Islands tested at Pacific Islands Conference of Leaders

Written by Henrietta McNeill and Joanne Wallis

This week’s meeting, and President Biden’s meeting with Pacific leaders, will both be key signals for how Pacific states are responding to the US’ sudden renewed interest in the region.

Pacific9DLSeptember 12, 20229DashLine, US interest in the Pacific Islands tested at Pacific Island Conference of Leaders, Henrietta McNeill, Joanne Wallis, US, Pacific Islands, Pacific Islands Forum, Pacific Island Conference of Leaders, regionalism, PICL, Hawaii, Fiji, 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent, Micronesian five, Kiribati, Solomon Islands, China, Wang Yi, Timor-Leste, Frank Bainimarama, Kamala Harris, George Ariyoshi, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, David W. Panuelo, Micronesia, Northern Pacific Ocean, Guam, Compact of Free Association, CNMI, FSM, Marshall Islands, Pacific Islands Development Programme, Council of Regional Organisations in the Pacific, East-West Center, US Congress, Honiara, Palau, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Joe Biden, Manasseh Sogavare, Forum Fisheries Agency, Australia, New Zealand

Seoul cannot have a credible Indo-Pacific strategy without Taiwan

Written by Zsuzsa Anna Ferenczy and Tereza Novotna

Much of this is also about how far Seoul will be prepared to join many of its partners in working with Taiwan. In other words, if South Korea wants to play a bigger role in the Indo-Pacific, it is high time that Seoul joins the ‘Taiwan club’.

East Asia9DLSeptember 9, 20229DashLine, Zsuzsa Anna Ferenczy, Tereza Novotna, Seoul cannot have a credible Indo-Pacific strategy without Taiwan, Republic of Korea, south korea, China, PRC, Taiwan, japan, Shinzo Abe, USA, Yoon Suk-yeol, semiconductors, Nancy Pelosi, Indo-Pacific, Beijing, Seoul, Taiwan Strait, Tokyo, middle power, Security, Washington, Park Jin, india, Australia, defence, Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, EU, Brussels, European Parliament, Covid, Global Cooperation and Training Framework, GCTF, Taipei, quad, Nobuo Kishi, US-Japan Security Consultative Committee, Supply Chain Resilience Initiative, Pelosi, People’s Republic of China, Korea, South Korea, Japan, India, COVID, COVID19, Taiwan Model, Europe, Xi Jinping, hybrid warfare, cyberattacks, THAAD, Quad, Quaderateral Security Dialogue, SCRI, Delhi, Taiwan Club, Russia, Ukraine

The EU’s self-perceived role in the Indo-Pacific — still a normative power?

Written by Phuong Mai Tran

Obviously, the EU must prioritise Europe’s defence. The important question here is whether its Indo-Pacific strategy would be affected as a result.

Pacific9DLSeptember 8, 20229DashLine, The EU’s self-perceived role in the Indo-Pacific — still a normative power?, Phuong Mai Tran, EU, European Union, Indo-Pacific, normative power, Indo-Pacific strategy, Brussels, geopolitical, France, Germany, The Netherlands, European Commission, EU High Representative, joint communication, military, Ursula von der Leyen, von der Leyen, Vice-President Borrell, Borrell, Josep Borrell, President von der Leyen, proactive cooperative power, strategic autonomy, democracy, rule of law, human rights, Human RIghts, sustainable development, Common Security and Defence Policy, CSDP, partnership, multi-dimensional, cooperative power, polarisation, ASEAN, minilateral, minilateralism, US, Japan, UK, Australia, India, China, Multilateralism, Global Gateway, trade, cyberattacks, like-minded partners, Indian Ocean, Russia, Ukraine, PHUONG MAI TRAN

Announcing webinar: India's geoeconomic policy in the Indo-Pacific

As Washington and Beijing vie for influence in the capitals of the Indo-Pacific, India seems to be trying to garner influence from outside the largest trade agreements ever signed.

Register now to join us on Thursday, 8 September at your local time.

News9DLSeptember 7, 2022India, geoeconomic, Indo-Pacific, Indo-Pacific Circle, CSDR, The Council for Strategic Defense Research, Gulshan Sachdeva

In Conversation: Katie Stallard on ‘Dancing on Bones’

9DASHLINE recently sat down with Katie Stallard to discuss her new book ‘Dancing on Bones: History and Power in China, Russia, and North Korea’. Drawing on first-hand, on-the-ground reporting, this fascinating book examines how the leaders of China, Russia, and North Korea manipulate the past to serve the present and secure the future of authoritarian rule.

In Conversation9DLSeptember 6, 2022In Conversation: Katie Stallard on ‘Dancing on Bones’, 9DashLine, Katie Stallard, China, Russia, North Korea, authoritarian rule, regime types, historical memory, political tool, Soviet, ‘century of humiliation’, CCP, Mao Zedong, Kim Il-sung, Japan, US, regime mythology, Korean War, Putin, Kim Jong-un, Xi Jinping, Ukraine war, Kremlin, Moscow, Pyongyang, Beijing, Kim Jong Un, Kim Jong Il, intercontinental ballistic missile, nuclear programme, long-range missile capabilities, Post-Soviet Russia, The Great Patriotic War, Cold War, USSR, nationalism, strong-man politics, populist, ‘patriotic education’ initiatives, populist narratives, WWII, Kim Jong-il, Great Patriotic War, WW2, Chinese Communist Party, Xi, Nazis, fascists, Jewish, Holocaust, Ukraine, Crimea, Kyiv, Kim Il Sung, South Korea, ICBM, Trump, Donald Trump, George Orwell, Oxford University Press, New Statesman

Chinese public databases leaks reveal growing dissatisfaction with authorities

Written by Antonia Hmaidi

Chinese hackers, who until recently firmly sided with or at least tolerated the Communist Party of China (CCP), are now increasingly leaking government data.

Cyberspace and the DPRK: Evolving cyber strategy

Written by Abhishek Sharma

The DPRK’s targeting of US public and private organisations shows how far it will go to challenge the US. The (geo)political divide in technology will only make it more problematic.

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Campaigns, criminalisation and concessions: Indigenous land rights in Cambodia

Written by Bunly Soeung

In Cambodia, the violation of the land rights of indigenous peoples who have lived for thousands of years in their ancestral forests continues unabated.

Editor's Picks9DLAugust 31, 20229DashLine, Campaigns, criminalisation, and concessions: indigenous land rights in Cambodia, Bunly Soeung, Cambodia, indigenous communities, indigenous peoples, indigenous rights, chuncheat, Khmer, North Cambodia, North Eastern Cambodia, Ratanakiri, Mondulkiri, Kratie, Stung Treng, Kampong Thom, Preah Vihear, forests, natural resources, agricultural production, slash-and-burn cultivation, forest resources, Khmer Rouge, civil war, abolished private land ownership, vietnam, UNTAC, timber extraction, agro-industrial plantation, Department of Ethnic Minorities Development, Ministry of Rural Development and Land Law, Land Management and Administration Project, Sub-Decree on Economic Land Concessions, UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Protected Area Law, National Policy on the Development of Indigenous Peoples, Sub-Decree No. 83, registration of land, private industrial agriculture companies, LICADHO, economic land concessions, ELCs, state land, industrial agriculture investment, rural communities, large-scale industrial agriculture, granted lands, human rights, hydropower construction, exploitative mining, illegal logging, deforestation, displacement, environmental pollution, ruling elite, concessions, China, Foreign Direct Investment, FDI, patron-client networks, political elites, patronage system, corruption, land policy reform, politico-commercial elites, high-ranking officials, Try Pheap, TTY, Chinese Guangdong Hengfu Group, Communal land registration, legal communal land titles, Ministry of Rural Development, Ministry of Interior, Chong, Koh Kong, Areng Valley, hydropower dam, Ministry of Environment, lèse-majesté, Chut Wutty, Ven Vorn, Mother Nature Cambodia, Casotim, Phnom Penh, BUNLY SOEUNG

Unending hybridity: Has Shahbaz Sharif’s arrival changed Pakistan’s politics?

Written by Ayesha Siddiqa

Pakistan has just turned 75, but there is little hope in people’s hearts for a transformation from a decades-old military dominated power to a country under greater civilian control.

South Asia9DLAugust 29, 20229DashLine, Unending hybridity: Has Shahbaz Sharif’s arrival changed Pakistan’s politics?, Ayesha Siddiqa, Shahbaz Sharif, Pakistan, Imran Khan, Inter-Services Intelligence, ISI, Pakistan Muslim League, PMLN, Mariam Nawaz Sharif, hybrid civil-military rule, traditional patronage politics, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf, civil bureaucracy, Musharraf regime, armed forces personnel, Special Committee on National Security, Nawaz Sharif, Military Land & Cantonment, Saeed Shafqat, military, civil service reforms, General Ayub Khan, Punjab, General Qamar Javed Bajwa Khan, army, Pakistan army, AYESHA SIDDIQA, Columbia, Heidelberg, Ankara, China Pakistan Economic Corridor, CPEC, National Database and Registration Authority, NADRA, Ayub Khan, Pakistan National Shipping Corporation, PNSC, Javed Bajwa Khan, London

Chagos Islands and the struggle for Global Britain

Written by Catherine Craven

For Britain, maintaining control over Indian Ocean Territory remains fundamental to its foreign, trade and migration policy interests — but also to its allies.

A litany of economic woes but in China politics rules

Written by Jabin T. Jacob

In the run-up to the 20th Party Congress later this year, the CCP under General Secretary Xi can be expected to engage ever more seriously with China’s economic problems.

Ranil Wickremesinghe’s quest to bring ‘stability’ to Sri Lanka

Written by Isha Gupta

Sri Lanka’s new government should focus less on restoring its previous ‘stability’ and do everything in its power to build a new governance system to prevent future policy failures and reflect the protestors’ demands.

India’s delayed cyber security policy

Written by Subimal Bhattacharjee

While the government understands the centrality of cyber security within its national security strategy, India’s cyber vulnerabilities make it imperative to announce an updated national Cyber Security Policy sooner rather than later.