Dr. V.L. Dharurkar

Gaza’s fragile ceasefire has exposed the hollowness of the world’s peacekeeper-in-chief. The war in Gaza has fallen, for now, into an uneasy silence. The ceasefire brokered by US President Donald Trump last month has paused large-scale hostilities, allowing hostage exchanges, partial Israeli withdrawals and the first tentative movements of humanitarian aid. Yet the atmosphere is anything but peaceful. Violations continue, and the political order inside Gaza is already shifting in...

A ten-year defence pact between India and the United States signals not just military cooperation, but a strategic recalibration in Asia’s balance of power. Late last month, India and the United States signed a ten-year defence cooperation agreement in Kuala Lumpur that could well reshape the strategic map of Asia. The pact, sealed between India’s Ministry of Defence and the U.S. Department of Defence, extends and expands an existing strategic framework established in 2016, when India was...

Sanae Takaichi’s rise as Japan’s first female Prime Minister shatters a glass ceiling but cements the conservative foundations beneath it. In a country where patriarchal tradition has long dictated the boundaries of public life, Sanae Takaichi’s ascent to Japan’s premiership is a moment of striking symbolism. For young Japanese women, the image of a woman leading the nation evokes the tantalising promise of change. Yet for all its historic resonance, her victory also underscores a paradox:...