Panview: Geo-politics in the Asia-Pacific region continues to face turbulent times. What are your thoughts about the current state of this region?
Maavak: Actually, they are not as "turbulent" as the Western media makes them out to be. Verbal spats – common to the Asia Pacific – are not the same as the pandemonium currently afflicting the West, Middle East and North Africa (MENA) as well as Afghanistan and Pakistan. Is there a single ongoing war in the Asia Pacific?
Siblings...
The National People's Congress (NPC), China's top parliamentary body, and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), China's top advisory body, are scheduled to convene its annual sessions, known as the "two sessions" on March 3-15 2016, which marks a pivotal year as the nation continues on to embark with its reforms and opening up policy, shifting towards a "New Normal" for economic growth rates, starting its 13th Five-Year Plan for social and economic development...
... the broader Western civilizational and cultural heritage (English as a common language, Westminster-style parliamentary democracy) did not harm its sovereignty but, through specificity, strengthened it and helped hold the country together.
The popular BRICS group (which includes some of the aforementioned countries) is an important addition and sometimes a good alternative to excessive power-play activity. Most of the BRICS members are developing countries, and their preeminent task is catching up ...
... Euro-Atlantic area, is not possible without Russia.
REUTERS/Maxim Shipenkov
Joseph Dobbs:
Why Russia Needs Europe
Fourth, Russia’s ambition to help establish a non-Western system of international governance is evident through its activities in the BRICS forum, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, and the establishment of the (admittedly as yet ineffective) Eurasian Economic Union. Most recently Russia secured the third most voting shares in the Chinese led Asian Infrastructure and Investment ...
... challenges of multinationals – even in courts of other countries, namely the USA. So here we have it again – colonialism? NO it is Neo-colonialism at its finest – the NEW WORLD ORDER! However we have hope – the development of the BRICS coalition and partnership building with developing nations – the introduction of the BRICS Development Bank and the PRC’s AIIB. We are now able to fight back economically, politically and socially. We don’t have to accept the IMF,...
By Mathew Maavak
Mathew Maavak is a doctoral researcher in Security Foresight at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM).
Time to reorient our worldview?
“Global interconnectedness” and “global governance” are the unchallenged dictums of the day. But is this Eurocentric axiom relevant anymore? This may sound rather disconcerting but the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) or Greater Eurasia – facilitated by Russian geopolitics and Chinese Silk Road initiatives –may...
October 2015 saw the final major event included in the official Plan for the Russian Federation’s Presidency in BRICS in 2015–2016 — the BRICS Global University Summit (GUS) — concluded in Moscow. The forum brought together more than 300 representatives of the academic and research community of the five nations
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. Anyway, in terms of the number ...
The tapestry of ancient Silk Routes
The ancient maritime and overland Silk Routes have been revived. Its modern incarnation, driven by China’s Belt and Road Initiative (B&R), stands on the verge of connecting the Eurasian landmass, East Africa and Western Europe into a single trading matrix.
Many Asian communities were defined by the ancient Silk routes. The Knanayas of the Malabar Coast, for example, were notable players in the western segment of the Maritime Silk Route. The symbol of...
The BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) have no goal of using the alliance for dominance on the international arena, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Wednesday.
"We have never set and cannot set the task ...
While BRICS and SCO countries were discussing a powerful economic collaboration among partner countries in first week of July 2015 and world was watching the outcome of these two meeting another collaboration was taking place in Vienna ,Austria of Eurasian ...
