THE LAUNCH: A NEW DAWN IN SPACE EXPLORATION On April 1, 2026, at 6:35:12 PM EDT, NASA’s new Space Launch System (SLS) rocket launched off - Launch Complex 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Ending a 53-year streak, as humankind set off towards our natural satellite.Carrying the Orion spacecraft and Integrity module with 4 astronauts on board. Artemis II is the first crewed lunar mission in over 50 years. Illustration by The Geostrata NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman

The 1979 Islamic Revolution radically transformed the identity of Iran as a modern nation-state, with the monarchy abolished and the Islamic Republic being formed. Several decades later, political life in Iran was characterised by periods of reform demands and state repression. Illustration by The Geostrata Popular upheavals like the Green Movement of 2009   and the Women, Life, Freedom resistance of 2022  have taken form when economic hardships and societal confinement came

The Honourable Minister of Home Affairs, in a bold claim, stated the centre would wipe out Naxalism from India by March 2026. While top Naxal leaders like Hidma and Nambala Keshava Rao are already eliminated, there are a few more miles to go before Naxalism is completely wiped out from India.  Illustration by The Geostrata NAXALISM: THE BEGINNING A group of political insurgents driven by Maoist ideologies is called Naxals, Naxalwadis, or Naxalites. They advocate armed rebelli

In 1979, by the time many democracies were maturing from their infancy stage, Iran  still had one major task unfinished: to overthrow a king and reinvent its identity. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and his followers toppled the Pahlavi monarchy and established the Islamic Republic of Iran, an experiment in theocratic governance that fused religious clerics with absolute political power. Illustration by The Geostrata What began as a wave of “neither East nor West, only Islam” id

India, also known as Bharatvarsh, was the land that once stretched all the way from Kandahar and Ghazni in the northwest (present-day Afghanistan) to present-day Southeast Asia. A land that had flourished as a hub of knowledge, science, and culture turned into a region marred by nearly 800 years of continuous conflict. Illustration by The Geostrata Geography placed India at the crossroads of continents, commerce, faiths, and empires, from the bone-chilling mountain passes of

The fighting spirit which the women folk of Iran have shown, will someday become a folk Lore to inspire character, consistency and credence. IRAN'S HISTORY - MESOPOTAMIA TO PERSIA AND TODAY'S CONUNDRUM Iran’s present-day struggle over women’s rights cannot be understood without looking far beyond the modern Islamic Republic. The roots of gendered control in Iran stretch deep into history, long before contemporary political Islam, and even before the formation of Persia itself

The map of the world represents more than the geography of land and water; it is a cartography of power that the historic aggressors hold. For almost two centuries, invisible lines have crisscrossed the globe, not just representing sovereign borders, but also demarcating “backyards” – zones where great powers are asserting the unspoken rule that “might is right”. Illustration by The Geostrata In 1823, a ghost was born in the United States of America that continues to haunt t

He spoke the language of poetry, but he thought in the grammar of geopolitics. Jawaharlal Nehru was not only the political architect of independent India; he was also the architect of its identity in the world. When he took over as leader in 1947, India was a battered, partitioned country, impoverished from colonial exploitation and unsure about its future. Illustration by The Geostrata But Nehru envisioned something more significant than survival; he imagined an India that c

Power is rarely exercised in isolation; it goes beyond laws and policies and into the realm of persuasion and perception. Authority ultimately remains in the hands of the leader and their ability to evoke, persuade and mobilise collective imagination. Illustration by The Geostrata Long before the advent of social media, politics unfolded on streets and marketplaces where the audience was not just passive observers but active members in shaping a narrative and leading to a rev

India-Pakistan relations, marred by historical rivalry, extend beyond the creation of the Radcliffe Line. The roots lie far deeper, predating the partition by almost a century. The Two-Nation theory, often regarded as the ideological framework that stemmed from the idea of a separate nation, with Mohammad Ali Jinnah as its key proponent, has a civilisational history of a series of movements that contributed to institutionalising the concept of Pakistan.

The Blue Shirt Regiment (BSS), also known as the Blue Shirts Society (Lanyishe 蓝衣社), was a nationalist paramilitary organisation in China. It emerged on March 1, 1932, as a faction within the Kuomintang (KMT), the Nationalist Party. The BSS was composed mainly of graduates from the Huangpu (Whampoa) Military Academy, young men aged twenty to thirty, many of whom had overseas education and had pledged unquestioned loyalty to Chiang Kai-shek. Illustration by The Geostrata Accor

India has always been a land of many cultures ruled by various rulers who have passed on to us a complex set of traditions, ideas & thoughts. Many empires have coexisted on this land, which has led to the development of strong diplomatic relations, striking a combination of trade and military policies. It's time that we revisit our past and bridge it with the present.   Illustration by The Geostrata REDISCOVERING ANCIENT WISDOM THROUGH PROJECT UDBHAV India is on its way to re

History adorns itself with its oldest habit- hierarchy, and inequality, its most faithful shadow. One thing that remains constant with every civilisation, religion, and government is power imbalance, and whenever such imbalances strutted around too confidently, satire has emerged with sharpened words as a humbling weapon. Illustration by The Geostrata Particularly in the Indian context, where social, religious, and political stratification have long shaped the public imaginat

The legitimacy of Jammu and Kashmir as a part of India is established in law and history, constitutional practice, and not merely a political accident. That is to say, Jammu and Kashmir has a legitimate legal basis, as a result of the Instrument of Accession, the Indian Independence Act of 1947, and the subsequent constitutional integration into the Republic of India. Illustration by The Geostrata THE LEGAL BASIS: THE INSTRUMENT OF ACCESSION On October 26, 1947 , Maharaja Ha

Imagine a time when the Romans believed in “ Roma Aeterna”, an empire eternal, invincible and destined to last forever. Today, what remains of that grandeur is a viral TikTok trend. The British Empire, once so vast that the sun never set, is now reduced to nostalgic relics like the royal family, gilded castles, and colonial territorial disputes. Illustration by The Geostrata This is history’s brutal lesson: Power is Transient. According to Modelski and Thompson’s Long Cycle T

The evocative music of a handloom is not merely the sound of weaving, it is a sound of civilisation. The delicate slide of natural cotton, the earthly scent of natural indigo dye, and the careful folding of a silk saree reserved across generations are more than fleeting moments. Illustration by The Geostrata They are fragments of a narrative that has been going on for the past 5,000 years: each of India, each of its unmeasured fabric, crafted by hand and entwined with soul. T

Folk music is a kind of traditional, often rural music that represents the cultural heartbeat of India. Anchored in oral traditions expressing the everyday struggles of human beings, folk music differs from other forms of music, like classical music, by being more rooted to the cultural realities of the rural population and the marginalised sections of society.  Illustration by The Geostrata In India, folk music is a tool of cultural identifiers of a diverse region. From the

The United States continues to maintain an extensive military presence in West Asia, which represents one of the most enduring features of post-Cold War geopolitics. Many analysts describe the American military presence in West Asia as a stabilizing influence. However, its actual effects have proven more complex than traditional narratives suggest. Illustration by The Geostrata US leaders from both Republican and Democratic administrations have used military capabilities to p

“Nonviolence is the greatest and the most active force in the world.”  Nonviolence, for Gandhi, is a principle which guided India’s struggle for freedom and framed a universal ethos for ahimsa. Mahatma Gandhi’s vision extended far beyond national freedom, his ideas included nonviolence and Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, standing for the interconnectedness of all individuals and underscoring the value of One Earth One Family , placing him well within contemporary cosmopolitan thoughts

The land of unfulfilled promises and contested identities-Balochistan- stands as one of South Asia’s most complex and misunderstood...