The growing ties between India and Vietnam have always been traditionally viewed in the context of hard power realpolitik in the Indo-Pacific geopolitical landscape. Activities such as joint naval exercises, defense lines of credit, and strategic alignments in the South China Sea are cited as classic examples of pursuing a balance of power. Yet framing this partnership solely as a reactive response to security pressures overlooks its deepest foundation, which is a shared civilisational memory....

The Indian Ocean is not merely a body of water; it is an amphitheater of trade, commerce, and geopolitical flashpoints. Two thousand years ago, taxes on Indian trade alone accounted for roughly one-third of the total revenue of the entire Roman Empire. The Ocean has never been a background feature; it has always been the main event. And in 2026, with chokepoints under strain, submarine cables contested, and sea beds mapped for their minerals, the Indian Ocean is more contested, more...

WAS THE CEASEFIRE DESIGNED TO STOP THE WAR? The framing that the US and Iran are “still fighting” despite the Islamabad MOU contains an assumption that contains more than meets the eye. The assumption that the ceasefire was designed to stop the war is largely contradictory; it was designed to manage the war’s tempo while each side pursued objectives that were, to begin with, reconcilable at the negotiating table. Eleven days after Trump and Pezeshkian signed remotely from Versailles and...