middle east

Economy

India’s Rising Petroleum Prices, Despite Global Fall

by Ajit Phadke10 July 202012 July 2020 4 min read

Since imports account for nearly 84% of India’s petroleum consumption, any change in the global prices significantly impacts the prices in the country.

PoliticsSouth Asia

Engaging with the Diaspora: Narrating a Fuller Baluch Story in the Khaleej

by Manishankar Prasad26 June 20204 July 2020 5 min read

That the Gulf is a site of Baluch nationalist imagination is an open secret – books and literature on Baloch independence are found in routine bookstores of Muscat. The former chief of Dubai Police tweeted calling for an independent Baluchistan.

Society

The Singapore Migrant Experience: Empowering Digital Margins During Covid-19 Crisis

by Manishankar Prasad11 May 202012 June 2020 4 min read

Visuals of migrants walking hundreds of kilometres have scarred the national consciousness and compelled the middle classes to ask uncomfortable questions. How are we treating the communities who work for/around us?

Defence & SecurityPolitics

Independence Day, Sirens and Life in Israel

by Sugandh Priya Ojha30 April 20209 June 2020 4 min read

As I witness Israelis living in such difficult times, the Covid-19 pandemic seems tolerable. However, the Independence Day siren of Israel raises many questions than the rocket alarms I’ve heard.

Foreign PolicyPolitics

Saudi Petro Power Play: Implications for India

by Manishankar Prasad18 April 202013 June 2020 4 min read

Never let a crisis go to waste, is a maxim global power player(s) know very well. The Saudi-Russia standoff in which their oil pricing mechanism talks broke off, led Saudi Arabia to flex its muscles and flood the market with oil.

Society

With Kibbutz, How the Utopian Dream of Socialism has Survived in Israel

by Sugandh Priya Ojha2 February 20209 June 2020 6 min read

The sentiments of Israelis with the nation can only be understood once you visit the country and listen to the stories of their great grandfathers being killed, cousins being separated or them being looked down upon in other countries.

Foreign PolicyPolitics

It is High Time New Delhi Pays More Attention to Oman, a Deserving Partner in the Gulf

by Manishankar Prasad19 January 202015 June 2020 6 min read

Oman is an ethnically diverse country with Ibadhi Arabs, Sunni Baluchi’s, Zanzibari’s, Shia Ajmi’s, Hindu Bania’s among others making it a melting pot of tribes and cultures contrary to a linear identity anchored in Arab Bedouin narratives cultivated by its neighbours.

Foreign PolicyPolitics

Soleimani’s Killing & Middle East Tension – WW3 on its Way?

by Sugandh Priya Ojha10 January 202015 June 2020 5 min read

A clever mastermind of unconventional warfare, Soleimani supported and guided terror groups like Hamas, Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihadis, Yemeni Houthis and Shia militias in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Defence & SecurityPolitics

De-Ummafication: Understanding the Flux in the Middle East- Part II

by Manishankar Prasad10 January 202015 June 2020 3 min read

Middle East as a cartographic notion is a product of the European Imagination with respect to its thoughts about the Ottoman Empire. The Middle East therefore is studied through a dominant western gaze.

Defence & SecurityPolitics

De-Ummafication: Understanding the Flux in the Middle East- Part I

by Manishankar Prasad7 January 202015 June 2020 3 min read

The ‘Umma’ is the notion of one Muslim Community under God. However, the Middle East, has been fractious since 632 AD, with the deep Sunni- Shia fissures, hence the ‘Umma’ is a contested space rather than a monolith.