The United States (US) Secretary of State Mr Rex Tillerson has just concluded his first East Asia trip with visits to Japan, South Korea and China. Today, the major security challenge which the new Trump administration faces, apart from the Islamic terrorism, is brazen approach of North Korea. Particularly, during his campaign phase Donald Trump had indicated that he would like to take a more business like attitude in regards to this region and is not keen to guarantee military cover to this region free of cost.

The right to development of populace residing in disputed territories is being left unattended in international development discourse.

Seven years back, Nepal began the process to write an inclusive constitution in order to institutionalize the gains of the peace process, which took off in November 2006. Finally, the new Constitution was promulgated on September 20, 2015. Unfortunately, nearly over half of the Nepali population have branded the new Constitution as regressive and protested against the same. The anti-draft protests in Nepal, especially in the southern plains, started on August 9, immediately after the constitution making process was initiated.

As described by critics all over the world, Afghanistan has become a very messy place to live in today. There are different views regarding democratization process in this Islamic country. However, we cannot say that democracy is impossible in the Islamic countries of the world. First, it is wrong to pit the fortune of democracy in accordance with Islamism. A professor from Frankfurt Peace Research Institute argues that democracy is a full market with all kinds of products, and everybody can go and buy what they want.

Ahead of the much-anticipated union elections in Myanmar towards October-November 2015, the Rohingya community in the country have been stripped of their franchise early this year in February following large scale protests by nationalist monks and political leaders. A referendum held to amend the Constitution that gave the Rohingyas voting rights, probably an initiative taken after surmounting international pressure, had to be revoked after the widespread protests that brought back horrific memories of the bloody 2012 clashes.

Over the years, the 'taken for granted attitude' of Indian policy-makers have distanced India to such an extent from Nepal that contiguous border between the two countries seem unfathomable since the mid-1990s.  It took a prime minister of India 17 long years to dismantle the distance and reach out to the Nepalese youth. The recent two-day high-profile visit by Indian Prime Minister to the Himalayan nation speaks volume of the sense, sensitiveness, confidence and consequences of bilateral relations that India wants to nurture with Nepal.

The violent Sunni insurgency in Iraq (2014), no doubt, has different implications for different countries in the region. The purpose of this article, however, is not to discuss all these implications. The article is limited to the role of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in Iraq and its implications for Iran.

ISIS and Vested Interests

After the tragic downing of flight MH17, the US along with some major European countries has called for “hard-hitting sanctions” on Russia. The UK is pushing for the tough “Tier 3” sanctions against Russia that could cover areas such as financial services, trade and energy exports. However, there are growing concerns that the strongest-possible sanctions will be blocked by EU member states because of French arms sales as well as German dependence on fossil fuels from Russia.