SNI Editor-in-Chief Nitin Gokhale has returned from Beijing after reporting on the second Belt and Road Forum. In this conversation with Deputy Editor Parul Chandra and Associate Editor Amitabh P Revi, he examines the reasons for China being on the brink of letting JeM founder and Pulwama attack accused Masood Azhar be designated a global terrorist. He also looks back and forward at China’s Belt and Road Forum, India’s continued boycott and what it means for the world.
The post-Cold War order is fading, but the next world order has yet to emerge. As America, China, Europe, and Russia reposition for an uncertain future, old assumptions are collapsing. This is the story of borrowed power, strategic decline, rising rivals, and a world caught between eras.
When Trump flew to Beijing carrying an unwinnable war, rising fuel prices, and a closed strait he could not reopen alone, Xi gave him pageantry with a twist. Nothing was signed. Yet, perhaps everything was decided.
Xi Jinping enters the May summit having brokered a ceasefire Trump credited publicly, weaponized Taiwan's opposition for diplomatic cover, and — per US intelligence — quietly arming Iran through cutout channels. This is not three stories. It is one architecture.
Applying Graham Allison's Thucydides Trap to the 2026 Iran war. Blending asymmetric war economics, $3T market distortions, alliance fractures, and revealing the deeper US-China power struggle beneath the conflict.
We look at the recent events which are extremely significant. Implications of what is happening within and outside certain nations will haunt those countries and other players for many years.
New 'intelligence' reports suggest that Russia "is weeks from attacking NATO." Details then say that it can happen anytime from 2026 to 2029. The very understanding of the Russian threat is a caricature. We unpack the reports and zero-in on the real scenario forward!
One has been listening to a jibe at the Modi government that is as lazy as it is ignorant. Why does the government give 5 Kgs of grains to the poor 80 crore when the Indian economy is growing? Has India become more "socialist" under Modi? Here is a detailed analysis.
