Last week we showcased BRIC countries in a special ISN Insights weekly theme, where we took a closer look at the emerging BRIC powerhouses – Brazil, Russia, India and China – plus one aspiring candidate, Indonesia: On Monday we took a closer look at India’s economic growth contrasted against its political stagnation, thanks to commentary [...]

As Asian economies keep posting positive growth numbers with the momentum for a full recovery shifting irreversibly to the East, and as banker’s bonuses and Wall Street profits return to pre-2007 days, the temptation to look away from the root causes of the global financial crisis is as great as ever. But has the chance [...]

Papua New Guinea (PNG) can be a little confusing. Although it shares half of the island of New Guinea with Papua – an Indonesian province – Papua New Guinea is distinctly different from its neighbor. Indeed PNG seems to exist in a world of its own – one plagued by political mismanagement, human rights abuses, [...]

Although the rest of the Middle East is now rightly in the spotlight, Iran, with a simmering opposition movement and a highly controversial nuclear program (the focal point in regional diplomacy prior to the ‘Jasmine revolutions’) will no doubt return to the forefront of regional affairs very soon. However, the diplomatic equation in the conflict [...]

Last week, ISN Insights looked at: US military’s attempt to kick its oil habit in a piece by Jody Ray Bennett. US policy toward the LRA in Uganda in a piece by Anna Dunin. Japanese defense policy in an article by Alex Berkofsky. Security in the Gulf from a UAE perspective in a piece by [...]