As a Marine, Elliot Ackerman served five tours of duty in the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Years later, he returned to those battlefields as a journalist to talk with those on the other side of the conflict. Stratfor analyst Ryan Bohl interviews Ackerman about his experience.
Everything that informs geopolitics can be found in South Asia: challenging demographics, geographic diversity, and contentious, ill-defined borders. The Himalayan Mountains form the northern border of South Asia, whose two main rivers, the Indus and the Ganges, support the region’s great population centers. India is the region’s dominant country, home to the world’s fastest growing economy. But its rivalry with neighboring Pakistan, a fellow nuclear power and growing consumer market, has made South Asia one of the world’s most dangerous nuclear flashpoints. The region is also a testament to how militancy and militarism can undermine the regional integration needed to unleash higher economic growth.
India's credit crunch has put a strain on the small, but vital, segment of the country's banking economy, sparking concerns of contagion.
Animated by their opposing visions of economic prosperity and global influence, China and India's competition over Pakistani and Iranian ports, respectively, carry on at all costs.
The U.S. could be signaling that it's prepared to wage a trade war after revoking India's special tariff status under the Generalized System of Preferences program.
After the most violent flare-up in Kashmir in years, Islamabad and New Delhi are sounding out possible talks, although the prospect of a wider conflict is never far away.
