Southern Asia

It’s kinda sneaking up on us like an East Texas copperhead pit viper. It began to get some wide attention in 2016, with prominent economists and financial media suddenly talking about the wonderful benefits of a “cashless society.” Then the government of Narenda Modi completely surprised his citizens by suddenly announcing withdrawal of larger denomination currency notes from circulation, forcing Indians to put their cash into banks or lose it.

On December 21, Commander Southern Command Lt General Amir Riaz invited India to accede to an ambitious project on the establishment of a China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

 On November 29, 2016 by Decree of the President of Pakistan, Mamnun Hussein, General Qamar Javed Bajwa was appointed to the post of the Army Chief, and succeeded General Rahil Sharif. For the majority of the world, a routine change of commander of the army is an ordinary event, but for Pakistan this is one of extreme importance.

The fight against terrorism is increasingly a key issue for all countries, and it is quite natural that it has drawn the attention of the participants of the 8th BRICS summit. However, India has a particular interest in focusing attention on it after terrorists from the radical group  “Jaish-e-Mohammed” (“Army of Mohammed”) committed attacks on the Indian infantry battalion garrison near the town of Uri, 10 km from the Line of Control in Kashmir on September 18th.

The armed conflict that has recently broken out between India and Pakistan (the most serious one after the Kargil crisis of 1999) has attracted attention to a relatively new element whose definition contains the word “water.”
In this respect, it is important to recall that the phrase “water is the source of life” is the key meme in not only a variety of world religions, but also in science, and above all, real, everyday, life.

In light of the struggle between the USA and PRC for influence in Southeast Asia, which has aggravated in recent years, other major players of the region are acquiring particular importance as they are able to tip the balance in one way or another. The main players in question are the Asian giants such as India and Japan. The situation with Japan is quite clear – historically, it hasn’t enjoyed the most friendly relations with China, and in case of a conflict, it has nobody to rely on except America.

The attempted coup on July 15, 2016 in Turkey was met with a lively response in the Pakistani society. The debate about the balance of power between the military establishment and the ruling Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N took over the government after the general election in June 2013) has become more intense.

India’s refusal to extend the visas of three journalists from the Chinese state news agency, Xinhua, that expired in July this year, once again brings assessment of the status of the relations between the two Asian major players to the fore.

Washington and Brussels pronounced Islamabad the guilty party for the failed Resolute Support Mission and the strengthening of terrorist groups in Afghanistan.
The Pakistani-American relations have been deteriorating lately, having suffered a series of crises. Several reasons for this have been posited, the most probable being the further deepening of differences in the approaches to the solution of regional challenges.