James M Dorsey

By James M Dorsey It’s a no-brainer to suggest that we live in an increasingly polarised world. Geopolitics are polarised, so are societies. Polarisation marks the transition from a unipolar world dominated by the United States to a bipolar world with China, or more likely a tripolar world that includes India, in which middle powers […]

The post The ‘Global Enduring Disorder’ In An Increasingly Polarised World first appeared on Latest India news, analysis and reports on IPA Newspack.

By James M Dorsey Debates about the US commitment to Gulf security are skewed by confusion, miscommunication, and contradictory policies. The skewing has fuelled uncertainty about US policy as well as Gulf attitudes in an evolving multi-polar world and fuelled misconceptions and misunderstandings. The confusion is all the more disconcerting given that the fundamentals of […]

The post Confusion And Uncertainty Shape Debate About United States’ Gulf Policy first appeared on Latest India news, analysis and reports on IPA Newspack.

By James M Dorsey An unexpected twist in the run-up to next year’s Indonesian presidential election puts Centrist Democratic International (CDI), the world’s largest alliance of conservative political parties, and Nahdlatul Ulama, the world’s largest and most moderate Muslim civil society movement, in a bind. In a surprise move, Muhaimin Iskander, leader of the National […]

The post Indonesian Presidential Election Produces An Unexpected Twist first appeared on Latest India news, analysis and reports on IPA Newspack.

By James M Dorsey Saudi Arabia’s stunning sports acquisition blitz, alongside Qatari and Emirati European club purchases, may reshape the beautiful game, just not in ways Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and other Gulf rulers like Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani envisioned. The Gulf’s impact on European and world soccer could be determined […]

The post A Global Challenge Emerging To Shifting Of Global Sports Capital To Arabian Sands first appeared on Latest India news, analysis and reports on IPA Newspack.

By James M Dorsey An Indonesian push for a Southeast Asian return to values rooted in an ancient Indo civilisation amounts to an innovative attempt to manage polarisation. Exploiting its rotating chairmanship of the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Indonesia this week inaugurated the ASEAN Intercultural and Interreligious Dialogue. The dialogue opened by […]

The post Indonesia Pushes A Civilizational Approach To Countering Polarisation first appeared on Latest India news, analysis and reports on IPA Newspack.

  BY James M Dorsey   For Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, religious reform has long been a question of when rather than if. Bin Salman’s potential embrace of religious, not just social and economic reform, could have far-reaching consequences for the role of religion in Saudi Arabia and religious soft power rivalry in […]

The post Saudi Arabia’s Bin Salman Toys With Religious Reforms Adding To Soft Power Rivalry first appeared on IPA Newspack.

By James M Dorsey A recent 27-year, four million-tonne liquefied natural gas (LNG) Qatari export agreement with China, the longest in gas export history, highlights different Gulf state approaches to navigating big power rivalry between the People’s Republic and the United States. Widely seen as giving China a grip on Qatari gas, the deal is […]

The post Qatar, America’s Best Friend In The Gulf, Is Simultaneously Wooing China first appeared on IPA Newspack.

By James M Dorsey The sigh of relief in a swath of land stretching from China to Africa’s Atlantic coast was audible when Yevgeny Prigozhin, a Russian oligarch who heads the Wagner Group, a state-funded private military company, called off his mutiny against President Vladimir Putin’s military and security establishment. So were the concerns and […]

The post China, Others Grappling With Understanding Meaning Of Wagner Group Revolt first appeared on IPA Newspack.

By James M Dorsey Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s four-day red carpet visit to the United States constitutes a microcosm of what a 21st-world order century will likely look like. The visit spotlights the adjustments the United States faces in transitioning from a US-dominated unipolar world to a multipolar world populated by three major powers – […]

The post Modi’s U.S. Visit Spotlights America’s Policy Choices first appeared on IPA Newspack.

By James M Dorsey Since arriving in Saudi Arabia five months ago, soccer superstar Ronaldo has scored 14 goals in 16 games for his new club, Al Nassr. Yet, more was needed for Al Nassr to win the Saudi championship or advance in the Saudi Cup. Even so, Ronaldo’s presence has helped improve the competitive […]

The post Saudi Crown Prince’s Bid To Piggyride Ronaldo Popularity first appeared on IPA Newspack.

By James M Dorsey Religious conservatives and nationalists in the Muslim world and beyond have the wind in their sails. So do Arab autocrats, even if they increasingly cloak themselves in nationalism rather than religious conservatism. Last week’s first election round in Turkey saw conservatives and ultra-nationalists win control of parliament. At the same time, […]

The post Culture Wars Bubble Below The Surface Across Arab Region first appeared on IPA Newspack.

By James M Dorsey With Saudi-hosted talks to end Sudan fighting producing minimal results and Arab states supporting rival forces, de-escalation in the Middle East faces a major test. So does Gulf states’ ability to employ dollar diplomacy to persuade poorer Arab brethren to align with the policies of countries like Saudi Arabia and the […]

The post Sudan Tests The Limits Of Middle Eastern De-Escalation, Dollar Diplomacy first appeared on IPA Newspack.

By James M Dorsey America to the rescue. In a twist of irony, that may be Central Asia’s only alternative, with the Russian invasion of Ukraine upsetting the region’s security apple cart. The question is whether the United States, already rejiggering its commitment to security in the Middle East, has the will and wherewithal to […]

The post Central Asia And Caucasus May Turn Out To Be Indo-Pacific’s Next Stop first appeared on IPA Newspack.

By James M Dorsey A schism that could tear the Anglican church apart is about more than LGBTQ rights. It’s about fundamental cultural and religious differences with potentially profound consequences for the geopolitical battle to shape a 21st-century world order. The rift also raises questions about the Church of England’s priorities at a time when […]

The post Anglican Schism Over Gay Rights Is Not Just About Theology, But Geopolitics first appeared on IPA Newspack.

By James M Dorsey Think that the modern nation-state originated with the emergence of the 17th-century beginnings of the era of science and reason? Think again. In a recently published book, political scientist Anna Gryzmala-Busse traces the origins of the modern state to medieval Europe when religion and the church played a powerful role rather […]

The post Nation-State Inspired By Religion, But Politics Making A Difference first appeared on IPA Newspack.

By James M Dorsey America is in decline. Eclipsed by China’s rise, it is shifting attention from the Middle East to the Indo-Pacific. That is one refrain in the analysis of three seemingly paradigm-challenging developments in the past month: a Chinese-mediated restoration of diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran, the kingdom’s association with the […]

The post The Fallacy Of US Policy To Effect A Withdrawal From Middle East first appeared on IPA Newspack.

By James M Dorsey A Gulf investor with an analytical and artistic bent, Ali al-Salim pinpointed the long-term challenges Saudi Arabia faces as it re-establishes relations with Iran. While most analysts focused on the immediate reduction of regional tensions and the possible opening for an end to the eight-year-long Saudi military intervention in Yemen as […]

The post Unleashing Of An Iranian Tiger: Politics Over Tourist Attractions first appeared on IPA Newspack.

By James M Dorsey A push by Arab allies of the United States to bring Syria in from the cold highlights the limits of a Chinese-mediated rapprochement between the Middle East’s archrivals, Saudi Arabia and Iran. The effort spearheaded by the United Arab Emirates, and supported by Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Jordan, demonstrates that the […]

The post Arab Plan For Syria Puts Europe And America In A Bind first appeared on IPA Newspack.

By James M Dorsey Chinese mediation between Saudi Arabia and Iran potentially signals paradigm shifts in Middle Eastern diplomacy and alliances. The mediation suggests a more productive approach than that of the United States by seeking to manage rather than resolve conflicts based on principles enunciated by China in 2021. The successful mediation between the […]

The post Saudi, Iran Détente Sparks Potential Paradigm Shifts In Middle East Politics first appeared on IPA Newspack.

By James M Dorsey In a surprise development, Saudi Arabia and Iran, together with China, announced that the two Middle Eastern nations were re-establishing diplomatic relations. The agreement was reached in a meeting in China of the two countries’ national security advisors. The agreement was a rare example of successful Chinese mediation in Middle Eastern […]

The post Saudis Walk US, Israeli, Iran Tightrope On Resumption Of Diplomatic Ties first appeared on IPA Newspack.

By James M Dorsey This could be India’s decade if it plays its cards right. The sub-continental state is poised to be the next China, even if its path will likely be less straightforward than that of China and more of a Leninist two steps forward, one step backwards. Leaving aside the multiple domestic issues […]

The post India Could Be This Decade’s China If New Delhi Plays Its Cards Well first appeared on IPA Newspack.

By James M Dorsey A recent survey of Iranian public opinion suggests that the lack of confidence in a Middle Eastern regime is starkest in Iran, although crisis-wracked Lebanon, Egypt, or Syria may compete. Surveyed in late December by the Netherlands-based Gamaan Institute, an overwhelming majority of the 158,000 respondents in Iran and 42,000 Diaspora […]

The post Survey Finds Iran To Be Ripest Country In Middle East For A Revolution first appeared on IPA Newspack.

By James M Dorsey Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has put Israel’s closest allies and some of his key partners on the spot. So has a generation of Palestinian youth that has nothing to lose and no longer sees fruitless engagement with and acquiescence of the Jewish state as a means of realizing their national and […]

The post Israelis And Palestinians Do What They Do Best, But For Wrong Reasons first appeared on IPA Newspack.

By James M Dorsey Moderate Muslims and militant Hindu nationalists are strange bedfellows at the best of times, particularly when they come together to reshape Hindu-Muslim relations in troubled India. Yet, that is what Indonesia’s Nahdlatul Ulama and India’s Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) seek to achieve. Nahdlatul Ulama, arguably the world’s most moderate Muslim civil […]

The post Moderate Muslims Take To A Risky Strategy To Engage With Militant RSS first appeared on IPA Newspack.

By James M Dorsey An official visit to Xinjiang to assess the fate of Turkic Muslims in the troubled north-western Chinese Province is a risky proposition by any definition. Even so, it would be worth the risk if China and Turkey could agree on the terms of a visit. The problem is that the terms […]

The post Turkey Walks A Fine Line To Challenge China On Uighur Repression first appeared on IPA Newspack.

By James M Dorsey Pomp and circumstance are important. So are multiple agreements to be signed during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Saudi Arabia this week, his first venture beyond East and Central Asia in three years. No doubt, Xi’s reception will be on par with the welcoming of Donald J. Trump when he […]

The post Xi’s Visit To Saudi Arabia Amounts To More Than Pomp And Ceremonies first appeared on IPA Newspack.

By James M Dorsey Hungary didn’t qualify for the Qatar World Cup, but that hasn’t stopped Prime Minister Victor Orban from exploiting the world’s current focus on soccer to signal his Putinesque definition of central European borders as defined by civilization and ethnicity rather than internationally recognized frontiers. Orban drew the ire of Ukraine and […]

The post Hungary Exit At Doha No Deterrent For PM To Promote Civilizationalist Agenda first appeared on IPA Newspack.

By James M Dorsey Protest on the soccer pitch has proven to be a mixed blessing for World Cup host Qatar, exposing double standards in the Gulf state’s position as well as that of its critics. Qatar embraced protest when it supported Qatari policies, such as the Gulf state’s increasingly assertive denunciation of double standards […]

The post Protests Emerge As Mixed Blessing For World Cup Host Qatar first appeared on IPA Newspack.

By James M Dorsey Barely out of the starting blocks, the Qatar World Cup has already produced a fair share of upsets as well as politically and personally sensitive situations and incidents. Qatar’s 2:0 loss to Ecuador in the tournament’s opening match will have reinforced critics’ conviction that the Gulf state should never have been […]

The post Qatar World Cup Produces Soccer Upsets, Politics And Sensitive Situations first appeared on IPA Newspack.

By James M Dorsey Recent Saudi efforts to appease the Biden administration in the wake of the kingdom’s backing of last month’s OPEC+ oil production cut take on added significance in the wake of this week’s US midterm elections that have strengthened Joe Biden and weakened former President Donald J. Trump. Saudi insistence on a […]

The post Regional Tensions Spill Into Qatar World Cup As Event Gets Underway first appeared on IPA Newspack.