Central Asia & Caucasus Data

On the night of October 23, 2023, India’s oldest international cricket ground, the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chepauk, Chennai, erupted in celebration. Tens of thousands roared and waved flags. The stands rejoiced in what seemed like a familiar triumph over a long-standing rival. It looked like an Indian victory. But the victor was not India. The post Cricket diplomacy: India playing the long game in Afghanistan appeared first on Asia Times.

When Iranian and US officials met for talks in the Omani capital of Muscat on February 6, many journalists and analysts were speculating as to whether diplomacy will fail and whether war will inevitably follow. But that framing misses the deeper reality of this moment. The more important question is why both sides have returned The post False alarm: US-Iran talks are not a countdown to conflict appeared first on Asia Times.

The ghosts of the old guard won’t be on the ballot in Dhaka this week, but they are haunting every corner of the campaign trail. When Bangladeshis head to the polls on February 12, they are performing a high-stakes autopsy on a collapsed autocracy and attempting to breathe life into a republic that is nearly The post The scramble to inherit Bangladesh 2.0 appeared first on Asia Times.

As the US races to deploy containerized drone swarms as a key future warfare element, the effort reveals questions about whether drones are a real revolution or a workaround for institutional limits. This month, The War Zone (TWZ) reported that the US military has launched a formal effort to solicit industry proposals for containerized systems The post US containerized drone swarms no silver bullet vs China appeared first on Asia Times.