Terror in Mumbai
The scope and ferocity of the recent Mumbai attacks would have severely tested the counter-terrorism capabilities of any country, but India's security apparatus has come in for particular criticism. Questions are being asked about whether the government had warning of the attacks, the muddled response to them and Pakistani involvement. But in a country where terrorism has been treated as a state-level, law-and-order issue, the attacks revealed massive institutional failings.
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Withdrawal from Iraq
The Iraqi government has pushed through a formal security pact with the United States, under which the 140,000 US troops in Iraq will withdraw from its streets by the end of June 2009. By the end of 2011 they will leave the country entirely. While a sign of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's growing confidence, the new Status of Forces Agreement, or SOFA, raises important issues. Crucially, can Iraqi forces prevent a return to internecine violence, especially during upcoming elections?
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Can Obama re-engage Iran?
US President-elect Barack Obama scored a 'first' with a letter of congratulations from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. But can Obama's stated willingness to talk to Iranian leaders genuinely persuade the Islamic Republic to abandon its uranium-enrichment activities? As Iran moves ever nearer to being capable of producing a nuclear weapon, the West has responded with a combination of diplomatic engagement and sanctions. Obama's cool response to Ahmadinejad's letter exemplifies how delicate the issue is.
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Southeast Asia's disputed waters
The search for gas and oil has sparked yet another maritime border dispute in Southeast Asia. The latest confrontation originated over Myanmar-backed exploration in waters to which Bangladesh also lays claim, but it joins several others in the region. China also has considerable interests in the Myanmar gas industry and has been flexing its economic muscle.
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North Korea digs in
North Korea faces an impending leadership crisis, severe economic troubles and increasingly impatient negotiating partners. Its response, as so often in the past when it has felt cornered, has been to drive the hardest bargain it can regarding its strategic-weapons programmes – its only commodity of any real interest to the outside world.
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