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Thursday, May 21, 2026
TopicCentral Asia

Topic: Central Asia

Distracted Russia is losing central Asia to China

Chinese commentaries highlight the launch of the China–Kyrgyzstan–Uzbekistan railway and a $1 billion mining deal between China and Kazakhstan, as signs of a quiet pivot toward Beijing.

From Kashmir to China—Aurel Stein’s expeditions helped unlock secrets of ancient civilisations

Although the survey of Central Asia is among Stein’s most renowned and celebrated works, he had also successfully surveyed a wide landscape from Jammu and Kashmir to West Bengal.

Doval meets Central Asian counterparts, pushes for ‘transparent’ connectivity, ‘inclusive’ Afghanistan

National security adviser says Afghanistan 'remains a concern for all of us' and terrorism remains one of the most serious threats to international peace & security.

Dancing Shiva in Samarkand: Central Asian traders spread Hinduism, Buddhism along Silk Road

800 years before Babur, Hindu gods were worshipped by merchant diasporas in Central Asia.

Some Hindus even praised Khilji in Sanskrit texts — Medieval India’s complex power games

When Sanskrit-speaking elites were not well-treated, Muslim kings were decried as mlecchas, accused of killing cows and persecuting Brahmins.

Forgotten story of great Hindu merchants in Central Asia shows enterprise can defeat China

The fortunes Indian merchants built in Samarkand, Bukhara and Tashkent were based on a single, simple thing: Selling all that Central Asian consumers needed.

Modi govt is mastering the art of balancing Quad and SCO, ‘sanctioned’ nations and democracies

None of India’s objectives behind joining SCO seem to have been achieved so far. But Russia's neo-Eurasianist policy and China's economic expansionism are keeping Delhi engaged.

Big brother problem — Unlike India, China’s ties with our neighbourhood not marred by history

In ‘The China Factor’, Shantanu Roy-Chaudhury writes that while China’s strategic interests in India’s neighbourhood have increased, this has not been an entirely unilateral decision.

India’s goal can’t be to become another China – it needs to work out its economy first

In ‘How China Sees India And The World’, Shyam Saran writes that the West and Japan recognise that India is the only country that has the civilizational heft, area, and skills to match China.

How Russia-Ukraine war is leading to Central Asian nations going hungry

Rising food prices—a result of both Western sanctions on Russia and of the integration of national economies—have set the alarm bells ringing across Central Asian countries.

On Camera

Norway’s Modi cartoon was not satire. Just colonial laziness

Political satire is indispensable to democracy, racial caricature isn’t. If Europe’s liberal press still cannot tell difference, then decolonisation never happened in their imagination.

Recovery of unclaimed shares, dividends now takes days, not yrs. EAC-PM credits investor watchdog revamp

PM-EAC paper says overhaul of Investor Education and Protection Fund Authority system sharply improved processing speed and reduced paperwork for investors.

Dragon’s armour: How Xi reshaped China’s military with theatre commands a decade before India’s push

While India yet to set in motion theaterisation of armed forces, China's military reforms combined China’s Army, Navy, Air Force and Rocket Force aimed at regional dominance & tight political control.

Pakistan is tactically brilliant, strategically disastrous. It’s primed for repeated blunders

Pakistan has ended up losing every war against India but that hasn’t prevented it from claiming victory. We will go over the evidence to anticipate what to expect next.