Op-Ed: Nationalism Isn’t Driving India's Knife-Edge Foreign Policy
While Prime Minister Narendra Modi has championed Hindu cultural values within India, his approach to foreign affairs tells a different story. Rather than letting religious ideology guide international relations, Modi's government has maintained India's traditional balancing act between world powers. From continuing Russian oil purchases during the Ukraine war to providing aid to Gaza while supporting Israel, India's foreign policy remains driven by practical interests rather than nationalist sentiment.
Lebanese Citizens Display Resilience Amid Devastation and Displacement
Current conflicts in the Middle East are resulting in significant displacement and devastation, fracturing the lives of Lebanese citizens. On top of an already spiraling economy, the divided Lebanese government is not well equipped to help its suffering citizens. Despite these challenges, Lebanese citizens have remained resilient, helping to house and feed their displaced neighbors.
Isolationism, Trump and Nixon, and the Future of Camptown Prostitution in South Korea
When President Trump returns to power on January 20th, 2025, he's poised to initiate a withdrawal of potentially thousands of U.S. troops from South Korea. If he does so, historical precedent would lead us to believe that the communities which have risen up alongside U.S. military bases will be hit hard as a result.
The Lao Corruption Crisis: The Path Towards Integrity
Laos, like other developing, single-party nations faces a serious issue with corruption. The country loses millions each year to petty bribery and corruption within the government. But there are international solutions that can ease these costs.
The American War in Vietnam: The Remembrance of 300,000 Lost Souls
Embedded within the soil of Vietnam’s Quảng Trị province lies the shrapnel of deployed bombs, chemical herbicides, and fragments of human bone and flesh from a war that ended half a century ago. In those same killing fields upon which monuments now stand lie the unrecovered bodily remains of an estimated 300,000 Vietnamese soldiers.
Forest City: Empty Developments, Empty Promises
Malaysia’s Forest City, a $100 billion development project, is in question. Concern over China's involvement in the project, as well as the project’s lack of environmental integrity intertwine to create a consensus that the project is prioritizing foreign capital over Malaysians and the environment.
Public Access Evolution: Global Action Needed to Maintain the Stability of The Human Genome
Advancements in genetic engineering have far surpassed our global institutions' ability to regulate them. With the development of genetic engineering tools such as CRISPR and gene drives, paired with the growing popularity of DIY labs, access to bioweapon creation or human enhancement has become open to the public.
COVID-19 in The Philippines: The Case Against A Dangerously Inadequate Response
Rodrigo Duterte’s zero tolerance policy for illegal substances already has many frightened for their lives. Now, the circumstances of COVID-19 are giving Duterte room to broaden his regime of cruelty.
After COVID-19: Implications on International Organizations and the Global Order
The post-COVID world may be a very different place to live. Due to rapid changes in geopolitics and social lives, we may find ourselves standing in unchartered territory.
Amidst a Global Health Crisis: COVID-19 & The Advent of The Psychedelic Movement
As we greet the new decade with the greatest international health crisis in modern history, society is braced with the shift into an era of social isolation and greater need for psychiatric treatments. Meanwhile, vanguard movements towards alternative medicines and psychedelic therapy have already started gaining momentum in the healthcare industry and scientific community.
The Economic Disaster Wrought by COVID-19
The globalized, industrialized, and incessantly-driven economic world that we live in is similar to an amateur riding a bicycle. The moment he bears a shock, there is a genuine fear of halting down and falling off the ridge. The COVID-19 Pandemic is fast-emerging as the greatest shock of our times to the world economy.
China’s Paradox: Economic Stimulation vs. Climate Catastrophe Aversion
In face of the looming climate crisis, China must decide whether to pursue maintaining its steadfast economic growth or to implement climate-conscious measures.
Hong Kong: Caught Between Foreign Fires
As Hong Kong is in the midst of political mayhem, staff writer Rachel Chiang spotlights the various forces driving the protests, and spotlights the human rights abuses that are occurring as a result.
Pakistani Hindus: Hopeless, Homeless, Stateless
The 1947 partition of India and Pakistan was anything but a clean divide. Based largely along religious lines, the move was meant to place the large population of muslims into Pakistan. Muslims in India have had a well documented history of discrimination, but are the conditions for Pakistani Hindus any different?
China, Hong Kong, and Basketball: How One Tweet Started a Firestorm in the NBA
How much responsibility do companies bear in speaking out on politically salient issues? What happens when speaking out has a direct impact on their profits? Staff writer Nicholas Kishaba on the recent case of China and the NBA.
Persecution of Environmental Defenders in the Philippines
Staff writer Calvin Manahan speaks on the human rights violations that environmental activists face under President Duterte's vigilante regime in the Philippines.