The Prime Ministers of Pakistan (l.) and India (r.).

The New York Times details the trouble that the Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh, is having within his own country as he tries to launch substantive negotiations with Pakistan. The Indian people are deeply distrustful of any initiative to engage with Pakistan, who many regard as directly responsible for December’s Mumbai terrorist attacks.

An Akula Class submarine.

Well now, in addition to sharks, keep your eyes open for Russian subs when you’re at the beach in the next couple of days.

President Ahmadinejad at Columbia University, 2007.

The BBC, along with a host of other news outlets, has been touting the likelihood of increased sanctions against Iran in the coming months, targeted at the Iranian oil industry, if Iran does not agree to suspend its uranium enrichment program. This talk picked up following the Supreme Leader’s endorsement of Ahmadinejad for a second term as Iran’s president and the beginning of massive show trials and public confessions of those involved in protesting the results of June’s contested presidential election.

Pakistani Millitary in the Swat Valley, Pakistan

After discussing the changes in Taliban tactics and the challenges posed by them in Afghanistan earlier, it seems apt to discuss what is occurring with the Taliban in Pakistan’s Swat Valley. The New York Times has a story today detailing the uncertain future of the Swat Valley.

 

Sunrise Zabul, Afghanistan

 Just last week, a copy of a new Taliban handbook was obtained by Al Jazeera. The work was approved by Mullah Omar, the Afghan leader of the Taliban, and it outlines a uniform military code of conduct for Taliban fighters to observe. One of the most striking aspects of this book is how closely it resembles the counter-insurgency campaigns that the US military has been waging in Iraq and Afghanistan for the past several years.

Welcome.

This, clearly, is my first post here. As such, I feel that I should lay out what I’m trying to do here. I hope that this blog will be a chronicle of my travels throughout the world, which in turn will help to inform some analysis and insight into some of the more pressing foreign policy issues of the day.

In addition, I hope that many of the things that I post here will spark a discussion that will lead to intellectually honest debate on all sides.

For more information on who I am and my background visit my About page.

I look forward to what I hope will be a lively and ongoing conversation.