Asia

While Saudi Arabia and other countries of the Arabian Gulf make some shallow progress towards improving women’s rights, the hundreds of women trying to flee the region make clear that true progress is still a long way off.

China long ago mastered the art of casually sitting on the sidelines while regional and global economic and political forces clash, then swiftly swooping in to scoop up the spoils.

Arab states are gradually re-normalizing their diplomatic ties with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government. As Iran and Lebanese Hezbollah have been major advocates of Syria’s return to the Arab world’s diplomatic fold, both are attempting to facilitate a restoration of relations between Damascus and Hamas, which may soon occur despite the Palestinian group’s decision to side against Assad in 2012.

Throughout recent weeks, deep-rooted tensions between Abu Dhabi and Tehran have heated up. Yet as the UAE is working closely with the United States and Arab allies to counter Iran’s regional influence via an Arab NATO alliance and tougher sanctions against Tehran, the risk of frictions and hostilities between Abu Dhabi and the Islamic Republic escalating beyond harsh rhetoric cannot be dismissed.

India now has the highest oil and natural gas consumption in the world and will for the foreseeable future. With exorbitant and ever-increasing energy demands, India is under pressure to diversify its energy supply.

The Turkish government welcomes President Donald Trump’s decision to pull U.S. forces out of northern Syria, effectively ending Washington’s role as an on-the-ground protector of Ankara’s arch-enemy, the Kurdish YPG.

To meet its growing energy needs, Oman is looking to increase its natural gas supply above the current levels of imports brought in from Qatar via the Dolphin pipeline. What are the prospects for Iranian natural gas to reach Oman and global markets through the anticipated Iranian-Omani gas pipeline project?

Ethno/sectarian tensions in Iran routinely manifest themselves in deadly violence in the country’s peripheral provinces that are home to millions of the Islamic Republic’s non-Persian and/or non-Shi’a citizens.

The International Day for Elimination of Violence Against Women on November 25, and the following 16 Days of Activism that are now underway, are a reminder that gender-based violence (GBV) is still prevalent throughout the world, and that proactive engagement and education are the only way to eradicate it.

With the re-imposition of sanctions on Iran, it is not just the Islamic Republic’s global, but regional energy links which have been shaken, spelling bad tidings for future economic and political cooperation. Alternatives to Iran’s drastically underinvested energy sector abound for those countries which, like Pakistan, are undertaking serious efforts to make up for their own deficits. What can the current state of relations between Pakistan and Iran tell us about the future of regional energy relations?