The idea of abolishing FATA as a distinct administrative entity and merging it with KP led to a country-wide debate, with some commentators pointing to the futility of the merger and others advocating its early implementation in the interest of peace and stability in the region.

Advances in technology has brought into focus the need to have double assurance on data security, especially with the world moving from classical to Quantum Computing, which latter has the power to unlock the toughest of cyber-locks.

Most attacks prior to Petya were carried out by criminals for financial gain, but some characteristics of the Petya malware have led to doubts as to whether the culprits are state actors.

There is a need to rework the Outer Space Treaty and contemporize it to deal more directly with issues of the current era.

China has justified the passage of the new law as an ‘objective need’ for national security considering its large cyber infrastructure and its vulnerabilities.

This backgrounder examines the current structure of ICANN, the intricacies of the IANA transition, and the way it will impact the architecture of cyberspace in the future.

This backgrounder offers an overview of the two most challenging concerns for Myanmar’s democracy – ethnic unrest and economic hardships – and how the new government is planning to address these issues in particular and also more generally the influence of the Tatmadaw in politics.

This backgrounder explores three issues: the strategic significance of the South Pacific for India, the advantages that India enjoys over China in the region, and the status of India’s relationship with Papua New Guinea in the light of the recent visit by President Mukherjee.

China wants to regain the position it once enjoyed under the military government in Myanmar. However, its efforts at securing a direct access to the Indian Ocean through Myanmar are unlikely to see an early fruition.

The Obama administration has acknowledged that their policy on Cuba has been the most outdated one, considering it has been more than two decades since the Cold War got over. The biggest knot in their relationship has been untied, but that doesn’t spare the leaders from confronting some age-old pinpricks.