ASP Shazia Ishaq

https://youtu.be/0RtuS0RZzDc?si=T7lnAXTxc2Ec8zdo
Gaza Ceasefire deal explained

Gaza ceasefire deal, explained | Start Here What’s in the Gaza ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas and what are some of the challenges for the deal to hold? with Sandra Gathmann explai...

Inclusion of Indonesia in BRICS:
A balance of Global North-South or a strategic shift against US?

What will change with Indonesia entering BRICS?
Indonesia has joined BRICS, a rising international forum championed by China and Russia. Can Jakarta still maintain its friendship with the West?
Indonesia formally became a member of BRICS on Monday, adding Southeast Asia's largest economy and the region's most populous country to the bloc.

Officialy founded by Brazil, Russia, China and India in 2009, BRICS has grown in relevance as an international forum for developing countries. South Africa joined soon after the first summit, and Egypt, Iran, Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates became members in 2024.
Boosted by its new members, BRICS is now seeking to cement its reputation as an alternative to the G7 group of major economies led by the United States.

"We have reiterated several times that BRICS is an important platform for Indonesia to strengthen South-South cooperation and ensure that the voices and aspirations of Global South countries are well-represented in global decision-making processes," Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Rolliansyah Soemirat told DW.

Jakarta was "committed to contributing to the agendas discussed by BRICS, including efforts to promote economic resilience, technological cooperation, and public health," according to the spokesman.
Subianto takes the plunge

Indonesia's previous President Joko Widodo refused to take his country into BRICS in 2023, saying Jakarta was still weighing pros and cons and did not want to "rush into it." New President Prabowo Subianto, who emerged as the winner of the 2024 general election, has no such concerns. But the shift in Jakarta signals more than a simple change of government. With the Western-led global order seen as politically frayed, weakened by economic turmoil and the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, the countries of Global South are increasingly willing to move closer to Beijing and Moscow and risk angering Washington. Over 30 nations, including Southeast Asian countries like Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam, have now expressed interest or formally applied for BRICS membership.
A 'multipolar' world

The evolution of BRICS into a larger geopolitical bloc has also been driven by the rise of China as a global economic and political force. The Chinese government frequently calls for a "multipolar" world order, a security and financial infrastructure not exclusively dominated by the US. BRICS members also often discuss the global dominance of the US dollar, and the need for alternative financial frameworks between countries.

Diplomatically, BRICS is important for both China and Russia as a symbol of this emerging multipolar landscape, with the 2024 forum hosted by Vladimir Putin showing that Moscow still had plenty of friends around the world despite Western sanctions.Commenting on Indonesia's decision to join BRICS, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun praised the South Asian nation as a "major developing country and an important force in the Global South."

It is important to note, however, that BRICS is not an overtly anti-Western club. Indonesia, much like founding BRICS member India, enjoys good relations with Western countries, and is unlikely to take sides in the geopolitical showdown between the US and its rivals.
Indonesia as a balancing force?

"Indonesia does not intend to break away from the West either slowly or immediately," M. Habib Abiyan Dzakwan, a researcher at the department of international relations at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Indonesia, told DW.

"In Indonesia's foreign policy DNA, all are friends as stated by [President Subianto] Prabowo as well," he said, noting that Jakarta "just wants to increase its playing field."

"If Indonesia can maintain its non-aligned position and influence the BRICS agenda with its inclusive view not to exclude or negate the West, I think it [membership] might not have much impact for our relations with the West," according to the expert.

Teuku Rezasyah, another international relations expert and lecturer from Padjadjaran University in West Java, told DW that Indonesia could act as a "balancer" within BRICS, while also maintaining its ties with the US and the EU.

"As a middle power, being a member of BRICS gives Indonesia leverage in the global order," he said.
The Trump effect

As US President-elect Donald Trump takes office later this month, the US is widely expected to pull back from multilateral engagement.

Taking aim at BRICS, Trump in November threatened the bloc's members with being cut off from the US economy if a "BRICS currency" was created.

2024 deadliest year for security forces

With at least 685 members of security forces losing their lives amid a total of 444 terror attacks, 2024 turned out to be the deadliest year for civil and military security forces of Pakistan in a decade.

Equally alarming were the cumulative losses of civilians and security personnel: 1,612 fatalities, accounting for over 63pc of the total recorded this year and marking 73pc more losses compared to 934 outlaws eliminated.

The overall fatalities recorded this year were a record 9-year high, and over 66pc more than 2023. On average, nearly seven lives were lost daily, with November emerging as the deadliest month, compared to all other months of the year.

Read more: https://www.dawn.com/news/1882160/

Good write up on Madrassa reform bill…

Pakistan Debates Madrassa Reform Rollback The rollback of the 2019 reforms will undo the little progress made in modernizing Pakistan’s religious seminaries.

‘Ticking time bomb’: US officials worry about ISIS jailbreak in Syria Lightly armed Kurdish forces are guarding more than 9,000 Islamic State terrorists in Syria.

Democracy Without America? What Trump means for global democratic momentum.

https://youtu.be/2LlVpmCZXvU?si=jpWaYG3pApIAugdT

Is The 26 Constitutional Amendment Democratic? | TCM Explains For many the 26th constitutional amendment has been a way to restrict powers of the judiciary. Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, an expert on Parliamentary Affairs shares...

In a knife-edge election between Harris and Trump, where the 538 delegates in the electoral college are otherwise closely split, it means Nebraska 2 could be decisive in giving one candidate the 270 votes to become president. https://on.ft.com/48ezkmW

Whoever becomes America’s president, Donald Trump’s ideas will win. He has reshaped both parties’ agendas—and set the terms of this contest https://econ.st/3zIjBzT