author

 
Menu
Search
 
February 22, 2025
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access
Brahma Chellaney

Meta

Twitter

@Chellaney

Brahma Chellaney
Brahma Chellaney, a longstanding contributor to The Japan Times, is a geostrategist and the author of "Asian Juggernaut" (Harper, 2010) and "Water: Asia’s New Battlefield" (Georgetown University Press, 2011), which won the 2012 Bernard Schwartz Award. He is professor of strategic studies at the Center for Policy Research, New Delhi.
Indian activists angered over the jailing of a leading Hindu monk in Bangladesh try to break a police barricade during a protest in Kolkata on Nov. 28 demanding his release.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 16, 2024
Bangladesh’s descent into Islamist violence
An unstable Bangladesh mired in radical Islamism and political violence has long been India’s geopolitical nightmare
A China Coast Guard vessel fires a water cannon at a Philippine boat on a resupply mission to the Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea on March 5.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 17, 2024
America must stand up to Asia’s bully
Without U.S. intervention, China will continue its territorial expansion, threatening global security and supply chains.
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a BRICS business forum in Moscow on Friday.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 20, 2024
The rise of BRICS and the emerging multipolar world
The diversity among BRICS members presents challenges in forming a unified agenda, especially given differing political systems and goals.
Bangladeshi military personnel stand guard at an empty police station in Dhaka on Aug. 9. The U.S. and Western nations have sacrificed democracy for geopolitics, evident in Bangladesh’s chaos and violence after the prime minister was recently forced from power.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 6, 2024
The Western world's stealthy assault on democracy
Elections alone — even if competitive — do not guarantee popular empowerment or adherence to constitutional rules, especially when the military holds decisive power.
Gen. Waker-uz-Zaman, Bangladesh's army chief, arrives at Dhaka International Airport to receive Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus on Aug. 8 to lead the country's interim government.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 29, 2024
Will Bangladesh go the way of Pakistan?
The Islamist resurgence poses a serious law-and-order challenge in Bangladesh, as it has long done in Pakistan.
Bangladesh's instability adds to the existing regional tensions in South Asia, which is already grappling with violence in Myanmar, terrorism in the Pakistan-Afghanistan area and political turmoil in the Maldives and Nepal.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 14, 2024
South Asia’s deepening political turmoil
The ouster of Bangladeshi's government is the latest example of political volatility in South Asia — a region struggling to achieve stability, let alone democratization.
Russian President Vladimir Putin (right) and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi meet at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence near Moscow on Monday during Modi’s first visit to Russia in five years.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 9, 2024
The China factor in Modi’s mission to Moscow
In his first visit to Moscow in years, Modi's focus was driving a wedge between Russia and China — with Putin one of the few world leaders who can counterbalance Xi.
People await the arrival of the Dalai Lama in New York on Sunday. The Tibetan spiritual leader is in the U.S. to undergo knee surgery.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 24, 2024
China must not choose the next Dalai Lama
The 14th Dalai Lama, who is in the U.S. to undergo knee surgery, should leave instructions to choose his successor, therefore delegitimizing any Beijing-anointed figure.
The policies of just-reelected Prime Minister Narendra Modi will reflect India's desire for independence in international affairs, emphasizing friendship without dependence.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 7, 2024
A resurgent India to play a bigger role on the world stage
With a busy foreign-policy agenda awaiting him, Modi is expected to hit the ground running right after he is sworn in.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, meet in Tokyo in May 2022 on the sidelines of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue. The coalition is now adrift and the reason for the drop-off is simple: The U.S. is preoccupied with Europe and the Middle East.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 5, 2024
Is 'the Quad' becoming a Potemkin alliance?
Despite its initial promise, "the Quad" coalition now appears to be losing momentum, posing significant security risks.
Beijing is quietly supporting the Kremlin’s war machine. For China, the longer the West stays distracted with the Ukraine war, the better.
COMMENTARY / World
May 7, 2024
The West is hastening its own decline
Unless it changes course, the West is likely to lose its global supremacy, including its hold on the international financial architecture.
The U.S. should use diplomacy to achieve a cease-fire in Ukraine as a prolonged conflict could reshape global power dynamics and strengthen China.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 28, 2024
Biden's focus on Ukraine risks Indo-Pacific security
The U.S. should use diplomacy to achieve a cease-fire in Ukraine, as a prolonged conflict could reshape global power dynamics and strengthen China.
With little pushback from the international community, particularly the U.S., China has managed to expand its maritime borders unilaterally in the South China Sea without hardly firing a shot.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 21, 2024
The South China Sea could boil over
With the wars in Ukraine and Gaza stretching its military resources thin, a direct confrontation with China is the last thing the U.S. needs.
With the wars in Ukraine and Gaza claiming America’s attention and the world undergoing a broader geopolitical reconfiguration, China might see a window of opportunity in forcing its claim on Taiwan.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 21, 2024
A Taiwan crisis is coming
Already, Xi Jinping has been stepping up intrusions into Taiwan's air defense zone and encircling the island with warships.
Left-wing activists take part in a rally in Dhaka on Jan. 3 to demand a new election under Bangladesh's caretaker government.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 18, 2024
Weeks into 2024 and the world seems on edge
The global system that emerged after World War II is giving way to a world without order.
Ukrainian military members fire a howitzer at Russian forces in the Zaporizhzhia Region of Ukraine in December. Ukraine’s war effort is highly dependent on the U.S. and the other Western nations who comprise the country’s largest military and economic backers. 
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 26, 2023
The wars shaping the new world order
From Gaza to Urkaine to Taiwan, there is an unfolding geopolitical drama and global rebalancing among the great-powers.
Hamas fighters take part in a military parade in Gaza in July to mark the anniversary of the 2014 war with Israel.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 21, 2023
Israel's historical role in the rise of Hamas
The complicated relationship between Israel and Hamas with the the "Frankenstein" Jewish state help create
While India’s gross domestic product is still smaller than China’s, the country is currently the world’s fastest-growing major economy and is projected to account for 12.9% of global growth over the next five years.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 18, 2023
India’s quiet rise as Asia's other demographic giant
While India appears stable and resurgent under Modi, its future will depend on its ability to maintain political stability and rapid economic growth.
Chinese leaders seem to believe the country has a narrow window of opportunity to achieve global preeminence before unfavorable demographic and geopolitical trends catch up with it.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 15, 2023
China’s dangerous secrets
China's secretive approach to projects and activities, including its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, should be a significant concern.
Indian border security force soldiers stand guard at a checkpoint along a highway leading to Ladakh in Kashmir's Ganderbal district in June 2020.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 6, 2023
China-India border conflict holds lessons for Japan, too
India has learned that bilateral ties and economic interdependence do not constrain China's territorial ambitions. That is a lesson Japan should heed.
Yen advances past ¥150 per dollar as BOJ rate-hike bets ramp up
The Japanese currency climbed as much as 1% to ¥149.95 against the dollar on Thursday, a level it hasn’t touched since Dec. 9.
Japan release of Shiori Ito's documentary in limbo
Shiori Ito, who won a civil suit over a rape case against a TV reporter, in 2018. Her former lawyers claim her documentary includes footage used without the consent of sources.
Record percentage of Japanese firms plan wage hikes, survey shows
Some 61.9% of over 11,000 surveyed companies intend to pledge pay increases as part of annual wage negotiations culminating in March, according to a survey by Teikoku Databank.
Japan’s inflation speeds up, keeping BOJ on rate hike path
A customer visits a store along the Togoshi Ginza shopping street in Tokyo on Jan. 23. Rising fresh food prices contributed to the acceleration in overall inflation in January, as vegetable prices, including cabbage, soared.
Victor Wembanyama expected to miss remainder of regular season with blood clot
Spurs center Victor Wembanyama (right) is expected to miss the rest of the NBA season, the team announced on Thursday.
Japan release of Shiori Ito's documentary in limbo
Shiori Ito, who won a civil suit over a rape case against a TV reporter, in 2018. Her former lawyers claim her documentary includes footage used without the consent of sources.
Abdul Hakim Sani Brown ready to sprint past Paris disappointment
Abdul Hakim Sani Brown (center) runs during a 100-meter heat at the Paris Olympics on Aug. 3, 2024.
What is the ceiling for sumo’s newest yokozuna?
Newly promoted grand champion Hoshoryu (center) performs a dedication ceremony at Meiji Shrine in Tokyo on Jan. 31.
‘Yasuko, Songs of Days Past’ puts overlooked star in the spotlight
“Yasuko, Songs of Days Past” centers on a real-life love triangle between poet Chuya Nakahara (Taisei Kido, left), actor Yasuko Hasegawa (Suzu Hirose, center) and literary critic Hideo Kobayashi (Masaki Okada).
Japan’s English-language education doesn’t pass the test
One-third of elementary school students in Japan do not like learning English, according to a 2021 poll, an 8% rise since 2013. The pressure of taking proficiency tests is eroding children's engagement with studying English and its benefits.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Tokyo Koon stands at the forefront of tackling the so-called 2025 issue, also known as the “Magnetic Tape Alert.”
The race to save 20th-century history
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Site designer on why expos matter more than ever
Site designer on why expos matter more than ever

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER