Shamsher M Chowdhury, BB

History shows that the strength of relations between states, particularly among neighbouring ones, lies in withstanding tests and, if done right, comes out looking better, both perceptively and in substance, in the end. The recent sudden and previously unannounced visit by Indian Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla to Dhaka needs to be seen in that context.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s proposal for consultations among the leaders of the Saarc member countries through a video conference to try and collectively meet the threat of COVID-19 was a most thoughtful and a timely initiative.

The recently held Dhaka Global Dialogue, organised jointly by the Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS) and the Indian independent think tank Observer Research Foundation (ORF) was an innovative exercise for pursuing interactive,

US President Donald Trump’s ultra-hawkish National Security Adviser John Bolton has been quoted as saying: “To stop Iran’s bomb, bomb Iran.” Chillingly frightening words indeed—and that too from one of the closest advisers of the most powerful office on earth

Following the election triumph in Myanmar of Aung Sun Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy (NLD) party in 2015, the world, especially the Western world, went into overdrive heralding in the rebirth of democracy in this hitherto reclusive and military controlled country, a neighbour of Bangladesh.