Traditional equations in South Asia are shifting and the region is approaching a binary of US-India and China-Pakistan as the major local power blocs.

India and Japan have much to gain from cooperation considering that both seek to emerge as leaders in the Asia-Pacific region.

Delhi, 15th August 2014, Narendra Modi addressed the nation in his first Independence Day speech as Indian Prime Minister. The ramparts of the iconic Red Fort provided a familiar setting. However, the content of Mr Modi’s speech broke from tradition. Notable was his impassioned plea for a shift in attitude on the issue of violence against women – an issue that, by his reckoning, still brings shame to India

The fear of ‘appearing sectarian’ or ‘showing favouritism’ is the poorest, the weakest and the most appalling excuse for not speaking up for a persecuted group in a distant land that happen to share your beliefs.

Last week, the Japanese cabinet undertook a significant shift in their country’s defence policy, by agreeing to reinterpret the constitutional limits on the use of force in a less strict manner. The new understanding of the restrictions of Article 9 now allow for Japanese “collective self-defense” as well as military intervention to protect its treaty allies.

Over the past week, Lithuania, Nigeria, Chile, Chad and Saudi Arabia were elected unopposed to five non-permanent member seats in the UN Security Council. Only a few hours later, Saudi Arabia, though hardly a state celebrated for its human rights record, rejected its seat