ISDP Voices

Due to a record warm fall season, supressed gas demand, and booming U.S. liquified natural gas (LNG) exports to Europe, average gas storage levels reached the EU-mandated 80 percent target ahead of time. Gas futures at the Dutch Title Transfer Facility (TTF) were trading at around €100/MWh in early November – less than a third […]

The 2022 Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, was marked by several notable actions indicating further organizational expansion. Egypt and Qatar were granted a dialogue partner status in SCO, Iran has signed a memorandum on joining the SCO and most remarkably, the process for granting Belarus full membership in the SCO was announced. […]

In August, as floods wreaked havoc throughout Pakistan, the country’s finance minister hinted at the possibility of importing food items from its neighbor India. For many observers, it seemed like a good opportunity for the neighbors to bury the hatchet and revive diplomatic ties downgraded in 2019. But, in what has now become a familiar […]

Since the Cold War and the demise of the Soviet Union in 1991, the United States has successfully managed to protect its alliance system in Northeast Asia, consisting of Japan and South Korea, against external threats from adversaries by offering extended nuclear deterrence to these countries. However, the new geopolitical landscape that has emerged over […]

When Benjamin Netanyahu left the office of prime minister in June 2021, after being the longest-serving head of government in Israel, not many had anticipated his swift return to power. If not the end of his long political career, starting as leader of the opposition (LoP) in 1993 and two stints as prime minister in […]

Normally a communist national party congress is a dull and boring event. The proceedings follow an agenda set in advance, all important appointments have effectively been decided ahead of the congress, speeches and reports are all stereotyped and contain nothing new. Reactions and comments from official sources after the congress are predictable claiming that it […]

Since 2016 the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has run the administration in Taiwan and cross-strait relations have deteriorated due to the DPP’s political and cultural stances—distancing Taiwan from China. The visit of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan in August saw cross-strait relations fall to freezing point. China believed the U.S. violated the ‘One […]

As protests over the tragic death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman held by the morality police continue to sweep Iran for some time with people’s indignation over the perceived injustice showing no sign of subsiding, the trajectory of the Islamic Republic’s diplomatic posture appears to matter even less to Iranians than any other time. […]

ASEAN burst into life in 1967 with the creation of the Bangkok Declaration, which detailed the aims of the organization, to promote economic, social, cultural, and educational cooperation as well as regional peace and stability through an assemblance of justice, the rule of law, and the principles of the UN Charter. In a very real […]

China’s military drill in the Taiwan Strait following Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan acted as an economic wake-up call for the European Union (EU). By weaponizing its geo-economic influence and blocking important trade routes, China exposed Europe´s concern regarding economic dependency in the region. Since 40 percent of EU trade passes through the Taiwan Strait, […]