Middle East

  • Glimpses of Iranian Society through Filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami’s Lens

    From the McCarthyism era in the West to Mao’s Cultural Revolution in the East, films and filmmakers have been at the discretion of their governments. The censorship mechanism in Iran especially resembles the US censorship era, except it is state-controlled like China. One is left to wonder and ask how Iranian cinema thrives in such…

  • Engineering Fear 2.0: From the Strait of Hormuz to the Streets of Amman – How the Iran War is Reshaping the Middle East

    In a previous article for the Middle East Outlook, “Engineering Fear: The New Middle East Truce”, I had argued that ceasefires in the Middle East are no longer mere temporary pauses in hostilities but have evolved into sophisticated mechanisms for conflict management and deterrence – a concept I had described as “Engineering of Fear.” While…

  • Calibrated Re-engagement: India’s New FDI Framework and the Return of Chinese Capital

    On 10 March 2026, the Indian government approved a proposal that would bring significant changes to the country’s Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policy, including the introduction of new guidelines on investments from Land Border Countries (LBC). These guidelines aim to unlock greater FDI inflows from global funds into startups and deep-tech companies by enabling India’s…

Share via
Copy link