By Gargi Wickramasinghe
Shockwaves rippled across Caracas, when news broke of Operation Absolute Resolve. But the tremor did not stay there. It began travelling outward, across the Caribbean and the Pacific until it hit perhaps the most precarious geopolitical fault line in our region: the Taiwan Strait.
The United States had demonstrated in the starkest possible way, that when it believes its strategic interests are at stake, it will act unilaterally, without waiting…
By Shiran Illanperuma
For Venezuelans, the new year began with the US illegally bombing its civilian infrastructure and kidnapping democratically elected President Nicholas Maduro and First Lady Cillian Flores.
Hours before the attack, President Maduro met with a Chinese delegation sent by President Xi Jinping. This delegation included Special Envoy for Latin America and the Caribbean Qiu Xiaoqi, Director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for Latin…
By Kividi Koralage
The Indo-Pacific region is an expansive and strategically significant area that stretches from the eastern coast of Africa, across the vast expanse of the Indian Ocean, and extends to the western and central Pacific Ocean.
This region encompasses a diverse array of countries, including those in East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia…
By Uditha Devapriya
With India and Pakistan baying for each other’s blood and the media in both countries, and particularly in India, beating war drums, it would be futile to expect a lessening of tensions overnight. The problem is that this is not the world of 2016 or 2019: when disputes between the two countries…
By Hannes Romare
Exclusive to Factum from EPIS Thinktank on Foreign and Security Policy
The Chagos Islands, or The British Indian Ocean Territory? Is the Chagos archipelago a part of Mauritius or does it belong to the United Kingdom? These questions will soon get a definite answer as a deal on the status of the…
By Sachintha Pilapitiya
Sri Lanka has often stressed its principle of "friendship towards all, enmity towards none" in its diplomacy. In 2024, under two ideologically contrasting governments, Sri Lanka reflected the possibility of maintaining this foreign policy goal intact.
In this article, I conduct a short review of Sri Lanka’s foreign policy in 2024, followed…
By Vinod Moonesinghe
We bear witness to a period of accelerated global transformation, with the rise of the East and the relative decline of the West reshaping the global political and economic landscape, benefitting the Global South. China, whose rapid economic growth and expanding influence play a pivotal role in this new era of global…
By Aavin Abeydeera
In September this year, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau addressed the Canadian House of Commons. His speech included statements that went on to spark one of the most consequential diplomatic crises in the world today.
Trudeau essentially accused Indian intelligence of being behind the assassination of one Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a…
By Uditha Devapriya
The last week has been very busy for President Ranil Wickremesinghe. First he travelled to Cuba, in time for the G77 Plus China Heads of State Summit in Havana from September 15 to 16. Largely dismissed by the Western press, the Summit saw the participation of delegations from more than a…
By Shakthi de Silva
Of late, headlines have been dominated by news of the BRICS deciding, at its 15th Summit in Johannesburg, to add six new members from 2024. The news should not necessarily come as a surprise, as the original members, Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, agreed during the 14th BRICS…
By Uditha Devapriya
Sri Lanka’s future lies in its ability to balance the three great powers in – and not of – the Indian Ocean: India, China, and the US, and in that order. Its dilemma has something to do with it being a small state, but more importantly with it being a small state…
By Uditha Devapriya
On July 2 and 3, Factum held its first Ambassadors’ Day at the Kataragama Esala Perahera. The event was attended by the Bangladeshi High Commissioner and the First Secretary to the Maldivian High Commission on the first day, and the Thai Ambassador on the second, which coincided with the final night of…