POLITICS

What Happened: For over two months, tens of thousands of Indian farmers have been protesting on highways outside of Delhi, demanding the repeal of agricultural reform laws they say will devastate marginal farmers. Nine rounds of talk have made no progress, with the farmers unwilling to accept anything less than full repeal while the Modi government continues to defend the reforms.

Our Focus: “The only way out of the impasse is for the government to allay the anxieties of the farmers,” writes analyst Sudha Ramachandran for The Diplomat. “The Modi government would need to reach out meaningfully to the protestors, to listen to them and engage with them. But it has little experience in this regard.”

What Comes Next: The farmers are planning a demonstration on January 26, India’s National Day. That stands to be a flashpoint, as the government looks to avoid embarrassment during its annual parade and celebration.

INTERVIEW

Samir Puri, author of “The Great Imperial Hangover: How Empires Have Shaped the World” on the legacy of Chinese imperialism: “What the CCP achieved – if we take the long view of history – was to bring to 20th/21st century standards to the vast landmass and polity that occupies the space of the old Chinese empire.”

Northeast Asia

North Korea has a long history of forcibly getting the attention of new U.S. presidents (think nuclear and missile tests). In the wake of fiery rhetoric and a military parade in Pyongyang last week, what signals will Kim Jong Un send to set the tone of interactions with the Biden administration?

South Asia

A transcript of WhatsApp conversations between a firebrand television news anchor, Arnab Goswami, and a former head of a ratings agency, circulating on Indian social media has once again spotlighted links between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and sections of the Indian media. While the proximate cause of the ongoing controversy is Goswami's seeming foreknowledge of the 2019 Balakot strike by the Indian military, India's opposition parties are likely to draw political mileage from the larger questions the purported transcript raises.

Southeast Asia

Indonesia’s government continues to grapple with a series of disasters both natural and manmade, including floods in Kalimantan, an earthquake in Sulawesi, and the aftermath of the Sriwijaya Air crash on January 9. Then, of course, there is COVID-19, which continues to spread almost unchecked, even as the nation’s ambitious national vaccination drive gets underway.

Central Asia

U.S. troop levels are down to 2,500 in Afghanistan but the resumed intra-Afghan talks are making scant progress. The big question on everyone's mind is what the Biden administration plans to do about Afghanistan: Follow Trump's exit plan or forge a different way ahead?

SOCIETY

In 1964, a cyclone nearly wiped Dhanushkodi off the map. A small group of fisherfolk, however, refused to abandon their homes and cling to life on India’s extreme southern coast, where the Bay of Bengal meets the Indian Ocean.

POLITICS

Laam chau: lit. “embrace the frying” in Hong Kong Cantonese; figuratively meaning “scorched earth” or “mutual destruction.” The phrase became a mantra of the 2019 Hong Kong anti-extradition bill protest movement.