THE gruesome beheading of three westerners by the Islamic State (IS), previously known as ISIL and ISIS, has once again led to a large scale American military intervention in Iraq. Alarmingly, the US has used the alleged threat posed by the IS to its homeland security to extend the military intervention to Syria. The chorus of right wing voices in the United States has demanded a full scale military intervention in the region. In the videotapes released by the IS on the beheadings, it is a masked man speaking with a pronounced British accent, who carries out the decapitations.

THE Chinese President, Xi Jinping’s tour of South Asia in the third week of September ended with his three day visit to India. Before reaching Indian shores, the Chinese president had visited the Maldives and Sri Lanka. Both sides have described the visit of the Chinese president as successful. The Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, speaking after the return of President Xi to Beijing, said that “cooperation” between the two countries was the main theme that dominated the summit meeting with the Indian prime minister.

IN what was more or less a replay of the presidential elections held four years ago, Abdullah Abdullah, has once again charged that the election process this time was also deeply flawed and that he was robbed of certain victory. As the voting trends became clear in early July and his main rival building up an unassailable lead, Abdullah dramatically announced that he would refuse to recognise the results of the elections.

THE Indonesian Election Commission officially announced on July 22 that the victor of the final round of Presidential elections held on July 9 was Joko Widodo, popularly known as Jokowi. The elections were hard fought with the opposition engaging in dirty tricks in a belated effort to pip him at the polls. The opposition’s propaganda blitz did succeed in whittling down the 20 per cent lead that Jokowi had initially enjoyed before the campaign had begun in earnest.

RECENT months have witnessed a steady deterioration in relations between Washington and Beijing. The acceleration in the process started with the visit of President Barack Obama to Tokyo, where he re-emphasised his political support for Japan’s claim to the disputed Senkaku/Diaoyu islands in the East China Sea. The American president had also explicitly stated that if hostilities broke out between China and Japan, the US is bound by treaty to come to the defense of its long time ally.