South Asia Investor Review

President Donald Trump has made a habit of telling truths that drive the United States establishment crazy. For example, he told Russian officials in a White House meeting in 2017 that he was not concerned about Russian interference in 2016 US elections because the United States did the same in other countries' elections, according to media reports. In a 2017 Super Bowl Sunday interview with Trump, Fox News anchor Bill O'Reilly authoritatively declared Russian President Vladimir “Putin’s a killer.” Trump replied with the question: “What, you think our country’s so innocent?” Trump did something similar in 2018 after his Singapore Summit meeting with North Korean leader Kim JongUn. When Fox News' Brett Baier raised the question in an interview about "Kim's oppression of his own people", Trump said: “Yeah, but so have a lot of other people have done some really bad things.” Trump's  straight talk  continues to inflame passions in the US establishment. ...

The United States has launched successful cyber attacks against Iran and North Korea in recent years, according to multiple credible reports. These cyber attacks have caused physical destruction of thousands of Iranian nuclear centrifuges and disrupted North Korean missiles on launchpads or shortly after takeoff. Some of the code and developer tools used in the attacks have leaked out. These leaks are enabling other nations to learn and develop their own offensive cyber weapons. The United States and the United Kingdom have accused Russia of using social media apps like Facebook and Twitter to exploit and  deepen divisions  during the US presidential elections and the UK's Brexit referendum in 2016. Similar warfare techniques, described by the US RAND Corporation as New Generation or Hybrid Warfare, are probably being deployed by other nations as well. It refers to the use of a broad range of subversive instruments, many of which are nonmilitary, to further a country's nationa...

Why were Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and National Security Advisor General HR McMaster fired? Why is there so much  turnover  is US National Security Council and White House staff? How will the selection of Mike Pompeo as Secretary of State and John Bolton as National Security Advisor impact policies vis-a-vis Afghanistan, India,  Pakistan, Iran  and North Korea? Will  pressure on Pakistan  ease? Is US military action against Iran more likely? Will the situation in Middle East further deteriorate? Why has President Trump imposed heavy tariffs on Chinese imports? Will China retaliate with its own tariffs on US products? Will there be a trade war? Will it hurt global financial markets? How will it impact US, Chinese and other major economies? Could it spark a global recession? Why has  Afghan  President Ashraf Ghani invited the Taliban for talks? Does Pakistan have any influence on the Taliban? Will the Taliban accept the invitation? ...