Striking comments from an Indian official that 1) focus only on water flow & 2) don't consider the negative effects on Bangladesh's water quality & wider ecosystem, especially in the dry season. Our Brahmaputra book has more details (free PDF MCUPress): usmcu.edu/Outreach/Marin…

-NYT: Red Sea traffic down ~60% since November 2023. -EUNAVFOR ASPIDES via Reuters: Red Sea traffic up 60% since August 2024. June 5 articles: nytimes.com/2025/06/05/bus… reuters.com/world/middle-e… #IndianOcean security

AFRICOM General Langley speaks to US defense priorities such as preventing attacks on the homeland via CT, counter-China, & burden-sharing. Re: Indian Ocean security, he notes chokepoints/FON & conflict/terrorism in East Africa: Sudan, Somalia, Mozambique defense.gov/News/News-Stor…

Chinese Embassy thanks Indian Navy & Coast Guard for operation to rescue crew onboard a ship that caught fire. We've seen previous examples of India-China cooperation in the Indian Ocean like 2024 medical evacuation & 2017 joint counterpiracy operation hindustantimes.com/india-news/gra…

Important for Brahmaputra flood forecasting: 🇮🇳 Foreign Sec "noted the discussion in the April 2025 meeting of the Expert Level Mechanism for cooperation in trans-border rivers for resumption of provision of hydrological data and other cooperation, and hoped for progress on them"

Bhutan had successfully worked to get off the previous travel ban draft lists after a NYT story ran in March, according to reporting by The Bhutanese: thebhutanese.bt/bhutan-makes-i…

I'm looking forward to discussing the US approach to Bangladesh, especially in the context of US strategy in the Indian Ocean. Register for this in-person event w/Satu Limaye, Dr Aparna Pande, Amb. Sobhan, & me: eastwestcenter.org/events/banglad… #SmallStates #SmallerSouthAsian #IndoPacific

The B-2s used in US strikes on Iran departed from the US homeland & flew nonstop, as reported by Eric Schmitt: nytimes.com/live/2025/06/2… Yet many had expected the B-2s to fly out of the Diego Garcia base in the Indian Ocean. UK-Mauritius deal (incl on DG) was reached last month

Bangladesh-US security cooperation continues. For more on the topic, my book chapter on the Bangladesh-US bilateral relationship in Sreeradha Datta's wide-ranging edited volume has a brief history of their security ties: bloomsbury.com/us/bangladesh-…

US in Indian Ocean history: -Nimitz arrived the same day as Op. Midnight Hammer in Iran, joining Vinson. -In 1979, Iran was the reason for the US's first 2-carrier deployment to the Middle East, according to Ryan Peeks' excellent book on aircraft carrier requirements (p.40)

In the debate over regional priorities & Iran, "Indo-Pacific" really means Western Pacific. Iran used to be a pillar of US security interests in the Indian Ocean under the Shah, yet has come to represent the land-centrism of Afghanistan & Iraq. Q for IOR strategy in the NSS & NDS

Telling quote from 🇮🇳 that informs the strategy of Smaller South Asian countries: "At the end of the day, the logic every one of our neighbours must realise is that working with India will give you benefits; not working with India has a cost" (at 23:36) timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/not-work…

Six months later: 1) No SOP from Sri Lanka on which research ships can pay port visits, including from China; 2) A missed opportunity to collaborate with a UN FAO research ship. #SmallStates Reporting by Rathindra: thediplomat.com/2025/06/sri-la… & Kelum Bandara: dailymirror.lk/breaking-news/…

I enjoyed speaking at the Otago Foreign Policy School conference on "Small Powers and Strategic Competition in the Indo-Pacific." Focusing on the Indian Ocean, I presented a framework of how Sri Lanka & Maldives manage large powers and domestic interests. #SmallStates otago.ac.nz/foreign-policy…

Two mentions of "Asia-Pacific" with readout below and SECDEF tweet on meeting with 🇮🇳 EAM Jaishankar. Could be just a blip, or interesting if it suggests a shift in Pentagon planning for sub-regions of the Indo-Pacific (WESTPAC vs. Indian Ocean). For NDS. defense.gov/News/Releases/…

Why is the U.S. dropping ‘Indo-Pacific’ and using the erstwhile term 'Asia-Pacific'? Is a major shift underway in U.S. foreign policy? A strategic recalibration as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth refers to the region as “Asia Pacific,” abandoning the “Indo-Pacific” language that