Bangladesh spends a lot of energy explaining itself, to investors, multilateral lenders, and regional partners.

Veteran diplomat, M Humayun Kabir, explains the current escalation of war in the Middle East and the ramifications for Bangladesh, in an exclusive interview with Ramisa Rob, Geopolitical Insights Editor at The Daily Star

To Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, “the global rules-based order” faces “rupture.” He had US President Donald J. Trump in mind. A month later, Trump illustrated how he does it.

For Bangladesh, supporting Pakistan subtly advances "Bangladesh First" by fostering a South Asian balance of power. It navigates through turbulent waters amidst India-Pakistan hostility, China-India rivalry, amid Teesta disputes, and Sheikh Hasina's extradition demands.

For Iran and its allies, the Iranian regime’s stake is what matters over the people.

Every pressure point this crisis is exposing, on energy, food, remittances, and foreign exchange, is also a signpost pointing toward what Bangladesh needs to build. The pressures are significant, they are immediate, and four of them are converging at once.

Actors like Palantir Technologies, Anduril Industries, Microsoft, NVIDIA, and OpenAI are among the core structures of this mili-tech industrial complex. These companies are producing AI systems for almost every action on the battlefield that was previously performed by a soldier.

Wars rarely begin with clarity. But they become dangerous when they continue without it.

It is no longer possible to treat what is happening in the Middle East as a passing round of escalation or simply another war added to the region’s long record of conflict.

Different governments came into power in the US for the past decades. Some tried to improve the condition in Cuba, but all have been made null and void by President Trump, who has vowed to remove the present Cuban government.

On Wednesday, the Spanish Prime Minister doubled down on his position to stand against violence, refusing to bow down to Trump’s bullying.

When news broke of Israeli and United States strikes on Iran, panic spread across Gaza almost instantly. Palestinians remembered previous escalations when border crossings were abruptly sealed, triggering shortages that spiraled into famine-like conditions.

he outbreak of the Iran-US-Israel war is a watershed event in the geopolitics and geo-economics of the 21st century. If the war is prolonged, it would have transformative effects on numerous states throughout the world.

A new government in Dhaka must navigate layered expectations at home and abroad. Public sentiment in a Muslim-majority country is closely attuned to developments in the Middle East.

Approximately 20 million barrels of crude oil passed through Hormuz in 2024. Close to 27 percent of all global maritime petroleum trade passed through the strait in the first quarter of 2025. The strait is a critical, narrow chokepoint, with a 33-39 kilometers waterway between Oman and Iran.

Trump told The New York Times that he had “three very good choices” in mind, regarding who could lead Iran. “I won’t be revealing them now. Let’s get the job done first,” he said. Trump also told The Atlantic, that he’s open to talk to Iranian leaders.

If the current government survives in weakened form, reform is unlikely to follow automatically. Studies of regimes under siege show that external pressure often strengthens coercive institutions rather than weakening them.

Unlike previous wars between Iran, US, and Israel, the current one hit the doorstep of seven gulf nations, throwing the entire region into a panic never seen before and it was Iran that dragged the other nations into it.

The negotiation was not diplomacy. It was surveillance, a mechanism to gather targeting intelligence, stall Iranian defensive preparations, and manufacture the appearance of a peaceful last resort.

Commanding Arctic waters and located nearer America than Europe, Greenland carries immense strategic value.