Nectar Gan, Author at The Singapore Post

Partial government shutdown becomes the longest in US history

29Mar

By Nectar GanNo Comments

Partial government shutdown becomes the longest in US history

The partial US government shutdown has become the longest in history, as lawmakers in Washington continue to fight over funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). On Sunday, the shutdown reached 44 days, surpassing the previous longest funding lapse, which ended in November 2025. The current impasse has led to chaos at airports due to a shortage of Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers at security checkpoints, as they have gone without paycheques since it began. White House border tsar Tom Homan said on Sunday that TSA agents should start receiving pay early next week after US President Donald Trump signed an order attempting to free up cash. It is unclear, though, whether Trump's executive order will face legal challenges, as the US c...

Six years on, India’s trade with China to resume via Lipulekh Pass

21Mar

By Nectar GanNo Comments

Six years on, India’s trade with China to resume via Lipulekh Pass

Border trade between India and China through the Lipulekh Pass in Uttarakhand’s Pithoragarh district is set to resume this year after a six-year hiatus. District Magistrate Ashish Bhatgai said following directives from the Union government, “preparations have begun for the trade session, which typically runs from June to September”. The move comes after a No Objection Certificate (NOC) was issued by the Ministry of External Affairs. According to Bhatgai, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri wrote to Uttarakhand Chief Secretary Anand Bardhan requesting the restoration of trade through the Himalayan pass. The letter mentions that the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Commerce and Industry have also granted clearances. Bhatgai said the state government had been asked to dir

6Mar

By Nectar GanNo Comments

What Americans think of the war in Iran

The American people are bitterly divided over the conflict in Iran. The US president, Donald Trump, won office in 2024 after campaigning on a message of “no new wars”. So the conflict that began with airstrikes conducted with the Israeli military in the early hours of February 28, and which has quickly spread into the rest of the region, has polarised opinion across the country. An Economist/YouGov poll completed on March 2 provides early information about what Americans think of the war so far. The poll asked the following question: “Would you support or oppose the US using military force to overthrow the government of Iran?” There is a great deal of confusion about what the objectives of the war are, since the messaging from Trump, and his senior officials, has veere

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei killed in US-Israel airstrikes

1Mar

By Nectar GanNo Comments

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei killed in US-Israel airstrikes

US President Donald Trump has said that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been killed in US-Israel airstrikes. In a social media post, Trump said Khamenei’s death is the single greatest chance for the Iranian people to take back their country. US President added the heavy and pinpoint bombing will continue through the week or longer. The death of Iran’s Supreme Leader occurred after a joint US and Israeli aerial bombardment that targeted Iranian military and governmental sites. Iranian State TV has confirmed the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Reports suggest that around 40 Iranian officials were also killed in the strikes. The 40-day state mourning has been declared in Iran. Iranian state media reported at least 201 dead and more than 700 injured. In response, Iran

China’s South Asian Web: Countering India, Testing Durability

19Feb

By Nectar GanNo Comments

China’s South Asian Web: Countering India, Testing Durability

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met Afghanistan’s acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi and publicly emphasised that China is ready to work with Afghanistan to carry forward the traditional friendship, enhance political mutual trust, deepen practical cooperation, bring more benefits to both countries and contribute to regional peace and stability. Apart from this announcement another statement which caught attention was “Afghanistan is ready to upgrade its ties with Pakistan” and both Afghanistan and Pakistan agreed to send ambassadors to each other’s country. This clearly showed that China is trying to reshape South Asian politics by leveraging the existing China-Pakistan-Afghanistan trilateral framework. To further extend this cooperation the Sixth China-Pakistan-A

Trump hands Beijing agift: nervous Asian allies

9Feb

By Nectar GanNo Comments

Trump hands Beijing agift: nervous Asian allies

In his oft-cited address at this year’s Davos confab, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney warned of nothing less than “a rupture in the world order”, where even the “pleasant fiction” of a rules-based international order has succumbed to a “harsh reality” of power politics. In his thinly veiled criticism of US President Donald Trump, who has threatened closest neighbours and allies with tariffs and even military assault, the Canadian leader warned that America’s partners have the option to “diversify to hedge against uncertainty” in American foreign policy. Having just visited China weeks earlier, where the two sides explored a new partnership after years of acrimonious relationship, the Canadian leader clearly signalled that key Western nations see the Asi

From black jails to Capitol Hill: Survivor warns of Beijing’s expanding assault on US religious freedom

13Jan

By Nectar GanNo Comments

From black jails to Capitol Hill: Survivor warns of Beijing’s expanding assault on US religious freedom

On the eve of her wedding, Zhang Wanxia’s life took a dramatic turn. Her fiancé, Yin Xinxiao, was suddenly detained and interrogated by police for hours—his only “crime” was practising Falun Gong, a spiritual discipline rooted in traditional Chinese meditation and moral teachings. The incident foreshadowed what lay ahead for Zhang: years of state persecution, torture, and forced labour under the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The crackdown on Falun Gong officially began on July 20, 1999, when Chinese authorities banned the practice nationwide. Over the past 26 years, human rights groups, independent investigators, and international media have documented systematic repression, including arbitrary detention, torture, forced labour, and ideological “reeducation.” Zha

Russia, China and Iran begin naval drills near South Africa

10Jan

By Nectar GanNo Comments

Russia, China and Iran begin naval drills near South Africa

China, Russia and Iran began a week of joint naval exercises in South Africa's waters on Saturday in what the host country described as a BRICS Plus operation to "ensure the safety of shipping and maritime economic activities." BRICS Plus is an expansion of a geopolitical bloc originally comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – and seen by members as a counterweight to U.S. and Western economic dominance – to include six other countries. Though South Africa routinely carries out naval exercises with China and Russia, it comes at a time of heightened tensions between U.S. President Donald Trump's administration and several BRICS Plus countries, including China, Iran, South Africa and Brazil. The expanded BRICS group also includes Egypt, Indon

Democracy Is a Mental Habit That We’re Breaking. Time to Relearn.

3Jan

By Nectar GanNo Comments

Democracy Is a Mental Habit That We’re Breaking. Time to Relearn.

Long after Trump is gone, the damage will remain. Each of us needs to find a path back. At the close of 2025, many progressive commentators were seizing on any glimmer of hope that America’s march toward authoritarianism might be slowing to a crawl. On Dec. 26, the New York Times’ Michelle Goldberg proclaimed that “Trump Is Getting Weaker, and the Resistance Is Getting Stronger.” Goldberg quoted Leah Greenberg, a founder of the resistance group Indivisible, who said that while Donald Trump “has been able to do extraordinary damage that will have generational effects, he has not successfully consolidated power. That has been staved off, and it has been staved off not, frankly, due to the efforts of pretty much anyone in elite institutions or political leadership but due

Get ready for one of the most important U.S. midterm election years in modern times

31Dec

By Nectar GanNo Comments

Get ready for one of the most important U.S. midterm election years in modern times

The United States approaches the new year as a Lego Technic set, full of moving parts. Many of those parts are familiar: The gears, motors and functions of American political life remain the same. Their movements, however, are changing, subtly but significantly, as the pins and pneumatics shift under the influence – if not always the control – of Donald Trump, who is wheeling turbocharged into the second year of his second term, and the MAGA movement, whose ultimate direction is uncertain. That movement, along with the two major political parties, face internal struggles that will determine their form and influence in the months ahead, an unusually tense political period that is shaping up to be one of the most important, most combustible, non-presidential years in modern times.