Then one by one, she would encircle these thorns with dark ink.

In the eyes of Chinese nationalists, these efforts were all the part of an American conspiracy to encircle China. Thus, Chinese nationalists can t wait to see the back of America s Afghan military presence.

But if trees can create art, if they can encircle the globe seven times in one year, if prisoners can grow plants and raise frogs, then perhaps there are other static entities that we hold inside ourselves, like grief, like addictions, like racism, that can also change.

And remember when We showed Ibrahim the right place of the Sacred House (mosque) and commanded that, Do not ascribe anything as a partner to Me, and keep My House clean for those who encircle it and those who stay in it (for worship) and those who bow and prostrate.

And remember when We showed Ibrahim the right place of the Sacred House (mosque) and commanded that, Do not ascribe anything as a partner to Me, and keep My House clean for those who encircle it and those who stay in it (for worship) and those who bow and prostrate.

Indeed, instead of trying to build a mutually beneficial relationship with its largest neighbor, China has sought to encircle India by asserting military control of surrounding territories. This so called string of pearls strategy directly threatens India s national security interests, rendering the type of robust bilateral relationship that would benefit both countries next to impossible.

This effort to encircle India by sea with strategically positioned naval stations from Hainan in the East to Gwadar in the West, and on land by promoting bogus Pakistani claims that undermine India s territorial integrity, takes the Great Game to a new and more dangerous level. Indeed, the pincer of Afghanistan and Gilgit Baltistan poses the gravest challenge to India s statecraft since Independence.