Vietnam, America’s march of folly on October 22, 2017The war in Vietnam continues to haunt the American psyche. A new TV series on PBS documents in 18 painful hours what happened and why. The first episode was watched by 13 million people, the biggest audience for a PBS programme since the finale of ‘Downton Abbey.’ As expected, the production has stirred a hornets’ […]
The rehabilitation of Saddam Hussain on October 17, 2017I had first sensed a longing for Saddam’s dictatorial rule in Sydney from an Iraqi man who had lost his son in the 2003 war. He felt that Iraq, despite being home to many ancient civilisations, was no longer a country worth visiting, let alone living in. The second time was in Chicago when a […]
Surviving a flight evacuation on October 16, 2017On September 14, 2011, I boarded UA 586 from Washington, DC to San Francisco. The Boeing 757-200 departed on time. Our office was holding an open house that evening and I was dressed in a dark suit and tie with newly purchased dark mahogany shoes. I was seated next to the exit window. The air […]
Is democracy in Chinas future? on October 10, 2017According to The Economist, economic output in China grew 20-fold since the late 1970s. The number of people living in extreme poverty fell by 90 per cent. Such a pace of economic development was without parallel in world history. China is now the world’s biggest trading nation, the world’s second biggest economy, and a rising […]
Is democracy in China’s future? on October 10, 2017According to The Economist, economic output in China grew 20-fold since the late 1970s. The number of people living in extreme poverty fell by 90 per cent. Such a pace of economic development was without parallel in world history. China is now the world’s biggest trading nation, the world’s second biggest economy, and a rising […]
The two-nation theory and the secession of East Pakistan on September 29, 2017Did the secession of 1971 validate the two nation theory which formed the basis for the partition of 1947? Some say yes and others no. Let’s review the arguments for and against validation. The validation argument rests on three pillars.First, the text of the Lahore Resolution that was passed by the All-India Muslim League on […]
Does militarism promote national development? on September 24, 2017Pakistan continues to oscillate between civil and military rule.The country’s last military rule government ended in 2008, yet the threat of a coup hangs in the air. When Imran Khan staged his dharna, many thought the military was behind it. The threat resurfaced when Raheel Sharif was the army chief. His every move was meticulously […]
Kargil revisited on September 19, 2017Musharraf recently disclosed that during the Kargil crisis, he considered using nuclear weapons against India; only the fear of Indian retaliation kept him from using them. What was supposed to be a campaign focused on Kashmir had indeed brought Pakistan and India to the brink of a nuclear war A dramatic event took place in […]
The first Kashmir war on September 18, 2017“War is a continuation of politics by other means,” wrote the most famous philosopher of war, General Karl von Clausewitz, in his magnum opus, Vom Kriege (On War). Clausewitz was no academic; he had cut his teeth during the Napoleonic wars. It was perhaps just a matter of time before the simmering tensions between Muslims […]
Why did Pakistan lose in 1971? II on September 13, 2017The 1971 war against India was another adventure, which made no political or military sense. In political terms, it struck at the root of the concept of Pakistan. In military terms, it was a folly of Himalayan proportions. The distance from Karachi to Chittagong by sea is the same as from Karachi to the south […]