As every successive government that comes to power in this country turns to the IMF, there is a danger that we as a nation will be left completely ignorant of the possible alternative methods to handle the economy and financial crises facing us today. Many economists propose the imposition of capital controls as a remedy […]
Capital controls — an alternative to the IMF
As every successive government that comes to power in this country turns to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), there is a danger that we as a nation will be left completely ignorant of the possible alternative ways to handle the economy and financial crises facing us today. Many economists propose the imposition of capital controls […]
Buying land abroad
“This government believes that New Zealanders should not be outbid by wealthier foreign buyers,” Associate Finance Minister David Parker, of the ruling Labor Party noted recently. According to the rough estimates, most of the local property in New Zealand bought by the foreigners is going to the Chinese nationals. Though NZ is a territory situated […]
Nationalistic economy
While defending his tariff policy on several imported products such as steel and aluminum, President Trump argues that: “We’ve lost, over a fairly short period of time, 60,000 factories in our country — closed, shuttered, gone. Six million jobs, at least, gone. And now they’re starting to come back.” Many economists and politicians compare his […]
Everyone’s a loser in the visa-refusal game
India recently denied visas to scholars from Pakistan for attending a conference organised by the Association for Asian Studies and Ashoka University in New Delhi. Thankfully, the organisers of the conference protested vehemently against this behaviour and passed a memorandum that no country that denies visas to the scholars based on their ethnicity shall ever […]
Engineering elections
Almost three decades ago, David Kertzer called the American presidential elections the most elaborate sociodrama and indicated the ever rising competitive use of rituals in American politics. The sociodrama has become interesting increasingly because of ever changing mechanism for manipulating the beliefs of the electorate. In the past the mechanism for manipulation was the media […]
Made in China
Trump administration recently exasperated China by taxing steel imports and other items from countries including China. The cheap workforce available in China has affected every country. Industries even in America have closed over the time because the production has moved to China. Even in developed countries, it is tough to find various daily use items […]
Hell on earth
The war in Syria is not an out of control affair. It is a deliberately ignored issue. If the world powers really want to end the sufferings of the Syrians than all it takes is a sensible talk between Russians and Americans and the matter shall be resolved by acting against Bashar al-Assad in much […]
The dawn of Buddhist radicalism
Two years ago, when the National League for Democracy came to power, Aung San Suu Kyi was still a very respectable person among Burmese citizens. Even after the unimaginable crimes against Rohingya Muslims, one may not deny that Suu Kyi is still the most respected person in Burma. However, she has not played any significant […]
Anti-intellectualism will be the death of us
Being an outspoken academic with a flair for independent thought appears to be a crime here in Pakistan. Punishment may come in different forms, such as stalking, intimidation, character assassination, detention, abduction or worse still – targeted assassination. At least this seems to be the case given the numerous instances of the above occurring across […]