Following the precepts of Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the Founder of Pakistan, ‘Peace Within and Peace Without’, Pakistan’s politico-military leadership wisely intervened in a deadly war between Israel, the U.S., and Iran. This war, which was rapidly expanding across the region and beyond, had the potential to drag on for months, if not years. Because […]
How much will be enough?
The Creator, The Almighty, has blessed this world with enough to feed and shelter hundreds of billions of living beings; therefore, we can only account for about eight billion humans and leave the other living beings unaccounted for. Yet millions of people across the globe still sleep hungry, without shelter or adequate clothing. The reason: […]
The Price of Wars and Conflicts (Part II)
Another unnecessary war, which has the potential to trigger a wider conflict and violence across multiple regions, now enters its fifth week of deaths, destruction, and divisions. The hope of a ceasefire triggered by Pakistan’s efforts is fading. The two sides have intensified their attacks on each other’s critical installations to cause maximum damage before […]
The Price of Wars and Conflicts (Part I)
The realists gave me a hard time when I defined WAR as Waste of Available Resources. They reminded me of Chanakya Kautilya, Niccolò Machiavelli, Carl von Clausewitz, and many other academics and practitioners who viewed war as an instrument of policy. Whereas I insisted on Sun Tzu’s precepts that one should aim to win the […]
The Need of the Hour
The need of the hour is ‘peace within and peace without.’ The Founder of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s pronouncements about the significance of peace within and peace without, remain as relevant as they were at the time they were pronounced in 1947. Jinnah’s precepts were not only for the newly independent but also for the […]
The Mini World War
On October 31, 2022, I wrote “Are We Already in World War-2.5?” published in Pakistan Times. Since then, I kept on writing and speaking that we are already at WW 2.5, and it has the potential to expand horizontally and vertically under any miscalculation or technological malfunction. But people did not take it seriously. Israel’s […]
Significance of Fog and Friction
Many things may have evolved over the centuries, but some have not changed. One thing that has not changed is fog and friction in warfare. If fog and friction were removed from warfare, it would become a fairly straightforward affair. Hence, it is the fog and friction that make warfare complex and uncertain. The significance […]
Significance of Strategic Communication
The significance of strategic communication cannot be overstated; however, the subject is as old as humanity, even if the phrase or terminology is relatively new. The famous quotations by legendary figures across cultures were a form of strategic communication. Sun Tzu’s dicta that ‘all wars are based on deception’ or ‘win a war without fighting’ […]
Politics of the Sea
Water is the utmost blessing from the Creator for living beings. Hence, humans contest water resources for their diverse uses. Whether for personal use or for commercial, navigation or transportation, every drop of water is precious, even though three-fourths of the Earth is covered by water. Human civilisations have endeavoured to establish themselves near water […]
Neo-Hybridity in Modern Wars
Wars have always been dangerous, destructive, and detestable for the liberalists, but preferable and easier to wage by the realists under the banner of National Interests. However, at the beginning of the 21st Century, a relatively new term, hybrid warfare, was introduced into the strategic literature, though the concept dates back to the Chinese sage […]