Pakistan’s regional trade dilemma on September 13, 2019The country’s trade deficit plummeted by nearly 38 percent in the first two months of current fiscal year, driven majorly by a decline in the imports of non-essential luxury items amid exorbitant import duties. The macroeconomic indicators may have been an encouraging factor for economic pundits, however, the country is missing upon major trade potential […]
Bull-run continues as PSX index gains 591 points on September 12, 2019Stock Market continued to rally north bound on the second trading day amid strong market sentiment. The KSE-100 index spiraled upwards by 591.78 points to close at 31,546.61, underpinned by positive expectations from the upcoming Financial Action Task Force plenary meeting, investors’ positive outlook of policy rate cut in the upcoming monetary policy and formation […]
Elections in Modi’s India on May 18, 2019Twenty years ago, addressing a Pakistani audience in Lahore, then Indian prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee showed none of his BJP successor’s eagerness for war. “Hum jang na honay dayenge” (we will not permit war) was then the popular refrain. The audience were spellbound and nobody complained about his long extempore speech. Today, Narendra Modi […]
Ransom Note to the Government on January 23, 2019Public opinion is a construction: of media, of the governments and of everyday discourse influenced by media and the governments .It is therefore acknowledged and treated as though it were an objective reality to be discovered by taking account of assumed beliefs and expressed beliefs about public policy. Lest, the truth shall eventually prevail but […]
Losers and winners in subterfuge diplomacy on September 25, 2018The international order has become a victim of the recalcitrant approach of the Oval office, and Washington is finally comprehending that it may be on the verge of losing its hegemonic status in the impending world order. However, certain of its ‘imperialistic’ manoeuvres, the United States (US) has resorted to disengage with its allies and […]
Kaleidoscopic nuclear diplomacy on June 2, 2018It is unclear if the Art of the deal will work, but US president’s incessant alacrity and appetite to take risks had mixed results in the past. Trump’s foreign policy malpractices and his recalcitrant posture towards international norms has debunked American position on the global spectrum and reduced the American unipolar dominance from slapstick to […]
Persona non-grata — a fetid aberration on May 17, 2018“The art of conducting the foreign affairs of a country lies in finding out what is most advantageous to the country”. Jawaharlal Nehru reiterated in a speech in 1947, arguing that basis of India’s foreign policy would be of national interest and not international amity per se. National Interest supersedes partisan politics and personal avarice, […]
Impromptu world (dis)order on April 9, 2018‘A sentimental policy knows no reciprocity’. A nation-state seeks the criteria for its actions fundamentally in its interests. Bismarck set an axiomatic international security mores by propounding that the only healthy pre-requisite for the policy of a great power is egotism and not romanticism. The West and Russia are in the middle of an intense […]
Decoupling-enigmatic trail on February 11, 2018Dow Jones witnessed incessant beat of the music, rendered by the speculative market stakeholders and unchanged federal policy rate amid the induction of Jerome Powel as the new chair of Federal Reserve. The new chair was greeted by the stocks swinging wildly and major indexes plunging to more than 10 percent, reeling off in a […]
Reset or overload — a perfidious path on January 14, 2018Quoting Emerson in his fourth inaugural address in 1945, Roosevelt stated, “The only way to have a friend is to be one”, reiterating his premise of establishing a new international order that he proposed to be built on personal trust. Roosevelt was of the opinion that lasting peace can’t be achieved if international relations are […]