Is sanctioning the Gulf states viable for the West? on January 23, 2018The inquisitive observers of the Middle Eastern politics would naturally wonder why do western powers prop up the Gulf’s petro-monarchies, knowing fully well that they are the ones responsible for nurturing Islamic extremism? Seemingly, the Western powers support the Gulf’s autocrats because it has been one of their firm policy principles to promote ‘stability’ in […]
Neo-colonialism and state sovereignty on January 20, 2018It’s an evident that the neo-colonial powers are ruled by behemoth corporations whose wealth is measured in hundreds of billions of dollars, far more than the total GDP of many developing nations. The status of these multinational corporations as dominant players in national and international politics gets official imprimatur when the Western governments endorse the […]
Saudi king as the ‘caliph’ of Muslims on January 17, 2018If we look at the evolution of Islamic religion and culture throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, it hasn’t been natural. Some deleterious mutations have occurred somewhere which have negatively impacted the Islamic societies all over the world. Social conditioning plays the same role in social sciences that natural selection plays in biological sciences. It […]
The relationship between power and sex on January 13, 2018Curious students of regional geopolitics will naturally wonder why Pakistan chose to wage Washington’s proxy war against the erstwhile Soviet Union in Afghanistan back in the 1980s? Was it to strengthen its defences against India, the oft-quoted ‘strategic depth’ theory or the fear that the former Soviet Union might make further advances into Pakistan’s Balochistan […]
Underlying causes of Afghan debacle on January 11, 2018Originally there were four parties involved in the Afghan conflict. It is these three parties which are mainly responsible for the conflict in the Af-Pak region. First is the former Soviet Union, which invaded Afghanistan in 1979.Second are Pakistan’s security agencies which nurtured the so-called Mujahideen. Third is Saudi Arabia, which generously funded the jihadists […]
Trump’s sabre-rattling and Pakistan’s dilemma on January 9, 2018Several months ago, a couple of caricatures went viral on social media. In one of those caricatures, Donald Trump was depicted as a child sitting on a chair and Vladimir Putin was shown whispering something into Trump’s ears from behind. In the other, Trump was portrayed sitting on Steve Bannon’s lap and the latter was […]
Was Jinnah an imperialist collaborator? on January 3, 2018There are only two illustrious South Asian leaders who never went to jail during their otherwise stellar political careers. One was the founder of Pakistan, Mohammad Ali Jinnah. The other is the crusader against corruption who has been given the sobriquet ‘Pakistan Khan’ by his devotees. Perceptive readers are already well aware of the reason […]
Why is intervention worse than dictatorship? on January 2, 2018I am neither a supporter of Bashar al-Assad, nor am I sympathetic towards any of the autocratic dictators in the Middle East. However, someone needs to take the blame for what has happened in Syria, and while assigning this blame, we need to remind ourselves of the elementary distinction between constant and variable factors. Bashar […]
Is democracy consistent with Islam? on December 30, 2017Most people are under the impression that democracy and Islam are somehow incompatible. However, I don’t see any contradiction between democracy and Islam as such. Although I admit, there is some friction between Islam and liberalism. When we say there is a contradiction between Islam and democracy, we make certain categorical mistakes which amount to […]
How money impacts elections in Pakistan on December 29, 2017The principle fault in democracy, as it is practiced all over the world, is the election campaign funding part, because individuals and corporations that finance election campaigns always have ulterior motives. This means they treat political funding as investments from which they expect to make profits by influencing executive policy and legislation. In Pakistan’s political […]