S Mubashir Noor

Vladimir Putin did it again. The Russian president forced his US counterpart, Barack Obama, to put “boots on the ground” in Syria against the latter’s better judgment. The White House announced on October 30 that up to 50 special-ops US soldiers would “train, advise and assist” Syrian militias fighting Islamic State (IS) militants. Of course, […]

Steve Hilton hates the UK’s nuclear deal with China. This former policy advisor to Prime Minister (PM) David Cameron believes cosying up to “a rogue state just as bad as Russia or Iran” will bring the UK much grief down the road. The Anglo-Chinese agreement on October 21 to build a new nuclear power plant […]

Well, it is official. Thousands of American soldiers will stay on in Afghanistan after 2016. US President Barack Obama halted the troop drawdown on October 15 because “Afghan forces are still not as strong as they need to be”. This major policy U-turn means US combat forces will stay 9,800 strong throughout 2016 and be […]

I think we can all agree that the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) is self-destructive. Neither Altaf Hussain’s tirades against the army nor party members protesting “state terrorism” outside UN headquarters are likely to win them any new fans. Asma Jahangir may believe that the blanket media ban on Hussain’s speeches is “against the Constitution” but […]

This must be a recurring nightmare for American Muslims. You wake up on October 1, turn on the television while sipping coffee and the news flash makes your skin crawl: another campus shooting, this time in Douglas County, Oregon, but with a macabre twist. The shooter “singled out Christians,” says The Washington Post quoting major […]

The US is remarkably humourless about Bashar al-Assad. It believes the Syrian president and Islamic State (IS) militants are two sides of the same coin that need to be got rid of together to ‘liberate’ Syria. Russia, though an Assad ally, is right to caution against a military solution that could hasten the region’s downward […]

Better yet, can anybody trust Putin? Through his rise in the Kremlin during the Yeltsin years, statists, liberals and capitalists all thought he was one of them. The ex-KGB colonel then rode the coattails of Russian oligarchs to the presidency but, once there, disposed of them to consolidate power. Other than proving to be a […]

Journalists must love Hamid Karzai. The former Afghan president is a straight shooter without a safety switch and you can always count on him for compelling sound bites. On the 14th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks this year, Karzai did not disappoint and made the startling confession that al Qaeda “is for me a myth”.“I […]

One reason alone makes any politician go against immovable public opinion. It is when he or she has a sense of foreboding that some mistake from the past will crawl back through time to haunt them and their country. The Japanese Prime Minister (PM), Shinzo Abe, is one such politician. Despite rabid opposition at home, […]

Lo and behold, part one of Anwar Gargash’s “heavy price” has arrived. In April, the UAE foreign minister tore into Pakistan’s “vague and contradictory stand” on the Yemen war and promised payback. His country has now made good on that pledge. In subtle yet firm speak, the joint statement issued after Indian premier Narendra Modi’s […]