Doctrine, policy, and strategy: Venezuela’s plight, red flags for Pakistan! (Part-II)on November 28, 2019Extending the point about the labour unions a bit further, Chavez hired 100,000 untrained supporters into Venezuela’s biggest petroleum company – Petróleos de Venezuela or PDVSA – after he fired 18,000 company workers because of continuing strikes. It is said that afterwards, budget from the company was diverted towards his political base and cronies. In […]
Doctrine, policy, and strategy: Venezuela’s plight, red flags for Pakistan! (Part-I)on November 26, 20191 litre of milk costs about a third of the average wage, 1 kg of powdered milk eats up approximately half and a loaf of bread is almost a quarter. Prices double nearly every 15 days! Even the revised IMF year-end inflation projection for the country is 200,000%! Over 3 million people have immigrated, and […]
DOCTRINE, POLICY, AND STRATEGY: Babri masjid verdict – what could have been!on November 16, 2019“After Partition of 1947, demolition of Babri Masjid by vandals, with the connivance of some people, was the greatest tragedy of India. The Ayodhya verdict says it was illegal, but in the same breath sanctifies it. Well done, My Lords!” This is not a view from the streets but that of Markandey Katju, a former […]
Doctrine, policy, and strategy: Kartarpur corridor, a push towards inclusionism?on October 27, 2019The long awaited Kartarpur corridor is to be inaugurated by Prime Minister Imran Khan on the 9th of November 2019. This will fulfil a long-held wish of the Indian Sikh community – that of visiting the shrine of Guru Nanak in Kartarpur in Pakistan. The proposed 7 KM long corridor will connect Darbar Sahib in […]
Doctrine, policy, and strategy: J&K emancipation – of follies and silver liningson September 21, 2019PM Modi, you may pat yourself on the back and think that you have outsmarted the world! But remember that there is many a slip between the cup and the lip – especially in a complex, globalized, interdependent world with 24/7 visibility of all that you have done and said. The future may have surprises […]
Doctrine, policy, and strategy: Repeal of J&K autonomy could be seen a mile away!on September 9, 2019“Article 370, a temporary transitional provision, is the biggest injustice with the people of Jammu and Kashmir, while the Article 35A is a constitutional blunder which was included through back door without the consent of parliament and the president…we wish the early abrogation of both these constitutional provisions”, said the BJP Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) […]
Doctrine, Policy, And Strategy: For Sri Lanka, any budding insurgency must be nipped in the bud!on August 29, 2019“R elying on luck, however does not constitute policy”, so said David Galula, a French specialist in counterinsurgency warfare. In the Asian sub-continent, Pakistan and Sri Lanka are two nations that have borne the brunt of insurgency and terrorism. Have both left too much to luck? Both have been surprised by devastating insurgencies and terrorism. […]
Doctrine, policy, and strategy: Sri Lanka must exorcise demons of the past!on August 24, 2019Sri Lanka has faced the full wrath of conflict in its brief post-independence history! Notwithstanding that this maybe common to struggling and developing nations, this progressive, democratic and almost 100% literate nation has suffered like no other. Earlier this year, on 21st of April 2019, three churches in Sri Lanka and three luxury hotels in […]
Doctrine, policy, and strategy: Is freedom of expression compatible with national security?on August 2, 2019Today virtually no one can stop Hussain Haqqani etal and BLA like organisations from making so-called anti-Pakistan statements. Even though the press and electronic media may not carry these, social media is a wide-open arena for anyone to write and say anything. This is also exasperated by the three democratisations of globalisation – finance, information […]
Doctrine, policy, and strategy: US foreign policy in Iran is bonkers!on July 19, 2019Are we at the cusp of all-out war? Has Trump nicely and truly brought us to the precipice of global destruction? How did we come to this and what should we do? In the annals of Middle East politics, July 2015 was a watershed moment. This is when Iran and a six-nation negotiating group signed […]