The Afghanistan Debacle: Marco Rubio vs Reality on October 8, 2021To say that America’s Afghanistan debacle has put the cat amongst the pigeons would be a grave understatement! For now, the area has become a hotbed of more uncertainty and instability. An abrupt and poorly planned end to more than 20 years of occupation will do that to a region. On cue, recriminations have started […]
AUKUS: Foretelling of a New Global Order? on September 21, 2021AUKUS seems like a name of a secret organisation from a Robert Ludlum or an Ian Fleming novel. Cold War parallels notwithstanding, it does seem to hark back to an era of intrigue and espionage. This is of course the new working group recently announced by Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, UK Prime Minister Boris […]
Policy of Intervention: COVID-19, Central Banks and Asset Bubbles on July 31, 2021Using the US and UK as reference points, consider the numbers after the financial crisis 2007 – 2008. US: a loss of $8 trillion, borne by the stock market and a 10 per cent peak of unemployment in 2009. $9.8 trillion were lost by Americans because of plummeting house values and a decrease in the […]
Policy of Intervention: COVID-19, Central Banks and Asset Bubbles on July 29, 2021No one could imagine the past four weeks to have happened in Afghanistan. The revival of the Taliban; the US and NATO scrambling for an exit; the Kabul Government in mental paralysis; the Afghan National Army in total disarray and the poor common Afghan in utter shock; unable to grasp what is to unfold. This […]
Security Briefings That Could Have Been on July 8, 2021Briefings by the military high command to parliamentarians have become a regular feature in Pakistan. So, the recently-concluded national security meeting on July 1, 2021, shouldn’t have come as a surprise to anyone. If media reports are to be believed, the topics under discussion were Kashmir, Afghanistan and internal security. Going by the recent chain […]
Who will protect our children? on June 29, 2021Even by Pakistan’s highly desensitised standards, the recent case of underage sexual abuse takes the sorry tale of sordid events to a new low. The impact may not be profound – even though it ought to be — when you hear or read about such incidents. However, the existence of a sickening video makes it […]
Doctrine, policy and strategy on May 25, 2021The aftermath of the 200-08 financial crisis saw the word “leverage” become a popular addition to commonly-used English words. Referring to the use of debt or borrowed funds to amplify returns on investment, leverage, simply put, makes a sweet deal sweeter. Soon, it became one of the prime catalysts of the impending turmoil that engulfed […]
Economic policy — now and in the near future on May 4, 2021Rapid technological advancements, incessant globalisation and ceaseless market forces had already made economic policy making a difficult task and then along came COVID-19 to put a further spanner in the works. Generally economic policy is an overarching vision for two underlying and crucial policies; i.e. monetary policy and fiscal policy. While both have different activities […]
Vaccine nationalism will prolong COVID-19 ramifications! on April 2, 2021On 29th January 2021, there was a peculiar and poignant sight at a WHO press conference. A midwife from Uganda and a nurse from Pakistan made the headlines while pleading for vaccine supplies for underdeveloped and developing countries! Michael Ryan, executive director of WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme, calls a spade a spade – “They are […]
What is good for the goose is good for the gander on March 11, 2021Generally in parliamentary democracies, the selection or election to the upper house is a pretty drab affair, typically because most of the power lies with the lower house. But not in Pakistan! Here senate elections are an occasion of intrigue and excitement! The recently concluded occurrence being not any bit different especially when it came […]