Sesame Street is a children’s educational programme and has served generations. One of the most famous muppets on this long-running show is the Cookie Monster who is best known for its voracious appetite and for eating almost anything, including inedible objects! After finishing off everything, it still wants more. Thus, if you give a monster […]
Doctrine, Policy, And Strategy: which Mahathir should Imran follow?!
Imagine these conflicting accolades for one person: a moderniser and a dictator, a visionary and a short-term tactician, a racist and father of the nation, a healer and a strongman. This is how history will regard Mahathir Mohammad! Love him or hate him, and there aren’t many in-between,anyone would be hard pressed to refute Mahathir’s […]
Doctrine, Policy, And Strategy: in the US-China trade war, the US may have to concede more!
Imagine this: two alpha students fighting in the playground, the whole school is distracted, teachers are running around to separate the two, it is a difficult and challenging time for everyone. In the geo-political arena, this is similar to how trade wars work! What is a trade war? A trade war happens when one country […]
Doctrine, Policy, and Strategy: a robust policy response to the new normal in the business world
$321 billion in global banking fines, £137 billion to bailout the UK banking industry, over 8 million jobs gone, £8 trillion wiped out from the stock markets! These are but only some statistics post the financial credit crisis of 2007 – 2008. Another significant corollary of this fiscal ordeal was the rekindling of a lesser […]
Doctrine, Policy, And Strategy: new decade, new business paradigm for Artificial Intelligence?
For a moment consider these statistics – over the next decade, Artificial Intelligence (AI) could generate an additional $15.7 trillion worth of additional economic activity across the world, leading to Global GDP increase of as much as 14% (PWC). AI could increase labour productivity by up to 40% by 2035 (Accenture). In contrast, the end […]
Doctrine, policy, and strategy: Brexit election fall out — can a leftist doctrine win an election?
The nightmare scenario for the Labour party has come true! The general election of the 12th of December has handed Boris Johnson’s Conservative party a sizeable majority! Seat after seat in Labour’s traditional heartlands of the north and midlands fell to the Tories. In the biggest moment of the night, the Conservative candidate overhauled the […]
Doctrine, policy, and strategy: Venezuela’s plight, red flags for Pakistan! (Part-II)
Extending 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)
1 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!
“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?
The 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 […]