The fall out of recent Iran – USA Israel war exposed, with shocking precision, how vulnerable Pakistan remains to disruptions in sea-borne energy supplies. Pakistan’s monthly fuel import bill nearly doubled, overnight when Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz. Saudi Arabia had to step in as an emergency supplier for Pakistan which had no fallback […]
War and AI — Reshaping Human Behaviour
The collapse of the post-Cold War world order is not simply a military or geopolitical event. It also signals the breakdown of a social contract that humanity had started rebuilding post-WWII. It got depreciated with the Vietnam War, the Arab-Israel Wars of 67 and 73, Indo-Pak Wars of 65 and 71, the Soviet invasion of […]
75 Years of Pak-China Ties and CPEC
Pakistan was among the first countries to recognise the People’s Republic of China in 1950, at a time when Beijing remained diplomatically isolated from most of the world. Diplomatic relations were established on 21 May 1951. That early recognition was more of a foreign policy choice than an economic calculation, shaped by geography and Islamabad’s […]
The Bernie Sanders Report
AI and robotics will transform the world and will bring unimaginable changes to the global economy, politics, warfare, foreign policy, emotional well-being, environment, and how we educate and raise our children. Through his report presented to Congress a few months back, on AI, US Senator Bernie Sanders has unboxed a sour issue. The report is […]
From Causes to Effects
Pakistan finds itself at the centre stage of world politics; it brokered a cease-fire, hosted the peace talks, and its leaders shuttled between world capitals to bring the region and the world to peace. Pakistan finds itself being squeezed by the USA on one side and simultaneously by the consequences of this war on the […]
Reality Etched All Over
The snapshot, on the sixtieth day of the USA-Iran war, clearly shows where the focus is and where the priorities lie that are to shape the ceasefire, which already is fragile and at the cusp of triggering another phase of hostilities. What has been happening in Washington and what has been happening in Islamabad has […]
Reality Etched All Over
The snapshot, on the sixtieth day of the USA-Iran war, clearly shows where the focus is and where the priorities lie that will shape the ceasefire, which is already fragile and at the cusp of triggering another phase of hostilities. What has been happening in Washington and in Islamabad has drawn international attention over the […]
Gish Galloping The War
In his 2023 book titled “Win Every Argument”, British journalist Mehdi Hasan devotes an entire chapter to a debate tactic he considers as the most dishonest, in the rhetorical arsenal, he refers as “Gish Gallop”. Named after anti evolution, creationist and biochemist, Duane Tolbert Gish. The technique works by overwhelming an opponent with a rapid […]
A Lesson In History
In a 2025 interview with Time magazine, President Donald Trump asserted that Iraq and Iran were essentially the “same power” that had fought each other “for a thousand years under different names,” a claim that reflects an absolutely superficial understanding of the region’s history for a leader contemplating confrontation with one of its major states. […]
Seize The Peace
A ceasefire, as reflected in the operational frameworks of the United Nations is a “temporary suspension of hostilities agreed upon by the parties to a conflict,”. It is neither a settlement of conflict for good, nor semantic in effect, but a controlled structural interruption in violence, bounded in time, space, and intent. Across centuries, ceasefires […]