By any ideal, international, multilateral or bilateral, playing fields are supposed to be the haven where flags are raised, rivals stand in respect to each other’s anthems to salute the national spirit, and in the end, shake hands, irrespective of a win or a loss. Scoreboards do justice to proclaim the winner and also to […]
Who Bags Bagram?
Bagram Air Base has always been more than concrete and tarmac. It is a map pin where multiple strategic stories intersect. Soviet-era power projection, the American-led post-9/11 wars, the Taliban’s takeover, and now tri-nation contentions for it amongst the USA, China, and Russia, make Bagram Air Base a continuing focal point of shifting global rivalries […]
Divided You Fall
Historically, the Arab story has been written against a backdrop of fragmentation: competing empires and mandates, monarchies versus republics, Ba’athists versus Islamists, rich petro-states versus poorer neighbours, and more recently, normalisation tracks that moved at different speeds. This fragmentation eased the path to Israel’s creation in 1948, helped Israel consolidate strategic advantages, and still constrains […]
Israel’s Dominant Manoeuvres and Its Ramifications
Since its establishment in 1948, the State of Israel has moved with a sense of urgency that often resembled the dominant manoeuvre’s definition later articulated by U.S. defence planners under the Revolution in Military Affairs framework. Donald Rumsfeld, who championed the RMA during his tenure as U.S. Secretary of Defence, spoke of “dominant manoeuvre” as […]
The Judge who did not Budge
In an era where judicial proceedings often appear as rigid, impersonal application of the law, the figure of Judge Frank Caprio emerged as a beacon of humanity, compassion, and common sense. A presiding judge of the Providence Municipal Court in Rhode Island, sadly Caprio recently passed away, leaving behind a profound legacy that transcended the […]
Climate Investment and Pakistan’s Road Map to Resilience
Unlike other changes, climate change is not on its way; it is very much here, and its effects are here to stay unless mitigation efforts are put in place. In my “Watermarked Pakistan” series of two articles in the last two weeks, I have made an effort to cover water management from strategic, governance, and […]
Watermarked Pakistan (Part II)
Feedback on last week’s article titled “Watermarked Pakistan”, coupled with the tragic loss of life and property in recent KPK floods, warranted a need to focus on the devastation thus caused in the past few decades or so, underlining the role of climate change in these floods. This further propelled me to give a thought […]
Watermarked Pakistan
Vandana Shiva, an environmental activist from India, in her book “Water Wars”, warns against commoditization and the use of water as a weapon of war. Through her book, she issues a wakeup call to initiate a global dialogue on water security, accepting it as neither a commodity nor a weapon of war, but as a […]
Fuel the Duel
Media in recent weeks have been abuzz with news that Pakistan is sitting on massive oil reserves both onshore and offshore. This excitement is largely attributable to the USA’s recent interest in oil exploration in Pakistan, triggered by U.S. President Donald Trump proclaiming a new trade agreement between the U.S. and Pakistan. Under this deal, […]
Compete or Collaborate
“Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a fundamental risk to the existence of human civilization. It’s important that we develop it with caution, especially in education and career development.” Elon Musk. True, if we idle, may not be true, if we start revving up today. Its counterpart, i.e. the natural intelligence or human intelligence, must keep an […]