America’s Place in the World On February 04, newly-inaugurated President of the United States, Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (commonly known as Joe Biden), gave his first foreign-policy speech. In a wide-ranging address at the US State Department in Washington, Biden outlined his new foreign policy vision, declaring that “America is back. Diplomacy is back at the center of our foreign …

Pragmatic policies required to move forward Pakistan is standing at a crossroads. It seems so obvious that Pakistan is at a point where it has to decide its future: how should relations with USA and China fare, how to improve relationship with India (and should they even be improved); what is the right path to take with Iran, how to …

Seventy-eight years ago, the Luftwaffe of the Third Reich (the German Air Force) began bombing London. At a time when Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, the then prime minister of the United Kingdom, was being briefed on the casualties and economic collapse, he asked, “Are the courts functioning?” When told that the judges were dispensing justice as normal, Churchill replied, “Thank …

A powerful social accountability tool Freedom of information is not only a human right, but also an essential tool to engage and empower citizens to demand accountability from governments, and fight corruption. That is why ‘right to information’ (RTI) and the relevant laws, as well as the associated institutions have become a symbol of a society’s commitment to good governance. …

Mike Pompeo’s Visit and the Future of Troubled Ties During the past few weeks, there have been a lot of developments – both positive and negative – in bilateral relations of Pakistan and the United States. The latter has been dealing heavy blows to Pakistan; inclusion of Pakistan’s name in the Grey List of the Financial Action Task Force, barring …

Analysing the Economic and Political Fallout Three months after the United States first announced it was withdrawing from the 2015 Iran Nuclear Deal, the Trump administration has imposed new sanctions on the Islamic Republic. The first set of sanctions targets Tehran’s purchase of US banknotes, trade in gold and other precious metals, as well as the use of graphite, aluminium, …

It’s quite enigmatic On April 27th, the outgoing PML-N government unveiled its sixth and the last budget which is characterized by relief measures in taxes, higher spending on subsides and increase in salaries for government employees. In his budget speech, the federal finance minister Miftah Ismail announced an expenditure of Rs5.246 trillion for the next fiscal year – 8 percent …

A Big Failure of the United Nations? The happenings and developments in the contemporary international order suggest that the collective security system that was established through the United Nations Charter has failed to protect international peace and security. The Aleppo tragedy of 2017 and the mayhem throughout Syria at present bear the biggest proof of this failure. The situation around …

A return to ‘principled realism’ On December 18, 2017, US President, Donald J. Trump, unveiled his administration’s National Security Strategy wherein he outlined the foundation and priorities that will drive US foreign policy during his time in office. The Strategy starts by declaring that it will use “principled realism” to put American interests, values and prosperity first. It says that …

Elections to look out for this year In the year 2017, the French elected Emmanuel Macron as their president, while South Koreans elected Moon Jae-in to replace Park Geun-hye who was ousted in a corruption scandal. In the same year, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani won re-election with a much wider margin of support than his first term while Turkey voted …