Int’l Affairs

The Hype and Beyond Climate change has been the buzzword around the globe during the recent years. From governments to civil society organizations to academia, everyone is talking about it, and is wary of the adverse impacts this phenomenon is going to have on terrestrial life. There is hardly any difference of opinion that climate change is occurring – difference …

By: Uzair Salman Analysing the Consequences This year marks 40 years since Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, when 2,500 years of monarchy gave way to a Shiite Muslim-led theocracy. On Jan 16, 1979, Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi and his family left Iran. The US-allied Shah, fatally stricken with cancer, would never return. Several weeks later, on Feb 1, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini …

Capitalist Success, Not Socialist Failure Once among Latin America’s richest countries, Venezuela has been in a downward spiral for years now, with political discontent, skyrocketing inflation, power cuts and shortages of food and medicine. Since 2014, some three million Venezuelans have left the country in search of better living conditions. The situation has further deteriorated with a deep political crisis …

Can we still prevent a nuclear arms race? On February 2, President Donald Trump announced that the United States would terminate its participation in a landmark 1987 nuclear arms-control pact with Russia, asserting the Russians have violated it for years. The decision suspends American obligations under the treaty, and terminates the accord unless Russia comes into compliance within six months. …

Speech of a president whose power is draining Once a year, Donald Trump gives an uncharacteristically bipartisan speech to Congress. It is customarily sandwiched — often within hours — by venomous expressions of partisanship. Mr Trump’s 2019 State of the Union was no exception. His first address to Congress, which took place shortly after his infamous “American Carnage” inaugural address …

A colossal change is awaiting the world, which will cause a series of economic and political crises. However, it is not easy to foresee in which region or country the first indicators of this change will be seen. The US is still, of course, the centerpiece of the world system. But, despite the wealth and extraordinary military power of the …

What’s Next? The stereotype of Islam being a “flawed” religion and Muslims “terrorists” in an existential war against the West (actually Christianity) has a very long history. This belief has been used to justify both attacks and colonization from the Crusades, to the colonial period, to the ongoing use of Muslim nations as pawns on a geo-political chessboard, largely based …

By: Engr Sarfraz Saroya Sink or swim, onus is on us The world’s nations took another step toward addressing the perils of climate change at the latest Conference of the Parties (COP24), which concluded on December 15, 2018, in Katowice, Poland. The most important product of COP24 appears to be a “rulebook” that has been described by the United Nations …

The term “fake news” has become an epithet that US President Donald Trump attaches to any unfavourable story. But, it is also an analytical term that describes deliberate disinformation presented in the form of a conventional news report. The problem is not completely novel. In 1925, Harper’s Magazine published an article about the dangers of “fake news.” But today two-thirds …

Politics, Security, Peace Talks and Prospects Afghanistan has spent another year in the shadow of volatile security situation, crumbling economic conditions, unpredictable political environment and scarcity of resources, as well as some new developments that have created hopes for a comparatively stable Afghanistan in the year 2019. Among those few new developments, the most important one is the holding of …