Int’l Affairs

By: Ahmad Zubair The term foreign policy is defined as a set of political goals that illustrates the interaction of a country with the rest of the world. Attaining and protecting national interest, national security, ideological goals and economic prosperity constitute the primary focus of foreign policy of a state at the international level. In particular, the goal of US foreign …

Executive Summary of World Economic and Social Survey 2018 Frontier technologies herald great hopes for humanity. They can help eradicate hunger and epidemics, increase life expectancy, reduce carbon emissions, automate manual and repetitive tasks, create decent jobs, improve quality of life and facilitate increasingly complex decision-making processes. Frontier technologies can indeed make sustainable development a reality, improving people’s lives, promoting …

By: Sina Azodi Is It Meant to Start a War? Much indicates that the likely murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi will be transformative for Saudi-US relations. But whether it will affect the one issue where Saudi pressure on the United States was the greatest – Iran – is unclear. The Iran strategy favoured by Saudi Arabia and the Netanyahu …

The Chinese Version of the Fourth Industrial Revolution Manufacturing has been the mainstay of the Chinese economy and a driver of its expansion. This was the sector that helped China rise to the level of being the world’s second biggest economy today. This impressive evolution was based on a large workforce, low wages and government support, as well as radical …

Xi’s vision for China’s future  “History tells us that everybody has one’s future and destiny closely connected to those of the country and the nation.” — President Xi Jinping of China The rest of the world rubs its eyes in astonishment. In just under three decades, China has transformed itself from being a bitter-poor developing country into a global economic …

By: Ammara Ilyas The focus of the world’s diplomacy is on two areas. Russian President Putin’s annexation of Crimea, and his perceived ‘new’ expansionism of foreign policy – on behalf of a state that is still massively nuclear-armed. The other area is the Middle East, with the turmoil caused by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS); and with …

By: Safdar Ali China is the largest buyer of Iranian oil, Iran’s largest trading partner, and arguably its most important positive political relationship. What do Trump’s statements mean for China’s relationship with Iran, and with the greater Middle East? And how would war—or peace — between the United States and Iran affect China’s interests? The Trump Administration’s chaotic foreign policy …

By: Mahnoor Awais What it might mean for Britain The United Kingdom is scheduled to leave the European Union at 11pm UK time on Friday 29 March 2019. As both parties have, for long, failed to agree on terms of their divorce, concerns have been rising that Britain may crash out of the bloc with a no-deal Brexit. In August, …

By: conn Hallinan Trump’s Stubbornness and the Changing Face of Asia  “Boxing the compass” is an old nautical term for locating the points on a magnetic compass in order to set a course. With the erratic winds blowing out of Washington these days, countries all over Asia and the Middle East are boxing the compass and re-evaluating traditional foes and …

The gravest crimes under international law On August 27, the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar, which was tasked with investigating alleged human rights abuses in Myanmar, with a focus on Rakhine, announced their initial findings whereby it has been suggested that senior members of the Myanmar military, including commander-in-chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, “be investigated and prosecuted” for …