Int’l Affairs

The end of the dollar hegemony? In its efforts to make the Chinese currency yuan, or reminbi, more international and to break the US dollar’s global dominance, China has launched its own petro currency: Petro-yuan. With a step that is likely to upend, and reshape, the global oil market, the Shanghai International Energy Exchange launched the first crude futures contracts …

How China and the US Are Spawning a New Great Power Naval Rivalry The rise and fall of empires has long been a story at the heart of history. Since the Europeans first burst out of their then-marginal region on wooden sailing ships mounted with cannons in the fifteenth century, the planet seldom has had a moment in which several …

Does expulsion of diplomats threaten the world peace? “I think we are coming to a situation that is similar, to a large extent, to what we lived during the Cold War … I am very concerned about the lack of mechanisms to defuse tensions, such as special channels for information-sharing between Washington and Moscow, which were dismantled with the end …

AN EXCELLENT MODEL OF GOOD GOVERNANCE Administration is mainly concerned with management of public affairs. For efficaciously administering the affairs, the head of the administration i.e. an administrator, must have exemplary character and faculty for the said purpose. He must also possess administrative skills. Being cognizant of these requirements, the Holy Prophet (PBUH) set high standards of administration and became …

Undoubtedly, Pakistan once again is passing through a very critical phase of its history, surrounded as it is by formidable external challenges compounded by internal instability. Daily violations of LOC by India are a constant reminder of its military occupation of Kashmir in violation of UN Security Council resolutions and the threat posed by it to Pakistan’s security. On the …

Bumpy Roads Ahead The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global money-laundering watchdog, recently decided to place Pakistan back on its terrorist financing watchlist in June 2018. The United States fervently lobbied member countries of the FATF to place Pakistan on a so-called grey list of nations that are not doing enough to combat terrorism financing. Being on this list …

By: Ali Ahmad Can the world come back from the brink? The Munich Security Conference (MSC) 2018 brought together statesmen, politicians, military chiefs, CEOs and human rights campaigners from across the world. Combatting terrorism, relations between countries and concerns over military confrontations by using nuclear weapons featured high on the agenda MSC. The participants debated for three days on the …

By: Uzair Salman Imposition of punitive tariffs on steel and aluminium imports  Unswayed by warnings of a trade war, President Donald Trump, on March 08, ordered steep new tariffs on steel and aluminum imports to the United States, vowing to fight back against an “assault on our country” by foreign competitors. Flanked by steel and aluminium workers and key staff, …

The reform agenda will decide his future On March 17, National People’s Congress of China reappointed Xi Jinping as China’s president with no limit on the number of terms he can serve. The NPC also appointed former top graft-buster and a close Xi ally Wang Qishan to the formerly ceremonial post of vice president. Xi, the most powerful Chinese leader …

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 …