November 2015

Badaber camp was given to the United States on a 10-year lease in 1958 during Ayub Khan’s rule. At that time, it was known as Peshawar Air Station where a Communications Group of the American Air Force, under CIA’s direct supervision, had installed interception equipment for spying on the USSR and intercepting their radio communication. This station remained operational till …

President Obama recently came closest to securing the biggest legacy any US president can ever hope for. The United States, Japan and other ten countries, on 5th October 2015, concluded negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) — the biggest regional free trade deal in history. If approved, it will set new terms for nearly $28 trillion in trade and investment …

South Asia is a region locked up in several conflicts and disputes that have resulted in wars between India and Pakistan; the two nuclear neighbours and archrivals. The region is the most volatile and unpredictable security complex. There are several states in it and all of them have different patterns of relations. India, being the most populated country and an …

Recently, the United States welcomed the first state visit of a new Chinese leader at a time when the presidential election campaign in the country has started, and the US-China relationship is at an important inflection point. Nearly four decades after the normalization of relations between the two superpowers, new realities in China, the United States and the international community …

Physiology or Medicine Winners: William C. Campbell (Ireland) & Satoshi Omura (Japan) and Tu Youyou (China) The first half of the Nobel Prize for Medicine 2015 was awarded to William C. Campbell and Satoshi Omura for their discoveries concerning a novel therapy against infections caused by roundworm parasites. The second half went to Tu Youyou for her discoveries concerning a …

“We’re not going to make Syria a proxy war between the United States and Russia,” US President Barack Obama told journalists, as Russian jets continued their air strikes over the war-torn country. But that statement can be interpreted only in one of two ways: Either that the United States doesn’t care about Syria, and is prepared to abandon it to …

For the past six years, President Barack Obama has dominated the annual opening of the UN General Assembly, his words and initiatives driving the agenda and media coverage. This year, it was Russian President Vladimir Putin, making his first UN appearance in a decade, who stole the diplomatic show. While speaking at the 70th UN General Assembly session, Vladimir Putin …

The number of people living in extreme poverty worldwide will likely fall to under-10% of the global population in 2015, a new World Bank report recently predicted. That is down from 37.1% in 1990 and means the world is moving closer to a goal of ending extreme poverty by 2030. However, an estimated 900 million people still live on less …

The Outgoing US Ambassador to Pakistan New US Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Profile On October 15, 2015, the Obama administration appointed Mr Richard G. Olson, the outgoing US ambassador to Pakistan, as the next US Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan. Mr Olson will take charge of his new designation on 17th of November 2015, the time when …

Former Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri deserves praise for rejuvenating the Kashmir issue. Nobody else could do it; not even Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in his last two consecutive speeches in the UN General Assembly since he assumed office for his third term. After the nuclear tests in South Asia, first by India and then by Pakistan in May 1998, Kashmir …