2015

Pakistan has accumulated huge external and domestic debt mostly as a result of borrowing to finance persistent budget deficit and external current account deficit. In the instant write-up, the writer has delved into the causes that have led to this worrisome situation, and has also proposed some remedial measures to improve the state of affairs. Historically, Pakistan has been facing …

“The world will find us frank and honest in our dealings with it. An undertaking, once given, shall be honoured whatever the cost. Pakistan expects the same from others.”F.M. Muhammad Ayub Khan (Former President of Pakistan)   Border skirmishes escalate, mutual blame game is on and a zero-sum game thrives — India-Pakistan hostility is on the rise and the statements …

  Brahamdagh’s Volte Face & the Way Forward It seems that the government’s efforts to persuade dissident Baloch leaders for holding talks on the Balochistan issue are bearing fruit. In August, after meeting with senior Balochistan Minister Nawab Sanaullah Zehri, the Khan of Kalat, Mir Suleman Daud Khan, promised to consider returning to Pakistan if “right conditions” are created in …

Civil-military relations have had a chequered history in Pakistan. In the best of times, it has been a working relationship defined by narrow set of the rules whereby military has allowed civilians to take the front seat while it deals with complex security and terrorism-related problems. In the worst of times, there has been a pronounced tug of war which …

  Introduction Quintessentially, the United Nations Charter is an international treaty; its Article 33 in Chapter VI provides for mechanisms for pacific settlement of disputes. It provides that the parties to any dispute, shall, in the first place, and in cases where international security and peace is likely to be endangered, seek a solution by negotiation, enquiry, mediation, conciliation, arbitration, …

  How China’s Currency Policies Will Change the World The recent fluctuations in China’s currency typify the best and worst of a globalized world, where developments in one place can instantly change the political and financial calculations of governments in others. For most of human history, the communities, cultures and economies of the world existed independently of one another, separated …

On 6 July 2015, the Secretary-General of the United Nations launched a UN report entitled “The Millennium Development Goals Report 2015” in Oslo, Norway. While wrapping up the progress under the MDGs, the report painted a mixed picture of the global efforts to fight poverty, especially in developing countries. The Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon hailed the efforts made in an attempt …

A third wave of geopolitics has been making its way into the Middle East’s political geography since the end of the Cold War. The first wave began with the collapse of the Ottoman Empire after World War I. The second wave followed World War II, when the European colonial order crumbled. The third wave will reach its apex with the …

Saving Gaza From Israeli Terrorism The international community’s attention in the Middle East nowadays is inevitably focused on the Islamic State’s military advances in Syria and Iraq, the failed states of Yemen and Libya, the activities of extremists everywhere, and the continuing efforts to implement submitted a deal to contain Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Meanwhile, the oldest dispute in the region …

President Barack Obama’s Aug 6 speech on Iran, notable for its “my way or war” polemics, signals a hardening of the debate over the Iran nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, just as Congress begins reviewing the deal. This political calcification reflects various factors, from presidential election polling to tensions between the Obama administration …