October 2020

An Interview with Wang Yi State Councilor and Foreign Minister of China   Catchline “China never intends to and will never interfere in US elections or other US internal affairs. Likewise, the US must abandon its fantasy of remodeling China to US needs.” Question: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo asserted in a recent speech that the policy of engagement …

Urban Flooding Tackling the challenge of drowning cities M. Atif Sheikh It’s morning time and there is a lot of hustle and bustle in the house; kids have to go to school and men to work, but the street outside is looking like a canal due to the heavy rain last night. Suddenly, a mobile phone bell rings; the person …

Plato’s Cave Two important lessons for our society Mawra Raja Plato’s cave is typically familiar to three types of people: those with keen interest in philosophy, multi-discipline self-readers and readers of political philosophy. The story is typically but rightly pigeonholed as an allegory because it is fictitious and a thought-provoking experiment for those who wish to minimize the harms of …

Pakistan Air Force Groomed to be second to none? Air Commodore M. Adnan Khan SI (M) “[W]hether they receive five [Rafales] or 500, we are fine. We are absolutely ready and we have no doubt on our capability and we have proven this so it’s (the jets) not going to make much of a difference.” This statement of Director General …

Kicking Away the Ladder How did the rich countries really become rich? Muhammad Shahid Rafique There is currently great pressure on developing countries to adopt a set of “good policies” and “good institutions” … to foster their economic development. When some developing countries show reluctance in adopting them, the proponents of this recipe often find it difficult to understand these …

We are not makers of history, we are made by history A recently-released picture of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo standing with Taliban’s deputy political chief, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, is reminiscent of the photo that came out on 16 June 1986 from the Oval Office in which Ronald Reagon, the then President of the United States, and freedom …

Brave New World? Dystopias in film and literature The word “dystopia’ (an unhappy country) was first uttered back in 1868 by renowned English philosopher and economist John Stuart Mill in a speech, ripping into the British government for its policies regarding the Irish land. Dystopia is an imagined community or society that is dehumanizing and frightening. It is antonym of …

  10 Horrifying Scientific Predictions What is the future of humanity? As for the accuracy of the information goes, none can beat scientific findings. They are the results of fact-finding research collected over countless person-hours and backed with evidence. Scientific predictions have for ages shaped out the outlook of the planet and the future of everything in it that is …