September 2014

Beating all odds, Pakistan emerged on the world map on 14th of August 1947. Its creation was no less than a miracle as it was snatched despite all atrocities of the British Raj and hegemonic designs of Indian National Congress. Our founding fathers vowed to protect the religion, culture and traditions, art and architecture, language and literature and economy of …

The issue of food security and unhindered, dignified access to food has been at the centre of policy debates. However, what has brought this matter on global radar screen is its inclusion in Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The spectre of consistently increasing food prices, rising global population and supply-side constraints have woken the world community to the need of affirmative …

The art of war is of vital importance to the state. It is a matter of life and death, a road to safety or ruin. Therefore, it is a subject that must be thoroughly studied. (Sun Tzu) It was 500 BC when the Chinese scholar said what remains absolutely true even today. I selected this saying to further my viewpoint …

Pakistan’s public debt accumulated to reach 63 per cent of GDP by 2011-12. As a result, the total fiscal requirements to finance budget deficit and to roll over mature debt for 2012-13 reached over 35 per cent of GDP, the highest among the emerging market economies after Egypt (40 per cent) as well as among the advanced economies after Japan …

Geopolitics, the study of the interaction between geography, international politics, and international relations, has seemingly passed its heyday and critiques are now coming from several fronts. Geography in this regard includes both features that are ‘fixed’, such as location, topography, strategic chokepoints, climate, and natural resources, as well as elements of human and political geography, such as a country’s size, …

Mr Shamshad suggests that “if our civilian rulers had been steadfast in their own commitment to constitutional supremacy, rule of law, independence of judiciary, separation of powers, and institutional integrity, no military dictator would have had dared a breach of his own constitutional oath”. “Pakistan and World Affairs” is a book penned by Mr Shamshad Ahmad, a renowned civil servant …

US Secretary of State John Kerry recently visited New Delhi to attend the 5th India-US Strategic Dialogue. During his stay, he held discussions with his counterpart Sushma Swaraj which was followed by his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This represented the first high—level contacts between the US and India since Modi became Prime Minister in May 2014. Reports on …

The foundation of the BRICS Development Bank has highlighted the problems with the current system of global assistance and governance – particularly from the US. The most important thing is that it’s now a permanent sign that global governance is a mess. Global governance has not kept up with the pace of global economic change.” No sooner had the dust …

They can’t help themselves. Whatever the situation, the reaction of US policymakers is more war. Weak economy? War will get things going. Strong economy? Military spending will cool it off. Two wars (Afghanistan and Iraq) finally winding down? Time to ramp up secret arms sales to a pair of pipsqueak insurgencies (Libya and Syria). Other superpowers love militarism. But only …

Western sanctions against Russia appear to have a fairly narrow, tangible goal: to punish Moscow for supporting pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine. But to what end? Sanctions need to reinforce a wider strategy designed to change Moscow’s behaviour so that it starts respecting the sovereignty of all post-Soviet states. Ukraine is just the latest example in a long series of …