2019

Testing Times Ahead! With the surge of populist, nationalist leaders, especially in countries that are of key importance to world affairs, there were considerable apprehensions that peace of the world would be at stake. The policies such leaders expounded on, and steps they took, bode ill for the future of the world. The biggest example of such a ‘patriot’ leader …

US-Iran Tensions Magazine Desk American officials have suddenly raised the stakes in the long-simmering tensions between the United States and Iran, pointing to new intelligence that they say suggests an imminent threat to American interests in the Middle East. Although the potential for armed conflict between the two countries has loomed since the Islamic Revolution, the recent American assertion that …

Donald Trump and the Weaponization of International Trade The Liberal World Order under Threat Magazine Desk Trade policies of Trump administration are causing more problems than they solve as they treat friends like adversaries, thereby weakening alliances. They are further complicating an already fragile US-China relationship. By discarding the current multilateral system in favour of a bilateral approach, the Trump …

Ensuring Energy, Water and Food Security Shafqat Javed Water scarcity is the biggest threat to fertile lands in the country which, in turn, means serious consequences for the industrial sector. Pakistan is already a water-scarce country as owing to the poor state of infrastructure about two-third is lost due to poor transmission and seepage.  Water scarcity hurts the entire agricultural chain …

US-China Trade War A dangerous game is on! Magazine Desk During the US-China trade talks in Washington D.C., Chinese and American trade negotiators could not reach a truce. Later, on May 10th, the United States carried through on its threat to ratchet up tariffs on Chinese goods. China vowed to retaliate and impose similar tariffs on American goods. So, the …

The Two-State Solution Keeping the Hope of Peace Alive Federica Mogherini Our common region—the Mediterranean and the wider Middle East—is going through a long and difficult transition. The war in Syria is not yet over, and Libya is still torn by violence and instability. While there are new hopes for de-escalation in Yemen, the road to peace is still long. …

Of key players in The NEW GREAT GAME Abdul Rasool Syed With the collapse of Soviet Union back in 1991, the great game that began between the Russian and the British Empire, and culminated in the fight for dominance over Afghanistan, came to an end. This, however, created a power vacuum in the Central Asian region that rich in with …

China’s Newest Charm Offensive Since its creation by Joshua Kurlantzick in 2007, the term ‘charm offensive’ has emerged in the study of International Relations as a reference to China’s use of soft power to augment its global status and image. While the idea of China charming the world with its economic and cultural prowess has not changed too much, the …

Commercial Forestry in Pakistan Public Private Partnerships is the way to go! M.H. Rehman One of the major causes of climate change is deforestation. As human population and industrialization have grown, so have human settlements and use of timber for multiple purposes. This means much of the land that previously had forests and other vegetation on it has been, on …

Budget-Making in Pakistan Say Yes to Transparency Zafrullah Saroya In modern governance, the budget of a state is one of the most powerful fiscal instruments at the disposal of an incumbent government to implement its political commitments and development agenda. Tabled every year in the parliament, the budget contains the ideas that are to be translated into implementable policies prioritized by …