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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 …

Rise of Populism and Frightening Prospects of World War-3 After World War II, the world became bipolar, with the United States supporting liberal democracy and the USSR being the torch-bearer of communism. In their Cold War, both states were, in pursuit of power and alliances, investing in new democracies financially and diplomatically. The Cold War ended with the fall of …

Quest for Peace in Afghanistan Afghanistan is notoriously difficult to conquer, primarily due to three factors. First, it is situated at the crossroads of South Asia, East Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. It has been invaded many times and is settled by a plethora of tribes, many mutually antagonistic and hostile to each other and outsiders. Second, due …

Zaheer Ud Din Babar 2nd in Punjab, PMS 2018-19 Jahangir’s World Times (JWT): First of all, please tell us about your educational background? Zaheer Ud Din Babar (ZDB): I hail from Kasur. I completed my early studies from schools in my hometown till matriculation.  Later on, I got admission to Government College University (GCU), Lahore. Finally, I did B.A (Hons) …

India-China Geopolitical Contest The term ‘strategic stability’ is many a time used totally out of context due to which its misplaced use creates confusion and further misperceptions. For instance, a US Department of Defense 2010 report titled as ‘Nuclear Posture Review Report (2010)’used terms like ‘stable’, ‘stability’ and ‘instability’ more than 70 times. But a cautious study of the Report …

Perils of Unfettered Social Media A daunting challenge we must mount Qasim Dhillon In 2017, a research conducted in 33 countries revealed that Facebook-owned platforms reached 86 percent of their internet-users between the ages of 16 and 64. If not the internet itself, these platforms effectively acted as a gateway to the internet there. Today, by all means, outreach of …