Chinese burn
ALMOST 70 years ago, the Chinese leader Mao Zedong dismissed the US as a “paper tiger”. He clarified that the reference was strategic. “Regarding [American imperialism] as a whole, we…
History’s witness
FEW writers can occupy Theodore White’s seat on the balcony of history. White is more famous for his quartet of books, each titled The Making of the President, covering the…
Ebbing demand for China’s favourite firewater adds to debt concerns
In the Chinese village of Maotai, the local firewater named after the town is not only a key source of income, it’s a barometer of the country’s battered consumer market…
Off message
MY generation folks will remember Cliff Notes, the bright yellow and black study guides that assisted our understanding of literature and other works. Some folks will accuse these guides of…
Pardon the poultry
SURPRISINGLY, while we have cherry-picked parts of globalisation like Black Friday sales and Valentine’s Day celebrations, we have yet to get on to the Thanksgiving bandwagon. Before anyone accuses us…
Small and great
WITH the exception of a handful of countries, this world is ruled by small people. There is no great man in sight. In America, Richard Nixon was the last great…
Pacem in terris?
JUST before sitting down yesterday to write this column, I was listening to a History Extra podcast about the ‘history behind the headlines’ of 2024. It was a conversation between…
Carter’s centuries
JIMMY Carter’s extraordinary longevity partly accounts for his exceptional status among the US presidential pantheon. He was born when Calvin Coolidge occupied the White House, the Soviet Union was in…
For a tech-driven Pakistan
As the modern world accelerates towards a future purely dominated by technology, digitisation, and innovation, Pakistan finds itself at a major crossroads. The US recently elected JD Vance as its…
Democracy under attack
Despite its shortcomings democracy is widely hailed as the best-known system of governance known to mankind. It ensures participation and will of the people to prevail. Historians believe that democracy…
