Putin’s Presidency-VI: Dangerous dynamics
That a large number of Muscovites speak out against the Crimea referendum amid a virtual split of Ukraine and annexation of Crimea is a fact that has found its best…
The calculus of capital
Released by the Harvard University Press this month, ‘Capital in the 21st Century’ by Thomas Picketty, professor at the Paris School of Economics, has attracted a lot of attention. Several…
What’s the deal?
It is indeed a very generous ‘gift’ from a friendly Muslim country — $1.5 billion is not a small sum of money especially in these times of desperation and insolvency.…
Omens of a maelstrom?
Three apparently unrelated developments point to a groundswell that could ultimately unhinge Pakistan from its democratic moorings. The three happenings are: the Taliban lobby’s campaign to frighten the government into…
Wrong side of history
The Islamic world’s power dynamics are undergoing possibly the most seismic shift in a generation. The House of Saud’s dominance over global Muslim politics, an enduring, if calamitous, reality, appears…
Address the rot within
By delving extensively into the political experiment launched by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Rajmohan Gandhi might have appeared to some in the room to have sidetracked the India-Pakistan dialogue…
Passing the baton
Part-medieval kingdom, part-theocracy, with elements of the modern state (shorn, of course, of any vestiges of democracy) thrown in, it will be interesting to see if the Kingdom of Saudi…
A bumpy ride ahead
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s third term in office was meant to be the golden era of Pakistan-India relations, an opportunity to finish what he started with Atal Behari Vajpayee in…
China’s regional strategy
At a recent conference in Europe I found a great deal of interest in Pakistan’s close and growing relations with China. Three sets of questions aroused much curiosity. One, how…
Journalists’ safety
The enactment of the Journalists Welfare Endowment Fund Act 2014 by the KP Assembly is a positive measure to extend the state’s welfare umbrella. The fund has been established with…
