Ban on nuclear weapons?
At the United Nations in July when the Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty draft was put to vote for adoption, Pakistan, along with all recognised and non-recognised nuclear weapons states, was…
Covid-19: nature’s revenge
Covid-19 is not just a virus; it is a true mirror and reflection of nations’ ‘strength’ and ‘power’. This invisible virus has unveiled the flimsy state of ‘national security’ and…
Mattis in Asia, fixing Trump-rattled relationships one by one
US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis spent four days in East Asia trying to keep on the rails key relationships - two friendly, one adversarial - that his boss President Donald…
Trump pullout from Iran deal signals Mideast strategic shift
US President Donald Trump's rejection of an accord curbing Iran's nuclear activities and the escalation in hostilities between Iran and Israel that followed herald a new strategic dynamic in the…
Laser weapons edge toward use in US military
A sci-fi staple for decades, laser weapons are finally becoming reality in the US military, albeit with capabilities a little less dramatic than at the movies. Lightsabers - the favoured…
Nuclear multipolarity
We have entered the second nuclear age. The emerging international nuclear order is no longer defined by a bipolar strategic nuclear balance between the two opposite great powers capable of…
Not much room
On January 3, a US drone strike killed Iranian General Qassim Soleimani, head of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), shortly after he landed in Baghdad…
Brink of war
Historically, the Middle East region has witnessed unrest, turmoil and instability for a long time. The Arab-Israel conflict, Iran-Iraq war, invasion of Kuwait, Gulf war, US attack on Iraq, rise…
Responsible nuclear behaviour and Kashmir
‘In the nuclear world, the true enemy is war itself’, warned a nuclear submarine’s second-in-command to his gung-ho captain, who was eager to pre-empt a nuclear war with Russia. This…
Climate crossroads
Sixty-one years ago, Dr Martin Luther King declared, “Today the choice is no longer between violence and nonviolence. It is either nonviolence or nonexistence”. Emboldened by the success of the…
