Obama’s visit to India and his complete surrender before Indian demands seem to have surprised many in Pakistan, especially the Foreign Office which seems to have been asleep while preparations for the visit were being made and many telling statements were already coming out of Washington. Now suddenly they have woken up and started mutterings [...]
Kashmir brings out the worst in the Indian state and its mainstream media; but it is also bringing out the best on some Indian human rights groups, courageous individuals and other subjugated minorities. Of course, Arundhati Roy is, perhaps, the most visible symbol of an individual speaking the language of truth in support of the [...]
Non-proliferation has over time become in creasingly discriminatory and a vehicle for the powerful to pressurise states they consider “unreliable”, and the fact that these targeted states happen to be primarily Muslim states, with the sole exception of North Korea, reflects a further bias within the developed world. In fact, the accommodating manner in which [...]
The so-called Pak-US Strategic Dialogue has commenced again in Washington - this being the third round since the present process began post-9/11, in 2007 - but now it has ostensibly been upgraded to the Ministerial level, no doubt to allow our extremely US-friendly FM to ‘lead’ the discussions. Of course, we have had previous bilateral [...]
While the Pakistani leadership – both the present one and the previous one – have effectively paralysed Pakistani diplomacy as a result of a total submission before US diktat post-9/11, our friends in our larger operational neighbourhood are showing how one can live and thrive globally without either allying with the US or by sustaining [...]
As one looks at the chaos around us, both in terms of governance within the country, as well as the non-existent external policy, two conclusions come to mind: In terms of internal chaos, one can simply hope that some democratic change comes about before we descend into total anarchy. However, externally, it is time we [...]
How far is the Pakistani state prepared to go to undermining its national sovereignty and the safety of the lives of its citizens? Since 2004 mainly innocent Pakistani citizens have been killed by US drone strikes inside Pakistan. This is beyond the list of those Pakistanis handed over to the US in renditions by the [...]
That realpolitik dominates global politics today, as has always been the case, has never been in doubt despite US propaganda post-bipolarity to the contrary. However, for international agencies to use the monumental flood devastation as a means of forcing through their agenda on Pakistan - an agenda that is directly linked to the US-led and [...]
If any single theorist explains in its entirety, not only the internal workings of developing states but also their relationship with external powers, it is the Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci. The more one observes the Pakistan-US relationship, the more one realises that to understand fully its multiple dimensions, one really needs to look at it [...]
It will soon be nine years since the 9/11 attacks on the US homeland. Since that time the Muslim World has continued to be bled by the US which remains traumatised nine years on. And the world has not only become more polarised, but also more violent and more bloodied by conflicts and asymmetric wars. [...]
