WHEN I wrote earlier on Pakistan-Russia relations (Dawn, March 13), I argued that Vladimir Putin’s triumphant return to the office of president would ensure continuity of the process by which Islamabad and Moscow are overcoming the distrust of decades.
THE Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) had its genesis in a bipolar world; it was built around the Bandung principle that countries throwing away the yoke of colonialism should carve out an independent path
NOT even the seasonal patriotism of Independence Day would make one deny that Pakistan has faced a decade-long crisis of leadership and poor governance.
A RETROSPECTIVE look at the last 20 months of the ‘Arab awakening’ highlights some observations. One needs to enumerate some of them as they impinge upon what has by now become a bloody civil war in Syria.
THE decision to re-open transit routes for Nato supplies can be defended on a single count: Pakistan in its current state — dysfunctional economy, social disarray, worn-out infrastructure and, above all, a fragmented
THE Nato summit in Chicago would be a landmark in the history of the military alliance less because of the decisions taken about its future role, described by Washington as being the hub of global security,
MY last column (May 8) in this paper talked about the vicious cycle of untoward events and entrenched negotiating postures blocking progress in the direction of genuine rapprochement between India and Pakistan.
THE impulse to write this Op-Ed piece has come from some readers of my article ‘Negotiating with America’ (Dawn, April 24) who suggested that it be followed up with ‘Negotiating with India’.
MILLIONS of words have been written to explain why Pakistan-US relations have alternated between strategic collusion that occasionally became an important determinant of regional history and periods in
BY a tragic coincidence, President Zardari left for New Delhi just as a wave of grief over the horrific loss of life caused by a mighty avalanche in the army’s encampment in the dizzying heights of Siachen swept across Pakistan.
AFTER a curious and almost indefensible delay, the Parliamentary Committee on National Security (PCNS) on the guidelines for revised terms of engagement with USA/Nato/Isaf finally tabled its recommendations to a
THE Putin project to restore Russia to great power status advanced on March 5 when Vladimir Putin won 64 per cent of the vote to win the presidential election for a third term.
MY last article on the Arab Spring (Feb 14) expressed the apprehension that all the subtexts of the Arab awakening were heading for a bloody dénouement in Syria.
“A THING long expected,” Mark Twain noted, “takes the form of the unexpected when at last it comes.” The yearning of the Arab masses for self-determination, democracy and human rights has a long history stretching back to the Ottomans, the European coloni
IT is an irony of history that international interest in Afghanistan has nearly always been driven by great strategic contests amongst predatory outside powers.
