Hainan 2025 and China’s new model for an open economy
On December 18, exactly 47 years after the landmark plenum that launched China’s reform era, Beijing drew a definitive line around the island of...
Punjab’s vibrant digital rise
Punjab’s transformation over the past year is no longer quiet; it is vibrant, deliberate, and increasingly visible in the daily lives of its citizens....
Decentralizing colonial pursuits
For any student of international relations and geopolitics; there are very symmetrical trends which indicate that in a unipolar world, despite the fact that...
Gaza Abandoned: Justice for Ukraine, Silence for Palestine
Europe has recently taken a historic step, launching an International Claims Commission to assess and compensate damages caused by the war in Ukraine. The...
A Shiny Nuclear Mirage
“The dream of reason produces monsters,” wrote Francisco de Goya, warning future generations about ambition unrestrained by wisdom. Hannah Arendt later observed that political...
From Gaza to Bondi Beach
On December 14, Australia was jolted out of its sense of safety. At Bondi Beach in Sydney, a space synonymous with openness, community, and...
Banking on disruption
AT PENPOINT
The conviction of PTI founder Imran Khan in the second Toshakhana case might well be compared to a tightening of the screws, prior...
The crisis that lives in every breath
A cruel irony permeates the air we breathe in Lahore: a city that once welcomed winter fogs is now drowning in toxic air. Every...
Why India is losing to China in South Asian diplomacy
In the shifting geopolitics of South Asia, a region long considered India’s natural sphere of influence, Beijing’s steady diplomatic gains have become impossible to...
Education and technology
For as long as I can recall, everybody has always been complaining about the falling educational standards. Up until the 1990s, all teachers up...
US-China Technology War: Bad for all
Technology is the application of scientific knowledge in human life to change and manipulate the human environment. Technology encompasses a wide spectrum from AI to...
Trump Doles Out Syria’s Golan Heights to Israel
During a White House Hanukkah celebration on December 16, President Donald Trump made a startling declaration about the Golan Heights, openly revisiting his 2019...
The challenge of the Christmas story
WASHINGTON WATCH
Catholic churches have traditionally erected Nativity scenes outside at Christmas time. To represent the birth of Jesus, the scenes include the baby, his...
Two nations, one struggle
The assertion that the Two-Nation Theory has been rendered obsolete is not merely a misreading of history; it is an exercise in intellectual complacency....
The ISF for Gaza: Legitimacy before logistics
The idea of deploying an international stabilisation force in Gaza may sound reassuring to a world exhausted by images of destruction, displacement and despair....