Death throes of world supremacy  The main thing to understand about the US foreign policy is that it is basically run by people who have no experience or even understanding of diplomacy and its purposes. It’s not only Mrs Nuland and her famous “fuck the EU!” – it’s also Kerry and his constant lies and zig-zags, it is Mrs Rice with her arrogant and always bellicose threats towards Russia and many other countries, finally, it is also Obama himself who combines imperial hubris with a truly phenomenal level of hypocrisy.  The very notion of negotiating anything is profoundly foreign to … Continue reading End of US World Supremacy?

  By Imtiaz Gul   The writer is the Executive Director of the independent Centre for Research and Security Studies Afghanistan is driving fearful debates all over the world. Officials and academics are vigorously engaged in lengthy discussions over the fate of post-2014 Afghanistan. By default, Pakistan also occupies the centre stage for a possible central role it can play in facilitating the tardy reconciliation process. Outsiders also wonder about Pakistan’s dealing with forces that directly threaten the interests of Afghanistan and its people. At a recent multilateral meeting in Beijing, one could easily distinguish between the US and the Chinese … Continue reading China speaks up for Pakistan

  By Ayesha Ijaz Khan   The writer is a London-based lawyer who tweets @ayeshaijazkhan The question has often been asked: does Islam give women rights or take them away? Surely, the concept of justice and equality for all are repeatedly mentioned in the Holy Quran and are fundamental to the spirit of Islam, with rights for women being an important component. Both the right to divorce and the right to an inheritance, for instance, were revolutionary when Islam bestowed these rights upon women and were not introduced in other parts of the world till much later. The trouble is, however, … Continue reading Islam, modernity and women’s rights

      by Dr Maleeha Lodhi How will relations between Pakistan and India shape up after the Indian elections? Will the election outcome help to accelerate or slow down the normalisation of ties between the two neighbours? Most importantly for Islamabad, will the next government in Delhi agree to revive the broad based ‘composite’ dialogue, suspended since early 2013? Or will it persist with an approach that limits the bandwidth of talks by cherry picking issues of India’s priority in an effort to recast the terms of engagement? Clear answers to these questions will obviously emerge after the elections. But … Continue reading Test of diplomacy ahead @LodhiMaleeha

      by Owen Bennett-Jones The UN Security Council has agreed to a resolution urging countries to stop paying kidnap ransoms to extremist groups like Al-Qaeda. UN officials say hostage taking is now a “core Al-Qaeda activity” and are trying to build a stronger international consensus against paying ransoms. Zawahiri, on the other hand, has explicitly told his supporters to kidnap westerners and, in North Africa and Syria especially, his policy is being implemented. Paymentfor a single individual can reach as much as $5 million.  While it seems some of the highest payments come from western governments, many of the ransoms … Continue reading Price of freedom