Throughout the cold war the US projected communism as the greater threat to Pakistan’s existence than India. Both in 1965 and 1971, the US “tilted” more towards Pakistan than India, when the chips were down we did not manage to get much more than tea and sympathy. With sanctions imposed after the 1965 war on…
Absurdity is used in existentialist and related philosophy according to the Wikipedia Encyclopedia to describe absurdly pointless efforts to try and find such meaning or purpose in an objective and uncaring world. In common usage absurdity is synonymous with ridiculousness. Thomas Hobbes discussed the two concepts as different, absurdity having to do with invalid reasoning…
A delegation of Army officers from the prestigious Command & Staff College, Quetta visiting the Supreme Court (SC) were told by their host, Honourable Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, that repeated military intervention had weakened state institutions, that the military had no business in the business of governance of the country. He emphatically reminded the assembled…
The greatest most expensive manhunt in history, employing man and material resources far beyond anything else in recorded times, culminated at about 3 am on Sunday May 1, 2011. With a shot to the head over the left eye, and maybe another one in the chest, Osama Bin Laden’s decade-long successful evasion of those seeking…
Bin Laden’s hideout in a mainly garrison town seriously compromised the credibility of our intelligence agencies and our Armed Forces (read “the Pakistan Army”). That he was not in some cave was no surprise, the embarrassing security lapse in failing to locate him within days and weeks, let alone nearly six years, was shocking. The…
Dear Readers, The killing of Osama Bin Laden in Abbottabad on May 2, 2011 by a raiding party of US Navy Seals who flew in undetected in stealth helicopters, accomplished their mission and flew out, has left many red faces in Pakistan. Pakistan was not informed about the mission for ‘security reasons’; it was only…
For a few heady hours following Hosni Mobarak’s exit from power after 30 years of dictatorial rule during which he (and his family) managed to “save” US $ 40 billion from the salaries paid to him as a public servant of an impoverished nation, the successful revolt in the streets sent hopes soaring about impending…
The recent upsurge in the streets of the Arab world has been force-multiplied by the planned (and unplanned) use of both internet and the media, Twitter, Facebook, Al-Jazeera, CNN, etc have all chipped in. Joining the dominos Tunisia and Egypt that have fallen, Yemen, Algeria and Bahrain are tottering, Libya is now in a state…
Hard Power has been used often in the context of national security by a number of States, if the aims have not been achieved it is primarily because of their inability to employ all elements of national power. The US national security system is grossly imbalanced and finds it easier to mobilize resources for Hard-Power…
“Soft Power” is the ability to make others do what you want, what they would otherwise not have done. Based on intangibles: i.e. less on what you own, and more on what you represent, others do what you want because of how they see you. What one wants can be done not just by States,…
