By Bruce Riedel Saudi Arabia is the world’s last absolute monarchy. Like Louis XIV, King Abdullah has complete authority to do as he likes. But while a revolution in Saudi Arabia is still not likely, the Arab Awakening has made one possible for the first time, and it could come in President Obama’s second term. Revolutionary change in the kingdom would be a disaster for American interests across the board. ...

  By Sajjad Shaukat In the recent past, by showing a sense of great optimism for the peace of the region, Pakistan agreed with Indian old demand to strengthen the Confidence Building Measures (CBMs) in order to resolve the outstanding issues such as terrorism, Siachen, Sir Creek, Wullar Barrage and water including main dispute of Kashmir. As part of the CBMs, under the Aman Ki Asha initiative, recently reno ...

    By Michael T. Klare January 22, 2013 "TomDispatch" -- Don’t look now, but conditions are deteriorating in the western Pacific.  Things are turning ugly, with consequences that could prove deadly and spell catastrophe for the global economy. In Washington, it is widely assumed that a showdown with Iran over its nuclear ambitions will be the first major crisis to engulf the next secretary of defense -- wh ...

Asif Haroon Raja Secret war launched in 2002 by so-called allies of Pakistan was aimed at destabilizing, de-Islamizing, denuclearizing and destroying Pakistan. For eleven years concerted efforts have been made by the US and its allies grouped together in Kabul to achieve their objectives. The first phase of destabilization has progressed fairly well and today Pakistan’s socio-politico-economic-military fabr ...

By  Brig (R) Asif Haroon Introduction Pakistan in its 65 year old history has tumbled from one crisis to another and even now is immersed in a crisis situation which is far more critical than it had ever experienced. Pakistan’s adversarial relations with its arch enemy India and the US duplicitous role together with leadership crisis and abysmal performance of our successive regimes are principally responsi ...

By Yvonne Ridley The only thing that surprised me when I heard that the Algerian kidnappers had called for the release of  Dr Aafia Siddiqui was that it hadn’t happened sooner. Don’t get me wrong, as a former hostage myself, there is no way I condone the actions of what has unfolded in a remote corner of the Algerian desert. And my heart goes out to the families of those who have lost loved ones in the unfo ...

By Sajjad Shaukat After signing of the Islamabad Long March Declaration by the representatives of the coalition government and Dr Muhammad Tahirul Qadri, the chief of Tehrik-e-Minhaj-ul-Quran (TMQ) and Pakistan Awami Tehrik (PAT) on January 17, this year, the five days episode was ended, which started from Lahore on January 13, and continued at the D-Chowk of the federal Capital where thousands of persons c ...

By Zaheerul Hassan On 16 January 2012, Director General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of Pakistan and India established contact with each other on hotline and decided to tone down the tension between the deployed troops on Line of Communication (LoC). Meanwhile Hina Rabbani Kher, Foreign Minister of Pakistan has also spoken to her Indian counterpart to play his positive role for reduction of tension on Kas ...