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 The
house Bush is building
The Bush roadmap for the
world as he sees it in the 21st century.
[M B NAQVI]
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There is an intense debate going on among western intellectuals
over categorisation and naming of the phenomenon that
is expected to emerge from the endeavours of Mr. George
W. Bush and his neo-conservative colleagues. Sophisticated
points are being made and some have warned that the
term neo-Imperialism should not be bandied about carelessly
— else the thing actually becomes neo-Imperialism.
Some are hoping that one and a half years down the road
a new American government would take over and may not
...more
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Broken
Wings – Story of Iraq
A detailed overview of
the ongoing Iraqi saga.
[Hamid
Hussain] |
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MIn 2003, the state of Iraq has gone
a radical change in a very short time unprecedented
in modern times. United States stating that the government
ruling Iraq was undesirable embarked on military operations
and within weeks the whole landscape changed. When change
occurs suddenly sometimes it takes time before the reality
sinks in. However, change does not occur in a vacuum.
A set of forces is already in motion long before the
change but the significance of these forces is not fully
appreciated until the actual change occurs...more
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Weapons
for Mass Deception
WMD does not stand for
what it is stated to be.
[Muhammad
Irshad]
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The White House may have had a reason
to go to war with Iraq that had nothing to do with whether
or not Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.
They
told us that Osama bin Laden is "the biggest danger
on earth" and they wanted him "dead or alive".
They bombed the whole country but couldn't get him...more
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The
Dawn of the Hydrogen Economy
An alternate source of
energy
[Jeremy
Rifkin] |
Imagine,
for a moment, a world where fossil fuels are no longer
burned to generate power, heat and light. A world no
longer threatened by global warming or geopolitical
conflict in the Middle East. A world where every person
on earth has access to electricity. That world now looms
on the horizon.
We are in the early stages of an historic change in
the way we organize the Earth’s energy. The Industrial
Age, which began with the carrying of coal from Newcastle
several hundred years ago, is now winding down in the
oil fields of the Middle East. Meanwhile....more
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Fundamentals
of Military Force
The principles of employment
of military power
[Air
Commodore (Retd) SHAHID KAMAL KHAN ] |
Conflict
is an essential ingredient of human existence. When
verbal and other non-violent means fail to resolve issues,
the parties involved in conflict resort to the use of
force. For conflicts at the level of individuals, the
threat and application of force is essentially determined
by the physical attributes of those involved whereas,
at a national level, a Military Machine is established
to handle situations requiring the application of force...more
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Budget
Projections - Iraq War 2003
The expenditures on the
Iraqi campaign
[(Retd)
EAS BOKHARI ] |
IEstimating
the economics cost of war with Iraq is a difficult task
although the expertise of Desert Shield and Desert Storm
is available to the US planners. The war in 1991, however,
had a different coalition and the mode of waging war
was also different as the main task then was the liberation
of Kuwait. Operation “Iraqi Freedom” is
much more exhaustive and comprehensive and surely quite
unpredictable and fraught with uncertainties. The projections
of the DoD (Department of Defence) naturally have some
sort of cushion and ...more
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SARS
and its Global Socio-Economic implications
An important health issue
that has become a major geo-economic problem.
[Mehmood-Ul-Hassan
Khan & Ms SHAZIA SALEEM KHAN ] |
Humankind
has been besieged throughout its evolution by microorganisms
that pose a continual challenge to the survival of the
species. The bubonic plague that swept across Europe
during the Middle Ages, the smallpox that was carried
to the Americas by the Spanish, and the influenza outbreak
of 1918 all bear testimony to the historic relevance
of infectious pathogens and their ability to cause widespread
death and suffering and now SARS is spreading like wildfire
in some parts of China. The severe acute respiratory
syndrome [SARS] is spreading like an incurable disease
in many countries...more
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Helicopter
Ferry Flight
A memorable experience
as an Army Aviation pilot
[MASOOD
ANWAR] |
This
dates back to the year 1975. I had arrived in the UAE
as part of the team of pilots and engineers deputed
to establish the Police Air Wing for the Ministry of
Interior, UAE. Other members of the team included two
Majors from the Jordanian Army and three local trainee
pilots. We arrived in the UAE early February 1975 and
in March 1975, we proceeded to Italy for helicopter
conversion course. Training was conducted at Augusta
Bell Training Academy Frisinone small, WW11 fame town
located a hundred miles South of Rome. Conversion to
a new version of helicopter was thrilling...more
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Pir
Panjal and Kashmir
The famous Pir Panjal
Range in Kashmir.
[A
Rashid] |
At
the time of collusion of the Indian sub-continent with
the land mass of Asia, about one hundred million years
ago, nature carefully disposed the Pir panjal range
in the Himalayan complex to be the necklace of the complex,
strewn with jewels of peaks of varying heights ranging
from 5,000ft (1524m) to 16830ft (5130m). The state of
Jammu and Kashmir, less the northern areas of Gilgit,
Baltistan, Hunza and Nagar etc, is virtually comprised
of Pir Panjal and the areas of its watershed. The range
has been a witness to numerous politico-cultural inroads,
down to mighty Mughals, Sikhs, the colonial Anglo- Saxons
and the present, less fortunate, perpetually warring
nations of Hindus and Muslims...more
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Gulf
Wars - Comedy of Errors
Wars in this region are
examplified by incompetence bordering on the amusing
[RIAZ
AHMED ] |
War
is a many splendoured thing. In a worldwide scenario
obtaining today, wars, war games, war on ignorance,
war on this, war on that, is a byword in human culture.
A particularly interesting topic for children. After
all they make up a large proportion of the world population.
For this the Poet said “Baazicha-e atfaal hai
duniya mere aage”. (Gist: world is a children’s
playground). Wars among nations or countries, besides
aggressively imposing one nation’s will over another
in a “Laaton ke Bhoot baaton senahin maante”
situation, (Gist: Devils only recognize stick), is to
a great extent a trade fair...more
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LFO
- Overcoming a political deadlock
The LFO and how to confront
the difficulties because of it.
[HUMERA
NIAZI ] |
“Believe
you me” democracy is on track. This can be seen
and evaluated in light of the recent political events
taking place. That is (I) The rumpus in parliament over
the LFO, which is posing a threat to the system. The
opposition had initiated the ‘go Musharraf go’
slogan along with vociferent protest within context
to the Legal Framework Order. (II) In a follow up there
was the incident of a politically uneasy situation at
the Punjab Assembly. This resulted in the beating up
of journalists covering the event and the arrests of
top legislators, in order to stop them entering the
Punjab Assembly...more
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Europe's
new Constitution
The new document brought
out by Mr. Valery Giscard d’Estaing
[Ansar
Mahmood Bhatti] |
The
European Council, which met in Thessaloniki (Greece)
few days ago, had approved the draft Constitution, prepared
by 105-member Convention, headed by former French President,
Mr. Valery Giscard d’Estaing. This presentation
indeed marks a historic step in the direction of furthering
the objectives of European integration. The Intergovernmental
Conference (IGC), likely to be convened in October this
year, would further dilate upon the text...more
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Privatisation
of Strategic Assets
An interesting case for
not privatising strategic assets.
[Anonymous] |
During
the past ten to twelve years, the continuous and unbearable
financial haemorrhaging within the Public Sector companies
coupled with total breakdown of the norms of corporate
governance necessitated the Government of Pakistan (to
a significant degree caused by the ‘conditionalities’
of the multilateral agencies. IMF, World Bank, ADB)
to initiate a range of corrective measures, which would
lead ultimately to the privatization of these Public
Sector companies. In arriving at this strategic decision
of privatization of Public Sector companies...more
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