Pakistan today is the victim as well as the source of terrorism, and its political stability is of critical importance to the rest of the world. In fact, it is five countries in one: part Saudi Arabia, part Iran, part Turkey, part Afghanistan and part India, and sometimes gives the impression of being a viable state only when it has a military regime and American crutches. But paradoxically these very two factors undermine its viability whenever they come together – Washington loves Pakistan’s army and hates its politicians! M. Ziauddin, the special correspondent and former editor of the leading English language Pakistan newspaper ‘Dawn’, will discuss the political situation and its implications for global peace.
2009 Cafes
- The World after Bush
- The agony of Zimbabwe, what chance for change?
- National self-determination: What constitutes the right to secede?
- Pakistan: stable state or global hazard?
- Peak oil: A case of Cry Wolf?
- Ukraine: What is the significance of the Orange Revolution?
- The history and histriography of the Arab-Israeli Conflict
- Afghanistan: Local Realities and Foreign Myths
- Civilian & military casualties in Western warfare
- Sri Lanka: The prospects for peace
- Capitulation, capitulation, capitulation: the UK government’s relationship with the City of London