Taut Bataut

As Pakistan struggles with yet another round of loans from the IMF, people are keen to ask how we got here in the first place. The answer seems simple. Unrestricted and unsustainable spending by the state is compounded by a painfully low tax base. The lack of sufficient and good-quality domestic production leads to an overdependence on imports and a lack of exports, especially in intermediate to high-value goods. Interest payments on past debts are racking up. In short, everything is moving in the same direction: a negative balance of payments.

Recently, the 28th edition of the Conference of the Parties (COP28) to the United Nations Climate Conference was held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, with more than70,000 delegates from nearly 200 countries in attendance. Despite its significant scale and global representation, concerns regarding the effectiveness of COP conferences in addressing climate change persist. COP conferences have been held annually since 1995, with the overarching goal of preventing dangerous human interference with the climate system…

The island-nation of Taiwan seems to feature much more in strategic considerations in the great game between the two superpowers of our time than its size alone would suggest. Home to less than 25 million people and a third the size of KPK in Pakistan, the country is one of the most important in the world; almost exclusively due to its position as the world’s leading manufacturer of computer chips. The history of American support for Taiwan against China’s claims to it as part of its own territory comes as a legacy of the Cold War. Upon the rise to power in China…