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Pakistan is often described as an Army with a state rather than a state with an army. In such a system, even seemingly routine decisions, such as military promotions, can carry deep political meaning. One such case was the promotion of Lt Col Harcharan Singh in February this year, as the first Sikh officer in Pakistan’s history to attain this rank. Months later, it still merits attention, not because it was merely unusual, but because it revealed how identity, military power, and regional politics continue to intersect in Pakistan.

As tensions intensify between Iran, Israel, and the United States, one thing has become increasingly clear: Iran has managed not only to respond to sustained pressure but to endure it far longer than many analysts had anticipated.

War is the negative outcome of evolution. The Gulf war has proved it once again. Production has critically gone down due to the crisis in availability of energy and raw material. If the crisis persists, the notion of easy access to Gulf energy may become a distant dream.

NEW YORK: Something has shifted in the way American corporations talk about firing people. Not long ago, a wave of mass layoffs was read as a bad omen—a company in trouble, cutting losses, circling the drain. Today, on Wall Street and in the business press, the calculus has been turned on its head. Announce that you’re slashing thousands of jobs to pour money into artificial intelligence, and your stock goes up. The market doesn’t just forgive the pink slips; it rewards them.

Responding ominously to American blockade of the Hormuz Strait, Iran has threatened a counter-blockade over a vast stretch of waters from Red Sea in the west to Gulf of Oman in the east. This, if done effectively, could jeopardise ship movements and international trade from the entire area including those using the Suez Canal for the Europe-Asia route.

The world of diplomacy is going through uncertain times as the West Asian war is yet to end even after 48 days beginning with the attack by USA and Israel on Iran on February 28. President Trump has been bruised diplomatically, Iran has been battered in both economic and military terms, the Gulf nations have become sceptic of both President Trump and Tehran. There is no sign of the real winner among the stake holders in this West Asian war.

As the growth strategies that powered the global economy over the past three decades lose relevance, a new World Economic Forum report released on April 15 calls for a renewed blueprint to navigate a rapidly evolving landscape shaped by AI, geostrategic competition, rising debt and inequality, and mounting environmental and demographic pressures. The report draws on two years of dialogue with nearly 200 global business leaders, policy-makers and experts, and a survey of more than 11,000 executives worldwide.

President Donald Trump as usual has been talking in conflicting voices on his immediate stand on Iran war. The U.S. President ordered naval blockade of Iranian ports after the failure of the Islamabad peace talks on Sunday but on Tuesday, he indicated that another round of talks would be held in the Pakistan capital this week end. In fact even though the first round on April 11 ended in stalemate, enough ground was covered. The US and Iran officials continued back channel negotiations for organizing the second round as early as possible.

Financial markets are often accused of being cold, shortsighted and morally indifferent, yet they do possess one quality that political systems frequently lack in moments of conflict: an ability to strip away theatre and price only what appears durable. That seems to be what has happened with Donald Trump’s blockade strategy around the Strait of Hormuz and the wider pattern of mixed messaging that has marked his war posture toward Iran.

With only six months left for the crucial midterm elections in United States in November this year, a large number of Left wing Democrats belonging to the group of Bernie Sanders have entered the contests for primaries in June this year to be able to formally contest in the November midterm elections. The 2026 midterm is a semi final between the ruling Republicans and the opposition Democrats before the final Presidential and Congress plus Senate elections in November 2028.