Blog

In the aftermath of the Pahalgam massacre, Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif delivered a statement loaded with strategic signaling. He accused the United States & the United Kingdom of playing a very negative role, charging them with promoting terrorism through Pakistan and hobnobbing with terrorists for three decades. Through this broadside, Islamabad signaled a sharp pivot: retaliat...

For years, Indian foreign policy has sought to de-hyphenate itself from Pakistan—to be viewed not as one half of a regional rivalry, but as a rising global power in its own right. Yet in a bitter twist of irony, it wasn’t Pakistani propaganda or foreign policy that reinserted the hyphen—it was mostly India’s own electronic media. When tensions with Pakistan escalated in early 2025, the Line of...

Diplomatic Maturity vs. Credit Poaching on the Global Stage The recent ceasefire between India and Pakistan has once again brought into focus the delicate game of global perception, and how leaders position themselves before domestic and international audiences. On Truth Social, former U.S. President Donald Trump was quick to claim credit, rushing to announce victory like a glory hungry contend...

Going Beyond Ikigai – Deciphering what you love doing and what you are good at Most of you would have heard about Ikigai. Ikigai is the Japanese concept that represents the intersection of four key elements: 1. What you are good at 2. What you love doing 3. What the world needs & 4. What it will pay you for It is the balance between aptitude, passion, societal value and market value, offe...

From the moment he chose the name “Francis,” it was clear that this pope would be different. His inspiration was St. Francis of Assisi— a truly noble 13th-century saint, who is often seen as the first ecological thinker who underscored the need to live in harmony with our environment. Pope Francis carried forward that spirit, emerging as a firm advocate for the climate agenda. He supported the...

From ancient Greece to modern-day politics, the fate of governments follows a cycle that philosophers have long recognized. Aristotle described a cyclical theory of political change—later termed Anacyclosis by Polybius—in which forms of government follow a recurring sequence of rise, decline, and replacement. Montesquieu, writing centuries later, warned that extreme equality could erode institutio...

On January 20, 2025, President Donald Trump began his second term. He has since issued over 50 directives that have already begun reshaping economic, ethical, and social landscapes. As we analyze these directives, it is important to understand their consequences through historical parallels and philosophical perspectives. To that end, I draw on the insights of David Ricardo and Alexis de Tocquevil...

McKinsey’s MECE (Mutually Exclusive and Collectively Exhaustive) Framework has been used for structured thinking & communication by leading consultants, marketing professionals, journalists and other peer groups for five decades. The concept of MECE was brought into the world by Barbara Minto, who worked at McKinsey in the 1960s and 1970s. She was the first female MBA that McKinsey hired. (Than...

Like every year before the budget the Finance Minister is besieged with diametrically opposite demands from different segments of the industry. For example, the indigenous manufacturers ask for custom duty increases and the transnationals asks for its reduction. How will she decide? Frankly, it is not easy. Why? Because there is a lot of rhetoric and it is difficult to distinguish rhetori...

Levitt and Dubner in their book Freakonomics quote a medical study which found that obstetricians in areas with declining birth rates are much more likely to perform cesarean section deliveries than obstetricians in growing areas – suggesting that when incomes start falling doctors try to ring up more expensive procedures. This is an example of a treatment bias. Is it possible that the stent...