Irshad Ahmad Mughal

The rapid rise of artificial intelligence, robotics, and digital technologies has been celebrated as the dawn of a new era of human progress. From automated industries to smart governance, from predictive algorithms to global digital connectivity, technology promises efficiency, convenience,…

After nearly two decades of absence, the Government of Punjab has announced the revival of the Basant Kite-flying Festival in Lahore, scheduled for 6, 7, and 8 February 2026. The decision marks a significant cultural moment for the city, reopening…

I approach the question of the ongoing insurrection in Balochistan not as a strategist or policymaker, but as someone whose understanding has been shaped through lived experience. As a Punjabi who has traveled extensively across Balochistan—from Panjgur to Turbat, from…

Speculation about a possible U.S. military attack on Iran has once again captured global attention. Warships repositioned, air power signaled, and rhetoric sharpened—these are familiar scenes in international politics. Yet history urges caution against taking such signals at face value.…

When security turns into a business, humanity becomes expendable. Fear is no longer an unfortunate consequence of international politics; it is a commodity—produced, marketed, and sustained. In today’s global order, wars are not always fought to end threats but to…

The contemporary international system appears to be drifting toward a dangerous paradox: unprecedented technological sophistication alongside growing political irrationality. Economic instability, political polarization, and cultural confusion are no longer isolated phenomena; they have merged into a single global condition of…

When the guns of the Second World War fell silent, Europe emerged devastated—physically, politically, and psychologically. In the ashes of catastrophe, European leaders drew what they believed was the most rational conclusion: security could no longer be guaranteed from within.…

When U.S. President Donald Trump publicly expressed interest in purchasing Greenland from Denmark, many observers initially dismissed the idea as eccentric political theater. Yet the episode raises deeper geopolitical and philosophical questions about power, sovereignty, and the contradictions within the…

The world is undergoing a seismic shift, transitioning from a unipolar order into an era of tense bipolar rivalry. In this new landscape, the ancient impulse to destroy one another is not diminished but systematized, as competing powers amass vast…

As political theorists from ancient Greece to Renaissance Italy understood, the question of who should rule—and how—defines the fate of nations. Two towering figures, Plato and Machiavelli, offered visions in stark opposition, a debate that echoes with uncanny relevance in…