Journalist
A military-linked copper mine faces questions over an alleged Rs34.3 billion royalty shortfall, while mining expansion in Balochistan raises concerns over land rights, enforced disappearances and the treatment of local communities.
Spread out a map of the world today, and it looks rather like a sprawling house undergoing renovation. Someone is cutting through mountains to lay railway tracks, someone is building roads across the desert, someone else is connecting one port to another. China is expanding its routes to Europe. India is planning a passage west through the Arabian Peninsula. Kazakhstan, Türkiye and Laos are all busy drawing more trade through their own backyards. Bangladesh stands at a crossroads surrounded by possibilities. Only the destination of our own journey remains unclear.
China is in a hurry to reach the future. Artificial intelligence is in its hands, robots are moving beside it, and an entirely new technological economy is beginning to take shape. But there is another picture behind all that speed.
The dollar’s troubles are no longer coming entirely from outside. Some of them, increasingly, seem to be coming from within the system itself. Donald Trump wants to make America great again—by raising tariffs, tightening the gates of trade and keeping the key to sanctions firmly in his hand. But global markets are a strange place. Push someone too hard, and sooner or later they begin looking for another door. BRICS is now looking for that side door.
On August 16, 2021, the Taliban captured Kabul just a day prior. The last stage of the US military's withdrawal was still in progress. At Hamid Karzai International Airport, events transpired that day which appeared to challenge any straightforward characterization of disorder.
The world is deeply unsettled. Everywhere, the drums of war are beating, the balance of power is shifting, and old maps are being redrawn. Maps, too, have a silent language. In times of peace, a desert, a mountain range or a landlocked region may appear to be little more than coloured patches on a page. But when war breaks out, their value is reassessed. A port is no longer merely a port; a railway becomes a strategic asset; a strait becomes a vital artery for global energy supplies; and a neighbouring country can suddenly become a market, a corridor or a security buffer.