Ejaz Haider. Azeema Cheema, and Professor Farhan Siddiqi, unpack the 🇵🇰 🇸🇦 🇹🇷 Joint Defence Agreement. Do watch: youtu.be/iFAJpwC6YzM?...
InFocus With Ejaz Haider EP 95: Unpacking MJDA
YouTube video by CSSPR
youtu.be
Ilhan Niaz
@ilhanniaz.bsky.social
Writes history - books include Old World Empires, The State During the British Raj, The Culture of Power and Governance of Pakistan, Downfall: Lessons for our Final Century, and just about to drop, New World Empires. OUP/Routledge/CSCR.
Ejaz Haider dismantles the 🇵🇰 🇸🇦 🇹🇷 joint defence agreement in his latest: ‘Upgrading the wording to simulate an alliance creates a dangerous expectation of mutual defence that none of the three states is structurally or politically prepared to fulfil.’ www.thefridaytimes.com/12-Aug-2026/...
Stop Hyperventilating Over MJDA; It’s Mostly Husk
It is actually good that the MJDA has more bark than bite. If it has to be celebrated, let’s celebrate it as strategic hedging than a meaningful military pact
thefridaytimes.com
Ejaz Haider explains legitimacy has 3 sources: input (folks participating), output (govts perform) & structural (adherence to constitutional principles). Pakistan’s rulers have shredded 1 & 3, and can’t deliver 2. Hence “system has collapsed”. Watch ⬇️: youtu.be/d-g03TC85HA?...
RULE BY LAW OR RULE OF LAW?
YouTube video by Independent Pakistan
youtu.be
What’s the different between stupidity & foolishness ? And is stupidity worse than evil? A great walkthrough on a very important philosophical question: youtu.be/uwyLGiyDa2g?...
The 3 ways stupidity spreads throughout a society | Jonny Thomson
YouTube video by Big Think Clips
youtu.be
“The central lesson of Iran’s history with the US, and more specifically with Trump, is simple: never make concessions on the basis of future promises.” Ejaz Haider explains why Tehran isn’t in a rush to make a deal: www.dawn.com/news/2020030
UNDERSTANDING IRAN’S WAR STRATEGY
With the resumption of hostilities in the Middle East and their escalation, many concerns have understandably been expressed in
dawn.com
In today’s Dawn I review Andrew Seth Meyer’s To Rule all Under Heaven: A History of Classical China from Confucius to the First Emperor- it’s a great book and it explains a lot about Chinese ideals of good bureaucracy and meritocracy: www.dawn.com/news/2018206
NON-FICTION: THE FOUNDATIONS OF MODERN CHINA
The real transformation of China began more than two millennia ago. Now a remarkable, deeply researched work of extraordinary
dawn.com
Had a long conversation (English language) with Raja Jawad about history, regional variations in development, Pakistan, politics, corruption, etc - Why Changing Leaders doesn’t change Pakistan: youtu.be/zK1A3i6mDdE?...
Why Pakistan Keeps Repeating the Same Patterns | Prof. Ilhan Niaz
YouTube video by Kaisay with Raja Jawad
youtu.be
Had a good discussion with Shayan on the How does it work? Podcast about Pakistan, world affairs and what lies ahead: youtu.be/YeHvahzmaMY?...
AJK Crisis: Winning Abroad, Losing at home? Ft. Ilhan Niaz
YouTube video by How Does It Work Podcast
youtu.be
Dilawar Hussain, a former student of mine, has just authored his first book. It is on the Senate of Pakistan and is based on his doctoral dissertation. I hope there will be India and Pakistan editions as well. Be sure to recommend it to your libraries/unis: www.bloomsbury.com/us/senate-of...
Ejaz Haider and Trita Parsi have a wide-ranging, informative, and engaging discussion on the US war on Iran and how it is emerging as an inflection point: youtu.be/b_XHx5kGmvE?...
InFocus With Ejaz Haider EP92: US-Iran War, Inflection Point for the Gulf
YouTube video by CSSPR
youtu.be
Earlier today my review of Selena Wisnom’s new book, The Library of Ancient Wisdom, appeared in Dawn. You can listen to the author describe ancient Mesopotamian science and culture and how the modern world stands on its foundations: youtu.be/bhcdT4tb1Rw?...
Selena Wisnom — Mesopotamian Religion and the History of Science
YouTube video by The Engelsberg Seminars
youtu.be
My review of Selena Wisnom’s The Library of Ancient Wisdom: Mesopotamia & the Making of the Modern World. If you can read just one history book this summer, then make it this one, because, with all the firsts achieved by Mesopotamia, there’s no point in picking up the story at a later point.
Shahid Anwar turned his notes on my 2022 book Downfall: Lessons for our Final Century, into a presentation using AI. You can see his summary here & the book is free to download from CSCR: www.academia.edu/168388821/Sh...
Moeed Yusuf writes about 🇵🇰’s role in the region & the world. How has 🇵🇰 played a role as a very high profile Middle Power? Why does 🇵🇰 seek to avoid Cold War 2.0? And how does 🇵🇰’s persistent domestic underperformance create constraints? Free download ⬇️ www.belfercenter.org/research-ana...
In the Eye of the Storm: Pakistan’s Balancing Act in the Evolving Geopolitical Order
Poised between Washington and Beijing yet beholden to both, Pakistan sits at the epicenter of today’s great-power contest—struggling to turn its vulnerabilities into leverage. This report explores how...
belfercenter.org
Spoke to Tafhim Kiani about Cold War & post-Cold War 🇵🇰, the surprisingly large role Pakistan played during the US-Soviet struggle, 🇵🇰’s extraordinary nuclear weapons breakthrough, & the relentless narrative & kinetic assaults the country has weathered since the 1980s. youtu.be/PCFLNf8o4_o?...
Pakistan’s Ultimate Bargain: Nuclear Rise & Empire Politics | Dr. Ilhan Niaz - EP 126
YouTube video by Kianistan
youtu.be
As Europe returns to a wolf age (the rest of the planet never left it) how can it navigate the return of history? Marc Saxer’s new book addresses the crisis of the liberal world order & explores the possibility of a rules-based multipolar world order. Geopolitical Conflict in the Wolf World:
My book, New World Empires: Cultures of Power and Governance in the Americas, won the 11th Best Publication Award for a book in the social sciences from the Higher Education Commission of 🇵🇰. From Routledge (NY) & is available in 🇮🇳 from Manohar (New Delhi) & it will soon be out in 🇵🇰 from OUP.
A fine essay on Malthus & what he got right - ingenuity did not overcome ecological constraints. It only delayed the onset of the constraints that would bring humanity back into equilibrium with nature:
Sarah Connor@collapse2050.bsky.social · 4mo agoMalthus was right We did not permanently defeat the iron laws of ecology with our intellectual brilliance. We merely stumbled upon fossil fuels and mistook our staggering inheritance for our own genius. collapse2050.substack.com/p/malthus-wa...
One important outcome of the India-Pakistan clash of May 2025 is that Pakistan is raising a dedicated Rocket Force. But what exactly is a rocket force? Moiz Khan Kakar talks to Ali Mustafa about Pakistan’s Rocket Force Command in a useful introduction to the subject: youtu.be/v5siyBXTk68?...
Pakistan's New Rocket Force: Firebreak or Fuse? | Ali Mustafa | Statecraft Anatomy
YouTube video by The Dialectic Arc
youtu.be
📣ANNOUNCEMENT📣 I’m coming to Edinburgh baby! My Work In Progress is off to Edinburger & I would love to share the word with as many people as possible! Help me with my indecision. Character, stand up and songs. #edfringe #comedy 11-20th Aug: www.edfringe.com/tickets/what...
Pakistan’s Chief of Defence Forces just gave an important speech at an event to mark the end of last year’s India-Pakistan conflict. The speech is in Urdu (link in the thread below) but I’ve summarised the main points here for anyone who is interested in knowing what he said.
My latest essay, ‘The India-Pakistan Doomsday Machine & the Logic of Preemption’ is out now from CSCR - a year after the India-Pakistan clashes of May 2025, another round of violence remains likely. To make it less likely, Pakistan needs to go for a preemption option. cscr.pk/explore/them...
The UNDP is hiring research assistants who will work remotely. Take a look & throw your hat into the ring if you are a recent graduate (within last year), a final year student, or enrolled in a Masters or PhD program. Deadline is September 30, 2026. Link 👇: careersworldwide.org/2026/04/30/u...
UNDP Is Hiring Remote Research Assistants 2026 — Work From Home Internship With Monthly Stipend - careersworldwide
UNDP Is Hiring Remote Research Assistants 2026 — Work From Home Internship With Monthly Stipend.The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has officially opened its 2026 Global Call for Remote Re...
careersworldwide.org
Ejaz Haider talks to the incisive & superbly well-informed Kelly Grieco (AirPower expert) about whether the Iran war is Trump’s Albatross? I reckon the war is an Albatross. A beautiful Albatross. There’s been no Albatross like it before. Make Albatross Great Again: youtu.be/ygDuQ9wuCB4?...
InFocus With Ejaz Haider EP89: Is the Iran War Trump's Albatross?
YouTube video by CSSPR
youtu.be
In February, Ejaz Haider wrote a response to Tharoor’s article on India-Pakistan. Two Indian publications backed out of publishing it for fear of government pressure. You can read it here: www.thefridaytimes.com/02-May-2026/...
Mr Tharoor Is Incrementally Getting It Right; That Is Welcome
Sir, get the premise right, which means looking at this not from a unilateral lens of what India needs and must have, but to understand that diplomacy is the
thefridaytimes.com