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Plot to kill Cuba

THERE was more than a hint of trepidation when Donald Trump declared last week that he would not attend his firstborn son’s wedding because he was too caught up in matters of state, including the paused assault against Iran. It wouldn’t be out of character, claimed an American wit, for Trump to invade Cuba as an excuse for avoiding the matrimonial festivities. There was also speculation that the latest Gulf war might resume — which indeed partially occurred on Monday, albeit with no Iranian response until the time of writing, and despite the flurry of diplomatic activity. Nothing new happened on the Cuban front either, but Cuba’s status as the next target for trumped-up imperialism remains intact. Last week’s revelation of a facetious indictment against Raúl Castro over Cuba’s defensive action against the invasion of its airspace by a CIA-sponsored entity suggested that the Trump regime might be planning to re-establish its hegemony over the island by kidnapping its former presid...
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Cotton crisis

PAKISTAN’S declining cotton economy is rapidly turning into a case study in policy contradiction. Amid endless official rhetoric of an agricultural revival for export-led growth, the country is witnessing a surge in cotton imports even before the start of the new harvest. It is not simply the result of temporary domestic supply shortages; it is also the failure of cotton policy over many years. The import order of 206,000 bales from the US — nearly the entire quantity of US cotton sold during the week — highlights the severity of the domestic supply crisis. Imports from Brazil are also rising sharply. Such large-scale imports before the arrival of the local crop are extraordinary and signal that our cotton supply chain is now structurally dependent on foreign supplies. The consequences go beyond the farm sector or the downstream textile industry. Cotton imports could cost Pakistan billions of dollars. For an economy struggling with chronic dollar s...
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India's Gen-Z Cockroach Janta Party channels youth anger but faces offline hurdles

The largest online expression of dissent against Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 12-year rule began with a satirical riposte to a jibe about young people, triggering death threats to its founder and pushback from ruling party politicians. The rapid fame of 30-year-old Abhijeet Dipke and his Cockroach Janta Party, which says it represents “the lazy, the unemployed, and the chronically correct”, is driven by the concerns of the young in a country where those below 30 are estimated to number more than half a population of 1.42 billion. Political analysts say the group’s enormous popularity has begun to dent Modi’s image, despite his party’s recent victories in key state elections, even as wider frustration grows over rising fuel prices and gas shortages brought by the Iran war. “If all was well with the country and the economy, 20 million young people would not rally around something like this,” said political activist Yogendra Yadav, who was a top leader of a national movement a...
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The lender that governs

THE IMF’s Executive Board has approved the third review of Pakistan’s 37-month Extended Fund Facility (EFF), adding 11 new conditions and raising total structural conditionality to 75. In addition, there are 30 standing commitments, bringing total compliance requirements to 105. These span fiscal, governance, monetary, foreign exchange, financial, energy, state-owned enterprises, trade, investment, deregulation, social protection, and anti-corruption measures — many extending well beyond the IMF’s core mandate and institutional competence. The sheer breadth of this conditionality now touches almost every sphere of economic activity and governance, steadily eroding Pakistan’s policy autonomy and economic sovereignty. Parliament is required to approve the FY27 budget in line with the IMF’s stringent and intrusive policy advice and targets, effectively reducing the legislature to a rubber stamp. Pakistan is to phase out fiscal incentives for Special Economic and Technology Zones, publish...
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Pressure politics

THE Abraham Accords were presented as a historic peace initiative in the Middle East. In reality, they were agreements brokered during US President Donald Trump’s first presidency under which several Arab states normalised ties with Israel without resolving the Palestinian issue. Mr Trump now appears keen to expand the Accords again , pushing more Muslim countries to join after the recent Iran conflict. It is a dangerous and deeply dishonest move, driven less by regional peace than by pressure from Israel’s supporters in Washington and America’s hard-line pro-Israel right. The attempt to connect the Iran conflict with the Abraham Accords makes little sense. The tensions involving Iran are rooted in long-running regional rivalries and military escalation. They do not suddenly erase the central issue that has shaped Middle Eastern politics for decades, which is the denial of Palestinian rights and the absence of a Palestinian state. Yet this latest pus...
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Viral fame spares ‘Donald Trump’ buffalo from Eid sacrifice in Bangladesh

A rare albino buffalo in Bangladesh — nicknamed “Donald Trump” for its distinctive blond tuft — has been ​spared from Eidul Azha sacrifice after a ‌last-minute government intervention, a Home Ministry official said on Wednesday. The nearly 700-kg animal had already been sold for ritual ​slaughter when authorities stepped in, citing security ​concerns after a surge of public interest ahead ⁠of Thursday’s festival. Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed ordered the ​buffalo be spared, the buyer refunded, and the animal ​moved to the national zoo in Dhaka. “At the last moment, the decision was taken to spare the buffalo from sacrifice due ​to security concerns and the unusual level of ​public interest,” a ministry official said. What began as a routine ‌Eid ⁠purchase quickly turned into a nationwide curiosity after videos went viral. Crowds gathered at the farm, with visitors travelling from far afield to see its blond ​fringe and calm ​demeanour. Farm owner ⁠Ziauddin Mridha said the name ca...
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Situationer: Continuation of ‘Urumqi process’ raises hopes for Pak-Afghan patch-up

• Beijing’s envoy already laying groundwork to continue Islamabad-Kabul mediation efforts • Pakistani circles ‘fed up’ by failure of bilateral efforts, pin their hopes on Chinese shepherding the process CHINA’S diplomatic mediation between Pak­istan and Taliban-ruled Afghanistan is keeping hopes alive for a possible rapprochement. After hosting their first meeting in Urumqi, Xinjiang, in April — aimed at bringing an end to the Islamabad-Kabul animosity — Beijing now intends to hold a second meeting to keep the process on track, according to people familiar with discussions. For the better part of the year, conflict between the two neighbours has badly affected trade, transit, cross-border movement of common people, and those living in the border regions. Both sides seem to be inflexible on core issues, such as opening bilateral government channels, trade and movement of people. While the signals from Kabul regarding the ‘Urumqi process’ have been ...
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