Tetris is an interestingly simple but challenging game. Blocks of different shapes descend on to a confined board and the player must continuously find space to accommodate them. Every placement affects the next move. As the board fills, choices diminish, mistakes become increasingly expensive, and even the right piece arriving at the wrong time can become a problem.

The evolving global geopolitical landscape bears an astonishing resemblance to this game. Yet the intrinsic simplicity of the game is missing: the blocks are getting larger, time and space are shrinking, and states have less freedom to position themselves without new vulnerabilities.

A bird’s eye view of the prevailing environment reveals that Russia remains locked in Ukraine in a contest it portrays in terms of security, strategic identity and its place in the European order. Europe, meanwhile, is grappling with the perceived long-term threat from Russia, the burden of sustaining Ukraine, changing ties with Washington, the demands for greater burden-sharing, energy insecurity and sluggish growth.

Long-standing assumptions underpinning European security no longer appear immutable. In the Middle East, the widening confrontation involving Iran, Israel and the United States has transformed an already unstable region, where escalation can have consequences far beyond its geographical boundaries. A prolonged crisis in the Gulf can rapidly translate into higher energy costs, inflation, disrupted supply chains and slower growth in South and Southeast Asia.

As global power shifts, the world gets reconfigured and crises become increasingly interconnected, Pakistan must decide which relationships to prioritise — and which commitments it can no longer afford

As global power shifts, the world gets reconfigured and crises become increasingly interconnected, Pakistan must decide which relationships to prioritise — and which commitments it can no longer afford

Amid this deafening strategic noise, China has displayed what may be described as strategic restraint. Beijing has enormous economic stakes in the stability of the Middle East and the international trading system, yet it prefers to remain cautious of direct entanglement in these conflicts. Whether this represents deliberate patience or a preference to let others exhaust themselves is debatable. China’s willingness to help shape the emerging order remains uncertain.

Such is perhaps the defining characteristic of today’s........

© Dawn (Magazines)