THE new year is a mere few days old but 2026 already promises to be more exhausting than its predecessor. The mortals among us — and who have friends to party with — had barely recovered from New Year’s Eve when the US’s Nobel Peace Prize aspirant invaded a country and kidnapped its president.

Hardly new stuff for those who remember Iraq, or Panama, or … the list can be rather long. But it was a wee bit surprising, coming from a president who can’t stop listing the number of wars he has stopped. What stopped journos in their tracks was the president’s failure to invoke either the fruits of democracy or the freedoms of brown oppressed people, especially women. There were no such helpful diversions. The oil will help the US, it was proclaimed. Now where does that leave the likes of us who want to shake their heads in despair and explain the limitations of nation-building exercises? The world and its craziness is forcing commentators out of a job faster than one can say AI.

It is no easier in Pakistan.

How does one make sense of an authoritarian interlude in which no dollars are flowing in? After all, we are trained to analyse the power flowing down the barrel of a gun that has dollar signs painted on it. However, without the dollars, it seems a bit uncertain and unstable (and it has........

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