Geopolitics knows neither justice nor morality. Nor does it distinguish between race and religion. The overriding driver of this approach is "national or bloc interests". Until the unfolding of — and hitherto continuing — Israeli response to Hamas in October 2023 and its brazen attacks on Iran in June, a veneer of rule of law, democracy and human rights disguised the cold-blooded discriminatory geopolitics.

And President Donald Trump has ripped that façade down, unstitching a post-1945 order that prided itself as liberal and morally distinct from the orders that rule Russia or China. Anything linked to the latter is often projected as evil, motivated and economic expansionism, as far as the demonisation of China is concerned. And every US-led move — invasions of Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Iran and mutilation of Palestinians by Israel — is kosher with a justification.

Let us scrutinise this self-serving behaviour of some lead anchors of the brute geopolitics — the US, France, UK and Germany — vis-à-vis Pakistan and China. And how in contrast has China conducted its relations with a nuclear-armed Islamic nation, Pakistan? I feel tempted to draw a few comparisons — as a means of catharsis in an increasingly volatile world, one that is overshadowed by sheer self-interest.

Without going into the history of sanctions that the US kept slapping on Pakistan, here are some small, glaring instances of the discrimination that Pakistan faces; it is not allowed to load US F-16 fighter jets........

© The Express Tribune