Mahir Ali

Mahir Ali has worked as a journalist in Pakistan, the UAE and Australia across four decades.

Recent articles by Mahir Ali

Australian election 2025: Status quo or what?

Australian election 2025: Status quo or what?

Voting in federal or state elections has invariably posed a dilemma ever since my family and I qualified as citizens almost a quarter-century ago, at a ceremony where we were handed out miniature editions of the New Testament alongside the sausage sandwiches.

How the West was lost

How the West was lost

Europe’s panicked response to the shift in Washington’s priorities raises a number of intriguing questions, not least why its leadership was so ill-prepared for the second coming of Donald Trump.

Murdoch family meltdown might bode well

Murdoch family meltdown might bode well

Late last year, Rupert Murdoch launched an audacious effort to amend the terms of the “irrevocable” family trust he had set up in the wake of his divorce from his second wife, Anna.

Peace in Ukraine? Let’s see

Peace in Ukraine? Let’s see

Among Donald Trump’s innumerable boasts during his presidential campaign was that the Russia-Ukraine war would be halted the day after he was elected. It didn’t happen then, or even right after his inauguration. But three weeks or so later, a ceasefire and a peace deal are both on the horizon.

Pakistan's Imran Khan: will he be 'liberated' by Trump?

Pakistan's Imran Khan: will he be 'liberated' by Trump?

On the day a court in Pakistan finally pronounced its verdict in one of the more credible cases against Imran Khan, The New York Times published a report from its Islamabad correspondent Salman Masood about the “messianic certainty” among the former prime minister’s supporters in the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaaf (PTI) that the incoming US president will somehow liberate their leader.

Imran Khan and Pakistan’s deepening chaos

Imran Khan and Pakistan’s deepening chaos

Even as more than 40 lives were lost last week in the latest resurgence of sectarian violence on Pakistan’s northwestern flank bordering Afghanistan, the nation’s media remained focused primarily on a nationwide “do or die” protest focused on the capital, Islamabad, and organised by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI).

The Jewish Chronicle has long served as a vehicle for Zionist propaganda

The Jewish Chronicle has long served as a vehicle for Zionist propaganda

A British publication that takes pride in its status as the oldest Jewish newspaper in the world has lately faced enormous embarrassment after highlighting an “exclusive” investigative report that was dismissed as a fabrication by Israeli media as well as military and intelligence spokesmen.

The Gaza conflict: Nothing comes out of the blue

The Gaza conflict: Nothing comes out of the blue

The outcome of the latest conflagration pitting Israel against the indigenous population it has sought to displace, but failed to subdue since long before 1948, remains impossible to predict.

Ukraine, Russia and the West

Ukraine, Russia and the West

It would be fairly uncontroversial to describe Ukraine’s recent military advance into Russia’s Kursk region as a deliberate provocation. Kyiv’s claim that it was intended chiefly to prod Moscow towards a negotiated peace, if true, appears to ignore Vladimir Putin’s tendency to stick to his guns in the face of embarrassments.

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