The Centre for Aerospace & Security Studies (CASS), Islamabad, hosted a book launch for the edited volume ‘Decentralized Autonomous Organizations: Innovation and Vulnerability in the Digital Economy’ (Routledge, 2024) in November 2024. The coeditor of the volume, Dr Usman W. Chohan, serves as Advisor to President CASS on Economic Affairs and National Development. The book serves as an additional milestone in the larger programme of Dr Chohan’s examination of the potential of the digital economy. The volume explores DAOs from a variety of perspectives across several disciplinary prisms and is likely to have significant impact on the study of blockchain technology, an important and oft-overlooked element of the digital economy. Despite their comparatively short history, a substantial research interest has emerged over the past four years on DAOs. At the launch, Dr Chohan shared the key findings and insights from the book. The concluding remarks were delivered by President CASS Air Marshal Javaid Ahmed (Retd).
Share this article
The Extraction Trap
Trump’s declaration to “run Venezuela” after Maduro’s capture is a seeming promise of a sudden cure to Venezuela’s ills. However, it ignores the nation’s terminal diagnosis of a century of plunder. The rhetoric of imminent revival on the basis of the speedy return of international oil capital and the promise of 100 billion US dollars in reconstruction funds made the intervention seem like a unique opportunity.
Future Shield: The Saudi-Pakistan Security Partnership
Although the SDMA does not identify an adversary, effectively functioning as a deterrent, it cannot be viewed in isolation from the Israeli belligerence in the Middle East. Israel’s war against Hamas has expanded beyond the genocide of Gaza; it has bombed the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Iran, and recently Qatar. Tel Aviv’s campaign under the banners of ‘anti-Semitism’ and ‘terrorism’ has engulfed the whole Middle East in a war-like situation, which has generated new enemies and has deepened the instability of the region.
The Trilateral Shift
On 15 January 2026, the Pakistani defence production minister confirmed that an agreement for a new trilateral defence deal between Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and TĂ¼rkiye is in the pipeline, other than the Pakistan-Saudi bilateral deal announced last year.
