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<title>Counterpoint &#45; Saif Sayeem</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/rss/author/saif-sayeem</link>
<description>Counterpoint &#45; Saif Sayeem</description>
<dc:language>en</dc:language>
<dc:rights>Copyright 2025 counterpoint&#45; All Rights Reserved.</dc:rights>

<item>
<title>Is Israel Going Broke?</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/why-israel-is-finished</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/why-israel-is-finished</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Israel’s budget deficit has tripled. Government spending has risen by 40%, while foreign investment has dropped by 60%. The economy is shrinking, and national income is falling. To cover its costs, the country is on its way to falling into a debt trap. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Wed, 04 Mar 2026 11:33:18 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Saif Sayeem</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Israel, GCC, Debt</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>What if the Iran War is not What it Seems?</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/what-if-the-iran-war-is-not-what-it-seems</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/what-if-the-iran-war-is-not-what-it-seems</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ What we may be witnessing is not the eruption of uncontrolled conflict -- but a controlled application of force designed to close a 30-year nuclear standoff. History will not judge this moment by the explosions. It will judge it by what follows them. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Tue, 03 Mar 2026 16:07:01 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Saif Sayeem</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Iran, Israel, War, United States</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Iran, Israel, and the Illusion of War</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Illusion-of-War</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Illusion-of-War</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ This is not peace. And it is not war. It is the controlled demolition of the Sykes-Picot agreement in favour of an integrated Middle East. Iran is reshaping its internal power structure and regional posture. The Middle East is not descending into chaos. It is being reorganized. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Sun, 18 Jan 2026 17:44:18 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Saif Sayeem</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Iran, Israel, United States</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The Hidden Empire</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/the-hidden-empire-how-the-transnational-private-sectortook-over-america</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/the-hidden-empire-how-the-transnational-private-sectortook-over-america</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The uncomfortable truth is this -- America is the capital of a global corporate empire. But the real rulers are not politicians but corporations, whose loyalty lies only with money. The Transnational Private Sector -- TPS -- is not a mere American phenomenon. It’s a global empire, and its influence reaches every corner of the planet. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Tue, 06 Jan 2026 14:34:30 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Saif Sayeem</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>America, Finance</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The Singapore Playbook</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Dependent-State</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Dependent-State</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ For a nation like Bangladesh, the challenge is not whether to depend on others, but how to manage that dependence intelligently. The question, then, is not how to escape vassalhood, but how to master it. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Sun, 04 Jan 2026 11:35:57 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Saif Sayeem</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Bangladesh, sovereignty, dependency, vassal state, strategic vassalization, multipolar world, economic diplomacy, fiscal discipline, statecraft</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>Bangladesh and The Myth of Sovereignty</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/Bangladesh-and-The-Myth-of-Sovereignty</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/Bangladesh-and-The-Myth-of-Sovereignty</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ Bangladesh&#039;s goal should be to make our own decisions while skillfully using multiple major powers to serve our national interests. This approach is called intelligent dependence -- we remain dependent in some ways, but we control how that dependence works. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Mon, 17 Nov 2025 11:39:35 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Saif Sayeem</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Bangladesh, Sovereignty, Foreign Relations</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The Unlikely Reinvention of the American Dollar: From Oil to Blockchain</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/the-unlikely-reinvention-of-the-americandollar-from-oil-to-blockchain</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/the-unlikely-reinvention-of-the-americandollar-from-oil-to-blockchain</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ This is the quiet evolution of empire -- from military enforcement to financial automation. The dollar isn’t dying, at least not anytime soon. It’s being privatized. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Thu, 13 Nov 2025 14:49:15 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Saif Sayeem</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Dollar, Crypto, Bitcoin</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The Shifting Power Landscape in the Middle East</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Shifting-Power-Landscape-in-the-Middle-East</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/The-Shifting-Power-Landscape-in-the-Middle-East</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ From Pakistan to Egypt, and possibly up to Morocco in the long run, this vast region is becoming the playground of the GCC, BRICS, and a transnational Financial Industrial Complex ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Mon, 27 Oct 2025 11:38:24 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Saif Sayeem</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>Middle East, Saudi Arabia, GCC</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>India’s Foreign Policy and the Game Theory of Power</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/India%E2%80%99s-Foreign-Policy-and-the-Game-Theory-of-Power</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/India%E2%80%99s-Foreign-Policy-and-the-Game-Theory-of-Power</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ India has made non-alignment and multi-lateralism the cornerstone of its foreign policy since independence. But now the time may be coming when it will have to choose a side. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Fri, 24 Oct 2025 11:29:55 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Saif Sayeem</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>India</media:keywords>
</item>

<item>
<title>The GCC Makes it Move</title>
<link>https://counterpointbd.com/GCC-Rise</link>
<guid>https://counterpointbd.com/GCC-Rise</guid>
<description><![CDATA[ The reason that proxy militancy is being dismantled is simple. It is no longer useful in the new world order. This is just the first step in the rise of the GCC as it takes its seat at the big table. ]]></description>
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<pubDate>Sun, 19 Oct 2025 11:40:20 +0600</pubDate>
<dc:creator>Saif Sayeem</dc:creator>
<media:keywords>GCC, Militancy, Israel, Saudi Arabia</media:keywords>
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